Footwear makers Pavers, Fly Flot plan Indian export venture

New Delhi: Premium footwear maker Pavers Foresight Smart Ventures today said that it would set up a footwear manufacturing facility in India in collaboration with the largest European footwear manufacturer, the €150 million Fly Flot of Italy. 

The two companies will pump in an initial investment of €2 million each to set up a greenfield export plant in Tamil Nadu, from where it plans to export 80 per cent of its production.

With a presence in 57 countries Fly Flot produces close to 7.2 million pairs of footwear annually and is the global leader in direct injection polyurethane comfort technology.

Mauritius-based Pavers Foresight Smart Ventures, with a corpus of $60 million, is a 50: 50 joint ventures between London-based $450 million Foresight Group and Pavers Limited, a York-based $150 million footwear retail major in the UK.

In a statement Fly Flot's director for international business  Bruno Maccari, said, "This JV is a significant move for Flyflot, as this is the first time we are expanding production facility outside Europe. Vietnam and China were serious contenders but India made the cut finally."

Stuart Pavers, president and CEO Pavers said that his company was bullish on India, both from a manufacturing and a retail perspective.

Commenting on India vs China, Pavers said that India had tremendous design capability, which is yet untapped. While it has matured in independent areas of footwear making from leather to components, there was a big opportunity waiting in value-added goods and the country was poised to acquire a significant pie of the global production.

Pavers Foresight had arlier announced its plan to invest $5 million in setting up a footwear design development studio at Ambur in Tamil Nadu.

According to Utsav Seth, managing director, Pavers Foresight Smart Ventures, said, "India is increasingly a destination for premium international products. We plan to bring in three more international brands by 2009 to cater to this demand."

The company's retail arm in India, Pavers England Footprint Limited, a joint venture with Indian footwar maker Forward Group, has introduced its brand Pavers England in April 2008 in the premium footwear segment and  in association with Reliance Footprint Limited.