How Modern Supply Chains Work: Tracing a Pair of Sneakers Around the World

Raw Materials and Tier-N Sourcing: Where a Sneaker Actually Begins

A sneaker's journey starts long before the factory floor — in rubber plantations, cotton fields, petrochemical plants, and tanneries. This module traces the upstream supply chain and the tiered supplier networks that brands like Nike rely on to turn raw inputs into shoeable components.

Just-in-Time Manufacturing in Vietnam: The Factory Floor

How lean and just-in-time production systems, born at Toyota, ended up running the floors of Vietnamese sneaker factories owned not by Nike but by Taiwanese contract manufacturers like Feng Tay and Pou Chen.

Container Shipping and Ocean Freight: The 40-Foot Box That Runs the World

How a steel box invented by a trucker in 1956 became the backbone of global trade, and how a handful of shipping alliances now control the routes, rates, and rhythms of ocean freight.

Ports, Customs, and Cross-Border Logistics

How sneakers (and everything else) get unloaded from a ship, classified by customs, taxed, and released into the domestic supply chain — and why a 10-digit number can decide whether your shipment is profitable.

Warehousing, Distribution, and Last-Mile Delivery

Once a sneaker clears customs, it enters a domestic distribution machine of fulfillment centers, sortation hubs, and delivery stations — and then faces the most expensive leg of the entire journey: the last mile to a doorstep.

The 2021 Disruptions: Anatomy of a Supply Chain Crisis

A breakdown of how the 2021 supply chain crisis actually unfolded — from the Ever Given to LA port congestion to container shortages — and why a system optimized for efficiency couldn't absorb a single shock without amplifying it across the globe.