The association added that “the recovery in foreign trade was particularly noticeable in the second half” of the year – in this period, in particular, 225.75 million pairs of shoes worth 5.4 billion euros were exported, while, in the first half, the country sent abroad 175.2 million pairs of shoes, with a total value of 4.2 billion euros.

Poland and France remained the most important destination markets for Germany. In 2022, German footwear exports for France exceeded one billion euros (2021: 926.2 million euros), whilst for Poland totalled approximately 1.3 billion euros (2021: 1.08 billion euros). HDS/L added that footwear exports to the UK continue to decline. Last year, shoes sent to the UK were worth 20 million euros, as compared to 37 million euros in 2021.

The year 2022 also recorded an imports increase of 27.7% to 14.3 billion euros from 11.2 billion euros. The country purchased Italian shoes worth 1.3 billion euros, increasing only slightly as compared to the prior year. But “the future of imports clearly lies in Asia”, reads the statement. China is at the top of rank, having exported 3.9 billion shoes to the European country in 2022 (2021: 2.7 billion euros), but Vietnam is shortening the distance. Last year, Vietnam sold shoes worth 2.7 billion euros to Germany, as compared to shoes with the value of 1.7 billion euros in 2021. India is also “becoming an increasingly important trading partner for shoe imports”.

According to the World Footwear 2022 Yearbook (more information HERE), Germany is one of the key players in the international footwear market, being the second importer and the fourth exporter in terms of value.