The Kampoeng Sepatu (The shoes village center) at Sidoarjo.

How do you feel when you wear shoes or slipper for your activities every day? Going to the campus, party, office, school and others activities, you must choose the shoes or slippers that comfortable to wear, beside fashionable. There are many fashionable and trendy shoes and slippers to sell now days and people are free to choose and buying. It is hard to competitive for shoes entrepreneurs and shoes craft now days. They must have strategy how to make the best products, marketable and cheaper than others shoes products.
There are many shoes craft in Java especially, Cibaduyut Bandung, Tajur Bogor, Mojokerto and Sidoarjo.
Sidoarjo regency is so near from Surabaya as capital City of East Java, to make starting point to create idea, making Kampoeng sepatu dan sandal or the shoes and slipper village center. There are almost 69 entrepreneurs including shoes craft and slippers have joined at Krian as center of this home industry. The history began in 1915 when the young man was called Talkah, started to make a shoes was clued by corn starch mixture with water and shook in the bamboo. The clue was also made from crepe mixture with gasoline that taken from invader car, Dutch. A bamboo nail used to nail high heel shoes and used lemon nail from Dutch shoes, placed on top of the shoes. The improvement of technology makes the entrepreneurs and shoes craft change their mind, starting to design good model and the way to make the shoes. The existing of IFSC ( International Foot Shoes Center) at Sidoarjo helped the shoes craft to improve the quality products, cause the IFSC always gives training how to make the best shoes products to all shoes craft in Indonesia.
The Sidoarjo regency through Wien Hendrarso as the Regent of Sidoarjo tries hard to improve the economy local including entrepreneurs and shoes crafts together with chamber of Commerce and Industry Sidoarjo Regency and supported by others stake holders, hand and hand together to gain one vision. Empowering local economy in order to avoid broken economy, cause of never ending hot volcano mud. There are few strategies how to improve local economy, especially for shoes craft and shoes entrepreneurs,
1. Create Kampoeng sepatu ( Shoes Village Center) and support them capital and training to improve quality and ready to be competitive with others products.
2. Hold Sidoarjo Festival that had happened at September 11 until 18 September 2009 for this year. Hope, it will be annual event every year. According evaluation, the entrepreneurs pulled a lot of benefits from the event.
3. Show off to people how to make shoes rapidly and give a lot of discount for buyers.
4. marketing through internet in order to gain global buyers.
The soul of entrepreneurs had been begun since 1913, make the entrepreneurs and shoes crafts have strong willingness to improve their business, talent and marketing strategies. The location of Shoes Village Center is far away from the capital city, must have strategies how to pull buyers to come. The tourism schedule for visiting the village center is good idea also.