Taiwan Today

Taiwan enterprises are making their mark in the global wetsuit industry.

Visitors to the headquarters of SHEICO Group (Shei Chung Hsin Ind.) Co. in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County are blown away by its state-of-the-art wave pool, where employees and international customers can surf to test out the company’s high-performance water sports apparel. Opened in 2018, the US$2 million facility is testament to SHEICO’s dedication to meeting its clientele’s rigorous expectations.

According to Min Shiue (薛敏誠), the enterprise’s president and chief executive officer, SHEICO designs and manufactures wetsuits for nearly 600 brands worldwide, producing about 65 percent of all such products sold globally and nearly 80 percent of midrange and high-end suits. In fact, all top 10 surfing wetsuit brands source their merchandise from the company. Last year SHEICO generated NT$14 billion (US$470 million) in revenue, which Shiue estimates will grow to over NT$17 billion (US$570 million) this year.

Other players in the sector stand out through efforts to foster global awareness of their brand, such as Aropec Sports Corp. based in central Taiwan’s Taichung City. The enterprise also engages in original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and original design manufacturing, though on a much smaller scale than SHEICO. Company President Marvin Wei (魏敏聰) said the business brings in between NT$200 and $300 million (US$6.7 and $10 million) in annual revenue, 60 percent of which currently comes from products carrying the Aropec brand. Regardless of the business strategy, Taiwan enterprises are raising the country’s profile in the industry with their perseverance in overcoming obstacles and relentless pursuit of growth and excellence.

Nonstop Innovation
For SHEICO, which was founded by Shiue’s father in 1968 as a producer of rain gear for the domestic market, the decision to shift to water sports equipment for export in 1979 was integral to future development. The change in course required the company to source neoprene rubber sheeting from Japan. But global competition for the material was fierce, emboldening SHEICO’s supplier to repeatedly raise the cost. “They hiked the price almost every season,” Shiue recalled. “The last straw came when the supplier decided to delay delivery but refused to make up for any resulting loss for SHEICO.” In 1983 Shiue set out to conduct research on neoprene sheeting with the goal of creating it in-house one day. “No one in Taiwan at the time knew exactly how to do it, so I was totally on my own,” he said.

For the next three years the young entrepreneur conducted experiments with raw material and equipment purchased using the meager profits the company made at the time. Through trial and error he finally perfected the technique of manufacturing high-quality neoprene in 1986. “The cost of the material decreased by 50 percent once we could make it ourselves, which dramatically strengthened the competitiveness of our products. SHEICO wouldn’t be what it is today without that breakthrough,” Shiue said.

The enterprise has continued sharpening its competitive edge by producing performance fabrics laminated with neoprene. It also continuously upgrades properties like stretch and warmth retention, applying for more than 10 related patents in Europe and the United States annually. “With impressive research capabilities and vertical integration of neoprene sheet production, fabric production and end product manufacturing, the company has achieved a unique status in the global industry,” said Justin Huang (黃偉基), president of Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF). “Taiwan is known as the kingdom of wetsuits largely thanks to SHEICO.”

Specialized Goods
Following a trajectory similar to that of SHEICO, Aropec began producing OEM casual footwear in the 1960s before shifting to neoprene boots and wetsuits in the mid-1980s. The choice not to relocate operations offshore has inevitably limited the enterprise’s overall scope, leading the company president to intensify brand promotion in 2012 to compensate. Wanting to explore every possible marketing avenue, Wei began participating in trade shows at home and abroad, launching promotional projects online and opening brick-and-mortar stores around Taiwan.
  Challenges arose when some clients began to consider canceling OEM orders as Aropec gained ground as a rival brand. One method Wei used to mitigate such concerns was to cultivate a presence in developing economies such as Mauritius, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, where he estimates Aropec is among the top three wetsuit brands. According to Wei, sales in developing countries have grown steadily in recent years, currently accounting for over 40 percent of total revenue.

  Aropec has also made inroads into niche markets. At present the company is making strides in spearfishing wetsuits following years of research. Aropec has developed wetsuits that can perfectly camouflage the wearer in different underwater surroundings and depth zones. The suits tightly hug the hunter’s body, ensuring no bubbles can form inside, escape and alert the fish. The camo wetsuit is one of three Aropec products that bagged 2020 and 2021 Taiwan Excellence Awards, honors given annually by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan External Trade Development Council to spur advancement of homegrown industries.

Green Commitment
Companies that want to remain competitive in today’s eco-conscious markets must additionally adopt green manufacturing practices, said TTF’s Huang. To this end, Aropec is partnering with northern Taiwan-based fabric manufacturer Trueway Corp. due to its certification under the bluesign system, which lays out stringent international standards for environmentally friendly textile production. “It’s about more than environmental protection. Since wetsuits cover the body tightly, I need to choose materials very carefully. Bluesign-certified fabrics help guarantee wetsuits don’t contain harmful chemicals that could severely irritate skin,” Wei said.

Dedicated to corporate responsibility, SHEICO became a bluesign system partner in 2014 and developed a water-based glue to replace the traditional adhesive containing environmentally damaging toluene the next year. The enterprise also helps promote the circular economy by using fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles and adding trimmed pieces of neoprene back into the production line. In 2017 it began to investigate recycling scrap tires as a way of reclaiming carbon black, a material indispensable to the sturdiness of neoprene sheets. After extensive research and trials, the company opened a tire recycling plant in Thailand in 2019, further bolstering its sustainability and self-reliance. Last year SHEICO demonstrated its staunch commitment to going green by setting up an Environmental and Sustainability Department tasked with calculating and reducing its carbon footprint.

  As the global demand for wetsuits and other water sports gear made by environmentally responsible companies is expected to see steady growth in the coming years, Taiwan enterprises like SHEICO and Aropec are commanding an ever-more valuable share of the market, Huang said. According to statistics released by U.S.-headquartered Allied Market Research, the industry is estimated to reach a value of US$55.2 billion by 2027, up from US$43.2 billion in 2019. “Taiwan’s wetsuit industry is already a force reckoned with globally,” said Huang. “With ambition to keep innovating and moving forward, it’ll certainly continue broadening its influence.” 
 

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw