BERN TO RUN: We‘re making a pair of sneakers! Part 3 - Our first failure. Samples and sourcing.

Research evidence excerpt

BERN TO RUN: We‘re making a pair of sneakers! Part 3 - Our first failure. Samples and sourcing.

24 July 2026

European Retail

BERN TO RUN: We're making a pair of sneakers! Part 3 - Our first

failure. Samples and sourcing.

This is not just a shoe. This is the limited edition BERN TO RUN sneaker… imagined, William Woods

+44 20 7676 6806 designed, produced and now marketed, entirely by us. These trainers represent the many

william.woods@bernsteinsg.com levels at which mega-brands today face unprecedented pressure (see Long View here). We

shared some sneak peeks of the concepts last week. In this note, we outline our sourcing

Richard Trainor efforts (China vs. Europe) and our samples… we had our first failure too!

+44 20 7762 1050

richard.trainor@bernsteinsg.com

To nearshore or not to nearshore, that is the question! We have written extensively

Alice Buckley about the impact of globalization on apparel supply chains. But would near-shoring be

+44 20 7676 6739 the right choice for the BERN TO RUN sneaker? The sneaker production process is more

alice.buckley@bernsteinsg.com complex than a regular piece of clothing, with a greater number and complexity of parts,

materials and processes. As a result, sneaker manufacturing skews to higher-tech zones

Rhea Gudiwala like China, Italy, Vietnam, Iberia and Germany. We got quotes from factories in China, Italy +44 20 7676 7293

rhea.gudiwala@bernsteinsg.com and Portugal, quoting $28, and $52 respectively for manufacturing, which we estimated

would end at $43 and $57 respectively landed cost (including freight & tariffs). This made

Specialist Sales China the clear cost leader even with higher shipping and tariff costs. However, also

factoring in the higher minimum order requirements in Chinese factories, the possibility for

Alix Turner