China Bit #2: Factory Sample Room

Not too many people get to visit the factories in China, so with these photos I hope to share my experience. Just to break the process down a bit: before the shoes are sold in the stores, they go through a farely long process of development. One of the stops on the way is the sample room - here, the small run of the sale samples is produced. Think of it as a mini factory, but the workers are slightly more skilled as they have to be more flexible with large number of different styles being produced. This is a quick glance at a factory I work with, which produces about 400,000 units a year for our brand:

cutting...

the essential tool...

assembling...

stitching...

lasting crew...

finishing station...

finishing chemicals and dyes...

more dyes...

burnishing...