The Olympic flame has fanned a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment, even prompting some of our customers to question why we make our shoes in China.

The main reason we make shoes in China is that the average shoe needs 20 industrial components and as a company aiming to make innovative products, China, with its dense network of the most advanced (and eco friendly) component suppliers in the world, minimizes our production footprint. Making shoes in China is the most efficient way for us to deliver genuine value to our customers in a sustainable way.

We have been making shoes in China for five years and work direct with our factories. We have strong relationships with the local Chinese managers and workers. We have a design studio in Guangzhou and United Nude (our sister company) is based there. Rem, my partner in UN, is married to a Chinese  woman and they recently had a baby boy.  

Personally, I lived in China for two years (one year as a student in Beijing and one year working in South China and Taiwan), speak decent Mandarin and continue to visit China at least six times a year.

Over the last five years, we have made shoes in Italy, Portugal, Romania, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and South Africa. The Chinese factories are the most advanced and self-regulating. And, unlike some countries, the factories are independently audited by international NGOs to the very highest international labour and environmental standards.

Guangdong (the province in South China on the Pearl River Delta) is the shoe making capital of the world, and has officially been named as part of the ‘developed world'. Labour laws and the minimum wage are the highest in the region - making it far from the cheapest place to manufacture shoes in the world. We are able to work directly with the local component suppliers to increase recycled content, reduce toxins and improve the eco friendliness of every part of every shoe. Our main tannery partner is ISO 14001 (the highest international environmental accreditation available).

China does have a high pollution level, but per capita is eight times less polluting than America. There are countless environmental initiatives, with polluting Chinese companies being fined and shut down. I was recently invited to talk at a sustainable design conference in Chong Qing (a city of 30m people and home to the leading University of architecture and design in China). The most impressive, forward thinking and large-scale sustainable design projects were presented by the local designers. 

When I speak to Chinese friends about democracy and human rights they ask me if what is going on in America (gun crime, a president getting elected with less than 40% of the vote and then against the people's will taking the country to war and killing over half a million innocent people etc...) is democracy?   Chinese people vote for their local leaders, where turn-out is often over 80%, who in turn go on to select the national leaders and president.  A different system, but arguably more democratic!

When I ask my Chinese friends about what is going on in Tibet they are quick to criticise the government for heavy handedness, but they also point out that in the last 50 years of Chinese rule, infant mortality, education and standards of living have dramatically improved; and they beg for a little perspective on a developing nation - remember European colonialism, Native Americans and Aboriginals.

From my experiences, Chinese people seem ‘happier' with their lives and politicians than my friends in the UK.  China is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and there are many distortions, but, progress is celebrated and felt every day.  Western media, by contrast, is filled with sensationalist negativity and alarm.  With the economies on rough seas... the sinking feeling is compounded by a big world neighbour so obviously buoyant and progressive.

China is a country of 1.3 billion people and, as she develops, the world is understandably concerned that there may not be enough resources to go around?  Just like Texas and Scotland, China will not suddenly give independence to Tibet or Taiwan and it won't suddenly convert to a parliamentary democracy with a free press.  China is shaking the world we all share and we should embrace the exciting interaction of ideas, goods and services. As far as I'm concerned, thanks to the Chinese, we appropriately make some of the most sustainable shoes in the world there.

Fu Che Xiang Yi

Dong Shi Xi Su