The USD five-billion Taiwanese company Shoe Town Group and Chennai-based Kothari Industrial Corporation (KICL) plan to extend their partnership by setting up two more factories in Tamil Nadu. The plant will be established to manufacture non-leather shoes.

JR One Footwear, a JV company between Phoenix Kothari Footwear (of KICL) and Shoe Town Group, has invested Rs 5,000 crore in a unit in Perambalur to manufacture Crocs.

The JV is also planning a unit in the component cluster at Perambalur.

Both the factories will employ nearly 50,000 people.

In its China-plus strategy, Tamil Nadu is the preferred choice due to low labour cost and manpower.

The company supplies technologically-upgraded products to global brands such as Nike, Adidas, Crocs, Skechers and Colombia.