Textile footwear represents one third of all traded footwear

It is the tenth edition of a report that analyses the most important trends within the worldwide footwear industry. Data for 2019, both in quantity and value, is available, making it possible to position the main players with regards to production, consumption, exports and imports. The publication is divided in two parts. A first chapter with a deep analysis of the World Footwear industry in 2019, with special focus on the sector's leading global players, and a second part with a detailed analysis of 84 different markets.

The steep increase in the importance of textile footwear has been the most remarkable feature of the evolution of international footwear trade over the last decade. Textile footwear now represents roughly one third of all footwear trade, up from 14.6% in 2010 (value). Both rubber & plastic and leather footwear lost share to textile. Nonetheless, rubber & plastic footwear still represents almost half (47.5%) of the volume of all footwear exported worldwide and leather footwear represents 38.8% of its value.

The contrast between the different types of footwear is even more vivid when the evolution of exports is measured in absolute terms, not in market share. Since 2010 the number of pairs exported fell slightly for rubber & plastic (-1.7%) and leather (-8.1%) but increased by 80% for textile footwear.

Footwear Production

Worldwide footwear production has increased by 21.2% since 2010 at an average yearly growth rate of 2.2%. In 2019 the industry slowed down, growing by only 0.6%. However, this was enough to establish a new production record of 24.3 billion pairs, a record which might hold for a few years yet, given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The footwear industry continues to be strongly concentrated in Asia where almost 9 out of every 10 pairs of shoes are manufactured. Over the last decade, Asia has slightly strengthened its dominance in the international scene, increasing its share of world production by some 2 percentage points.