Resources
What we tell buyers before they ask.
Material selection, tooling cost and the production realities behind a quotation, written down so a sourcing decision does not have to start from a sales call.
Why these exist
Most of what a first-time sole buyer needs to know is held by factories and released one question at a time, over email, after an enquiry. That suits the factory. It does not suit a brand trying to decide whether a programme is viable before anyone has been asked for a quotation.
These guides are the answers we give anyway, written down. They cover the two decisions that come before every other one: which material the shoe should be built on, and what the tooling will cost. Both change the shape of a programme rather than just its price.
Every figure in them is an industry reference range and is labelled as one on the page. Where Hongsole's own number differs, or where we have not published one, the guide says so rather than letting a benchmark read as a quotation.
- Product and development: choosing a sole system against a performance brief.
- Sourcing and merchandising: sizing a tooling budget before the first quotation lands.
- Anyone comparing quotations: knowing which line items are normal and which are not.
Guides
EVA, rubber or TPR. The shoe decides.
Weight, cushioning, abrasion, grip, cost and six more variables: the comparison table buyers actually use, and when the answer is a combination sole.
Updated
Read the guide →What a set of outsole moulds really costs.
Per-size pricing, aluminium vs steel, full size-run budgets and amortisation maths: the numbers most factories leave as "on enquiry".
Updated
Read the guide →Shore A, Shore C, and the number that means nothing on its own.
Which scale each sole material is quoted in, why Shore A and Shore C do not convert, what a change in hardness does underfoot, and the two mistakes that reach us most often in an RFQ.
Updated
Read the guide →
A question the guides don't cover?
Send the shoe, the drawing or the performance brief. An engineer replies with specifics for your programme, not a brochure.