This summer has been a tough one for China’s shoemakers.

With more Chinese shoppers saying they prefer foreign brands over domestic ones for their quality and design, and the rise of e-commerce making it easier than ever before to purchase shoes from abroad, the outlook for Chinese brands is bleak. Add to that other factors — recent bad weather that has hampered sales and rising production costs — and a depressing image of the country’s shoe industry starts to take shape.

Twenty-eight-year-old Li Li from Guangzhou told Sixth Tone her favorite shoes are American brands Steve Madden and Nine West. She also describes herself as an “online shopaholic,” citing the broader range of styles available on the internet as a key draw.

Li says she prefers foreign labels over Chinese ones, though she can see that local manufacturers are trying to catch up. “I want to support these Chinese brands,” she said. “Unfortunately, their design doesn’t suit my tastes.”

Li Xiang, a 31-year-old office worker from Shanghai and no relation to Li Li, told Sixth Tone that after several “unsatisfactory” shopping experiences, she has given up on Chinese brands. “It seems they use shoddy materials that are not durable,” she said, adding that for her the most important factor in a shoe is comfort. “I prefer to go to outlet malls to buy high-quality Western brands,” she said, citing Ecco and Adidas as examples.

With consumer reactions like these, it is hardly surprising that many leading Chinese shoe brands are facing crashing sales.

Last month, Hong Kong-listed Chinese shoemaker Daphne Group issued a warning to investors that its sales in the first six months of this year were so low that the company was predicting its sharpest decline in profits in a decade. The company partly attributed the decline to decreasing store traffic as a result of frequent rainstorms and flooding. This came on the heels of an announcement in June from Belle International, another Hong Kong-listed Chinese women’s shoemaker, reporting a 16 percent decline in footwear sales in the three-month period from March to May.

By contrast, foreign brands, led by sports shoe manufacturers, have witnessed robust growth in earnings. Adidas, for example, achieved a 17.7 percent sales increase in China last year. The company has said it wants to add 3,000 sales outlets in China between now and the end of this decade, bringing their total to 12,000.

Zhu Qingyi, a researcher with Shenzhen-based consultancy CI Consulting, said foreign companies had done a better job of building brand loyalty among Chinese consumers.

Zhu said that in addition to better quality and design, the emergence of cross-border online retailing has also helped pave the way for international shoe brands in China.

The cross-border e-commerce market in China amounted to an estimated 259 billion yuan ($39 billion) last year, more than 6 percent of China’s total consumer e-commerce, and it is growing by more than 50 percent annually, according to a report released in February by management consulting firm McKinsey.

The report said one reason Chinese consumers purchase foreign brands from overseas via the internet is because this shopping method offers them a way to avoid being duped by fake or counterfeit goods.

Analysts say Chinese brands are also on the wrong end of consumer trends in shoe shopping. In the past, local brands were popular because of their low prices. But buyers’ tastes are shifting toward so-called light luxury — products that are high in quality, original in design, and strong in brand image.

Zhu, the consultant, says that to find a way out of their current predicament, Chinese shoemakers need to become more innovative and broaden their range of styles. But given the country’s economic downturn and rising raw material costs, that transition may not be so easy. “Frankly, I’m not optimistic,” he said.

(Header image: A salesperson helps a customer try on a pair of high heels at a shopping center in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, May 31, 2014. Zhu Jipeng/VCG)