Prices of footwear to continue to increase

Expectations for the prices of footwear suffered a drastic upward tilt since the last edition of this Bulletin, in line with inflationary pressures that are being felt around the world: more than three quarters of our experts now expect prices to increase, while only 3% believe they will decrease. Only one in five respondents expects prices to remain unchanged.

This sentiment is common to respondents operating in every line of business and reflects the recent business context dominated by the rising inflation registered in some countries, the growing costs of raw materials or the rocketing transport costs (which are reflecting serious issues experienced within the global supply chain). All of these factors combined, if persisting, may help explain this expected pressure on footwear prices .


Geographically, perspectives on the evolution of prices are slightly more cautious in Africa or Asia than in other continents, but the balance of extreme answers is larger than 50 percentage points everywhere.


 

Contents

Executive Summary
Business Context
Health of the Business
Employment Level
Prices
Quantity
Difficulties
Types of Footwear
Possible Explanations
Retail Channels
Post-Pandemic Expectations
Footwear Prices to Grow 20% Until 2025
Footwear Business not Expected to be Carbon Neutral by 2050
About the Survey

About the Survey

In 2019 the World Footwear has created the World Footwear' expert panel and is now conducting a Business Conditions Survey every semester.

The objective of the World Footwear Experts Panel Survey is to collect information regarding the current business conditions within the worldwide footwear markets and then to redistribute such information in a way it will provide an accurate overview of the situation of the global footwear industry.

The fifth edition of this online survey was conducted during the month of October 2021. We have obtained 122 valid answers, 43% coming from Europe, 30% from Asia, 13% and 7% from North and South America, respectively, 6% from Africa and 1% from Oceania. Half of respondents are involved in footwear manufacturing (manufacturers) – 31% – or footwear trade and distribution (traders) – 19% – and the other half in other footwear-related activities such as trade associations, consultancy, journalism, etc. (others).