"To cooperate with foreign shoemakers would not only help Chinese firms to avoid EU's anti-dumping duties, but also help Chinese shoes step into the international market," said Xie Rongfang, secretary of the Wenzhou Shoe and leather making industry association.

Xie cited the example of Aokang, which produces shoes with its Italian partner GEOX in Italy and more than 70 percent of their products sells at EU market.

The EU's anti-dumping duty sanctions has also promoted Chinese shoes producers to update their strategy for development.

"The development of Chinese shoe-making industry can not always rely on low cost. Improving the quality and grade of our product is the only way out," said Wu Chunyue, general manger of the imports and exports corporation under the Aokang Group.

In a long-term view, the trade barriers like anti-dumping, would force the Chinese shoe-making industry to shift its growth mode from currently quantity-oriented way to quality-oriented way, said Xie.

In the world's industrial shoe chain, the EU is superior in the design, technology, equipment and sales network, but China is good at processing and has a low-cost labor force, according to Xie.

It is unfair to portray Chinese shoe firms as lacking the product quality or promotional imagination to succeed on its own in foreign markets, but Chinese shoemakers should realize the importance of branding to the future of China's shoe-making industry, said Xie.

"As long as it remains a maker of cheap sneakers, China will have to endure constant repetition of shoe wars. So, what we should do is to take the challenge as another opportunity for development," he said.

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