The Shock Improvement in our Quality

By Maurice Bay, 05/07/2026

 

Steve Madden C.E.O. Says It Is Moving Production Out of China

This was the headlines splashed across The New York Times nearly two years ago.

Major US footwear companies were now having to move away from China, to avoid the tremendous amount of tariffs implemented by Trump's second administration. 

What used to be major cost savings in a foreign country thousands of miles away now became extra expenses overnight.

In order to avoid a major shock in the costs of product manufacturing, (which in turn leads to higher prices for the consumer), companies were now shifting production back to the United States.

Interestingly back in 2018 when we visited the US, we were shocked to find out that the American warehousing rental costs were just a fraction of Singapore's and even lower than those across the Causeway in Johor. 

REASON: They have acres and hectares of land that are completely unused and underutilised! And the excess capacity were driving prices down.

Paired alongside a huge (and often illegal) affordable immigrant workforce who were leaving their home countries in search of a better life, it was now inexpensive to produce goods within the United States itself. 

Why then are companies and multi-nationals still manufacturing in China?

The answer might surprise you.

Chinese master craftsmen have been honing their skills and workmanship for the past several decades.

One industry.

One profession.

One skill.

Mastered to perfection.

They understand that the only way to stand out and be useful in their very crowded market is to specialise. And in specialising in very niche areas, they've carved out the best craftsmen the world has to offer. 

The same craftsman/woman applying glue to shoes or the same craftsman/woman sewing the threads does the same thing every single day, 300 days a year for the past 20 years. (Some even do this while watching/listening to their favourite C-dramas)

This has led to a huge reliability in the quality and craftsmanship. 

In addition, the Chinese have also been innovating in their practices, both developing newer, more cost-efficient ways of production and also tangible, material improvements to the product. 

Capitalism is truly well and alive in China. And the world is richer for their skills and dedication to their craft.

How does it affect us in Sunday Staples then?

With the loss of all their American customers, Chinese factories have been running helter-skelter to fill up the sudden gaping hole of orders in their system. 

Overnight, the factories that produced thousands of shoes every single day came to a sudden, grinding halt. The orders had (geo-politically) gone back to the US for American production and they weren't returning for good. 

Hence the market has been flooded with factories looking for shoes to produce. 

The best and the biggest factories in China used to only work with Steve Madden, Nine West, Sam Edelman and Aldo. Their salespeople speak perfect English and they never did pay attention to medium sized companies from South East Asia like ours. 

Today, we work with some of the best factories in the business and it has improved our quality tremendously.

Our defects rate has finally fallen below our targeted <0.1% and many of you who are eagle-eyed would have spotted that our product finishing has gone from good to premium. 

If you don't already know, our products now all carry a 6-month warranty for defects not due to wear-and-tear and this includes not only full-priced items but also sale items. 

This is the quality assurance that we hope customers enjoy and we will continue on this never-ending pursuit of excellence for all our products.

So the next time someone asks you about Sunday Staples's quality, you can tell them with confidence that we are Steve Madden and Nine West quality!

All because of Trump's tariffs.

Thank you for reading!