The Vast Majority of Shoes Sold in the U.S. Are Made Elsewhere

U.S. retail stores specializing in shoes sold $40.6 billion in goods during 2022, per U.S. Census Bureau reports, up significantly from $27.0 billion in 2020. (This number does not include the massive number of shoes sold in department stores, in sporting goods stores and on internet sites like Zappos.)

According to the American Apparel & Footwear Association (www.aafaglobal.org), Americans purchase more than 2.2 billion pairs of shoes yearly. About 98% of those shoes are imported, and China is one of the most important sources. (However, as wages and other costs are rising in China, manufacturing is starting to migrate to lower cost nations such as Vietnam and Cambodia.) Major Chinese shoe manufacturers include Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd., Li Ning Co. Ltd. and Belle International Holdings Ltd. One long-term result of the Coronavirus pandemic may be a desire by shoe brands to spread their manufacturing base over a wider range of nations in order to be less reliant on China.

While a handful of manufacturers, such as Allen-Edmonds (a high-end maker of men’s shoes), are able to maintain factories in the U.S., domestic manufacturing is all but dead. Another exception is New Balance. This maker of high-end running and athletic shoes operates five factories in the U.S. While New Balance gets much of its inventory from overseas factories, the firm has taken an interesting position with its manufacturing philosophy. It is the only major running shoe brand that continues to operate plants in the U.S., while its major competitors, such as Nike and Reebok, get most or all of their shoes from Asia.

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The Vast Majority of Shoes Sold in the U.S. Are Made Elsewhere, Business and Industry Trends Analysis

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