Footwear Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 200 footwear manufacturers in the US design and market their own products, but may also contract to produce footwear for outside designers. Products include dress and casual shoes, athletic shoes and cleats, industrial shoes, sandals, boots, ballet slippers, house slippers, and orthopedic shoes.
Changes in Fashion
Consumer interest in shoes can be fickle with styles changing and falling out of favor within seasons or a few years.
Global Competition
Imports dominate the US footwear market, accounting for 99% of sales.
Industry size & Structure
The average footwear manufacturer operates a single location, employs 46 workers, and generates about $8 million in annual revenue.
- The footwear manufacturing industry consists of about 200 companies that employ 9,200 workers and generate $1.6 billion in annual revenue.
- 44% of footwear manufacturers have fewer than 5 employees, while the 10 largest firms have over 500 employees.
- The industry is highly concentrated: the 8 largest companies account for 60% of industry revenue.
- The states with the largest number of footwear manufacturing facilities are Texas, California, New York and Maine.
- Companies with domestic manufacturing operations include San Antonio Shoemakers (SAS), Modern Vice, Red Wing Shoe Company, Minnetonka, MacNeill Engineering (Champ brand), and Wolverine.
- Companies may have foreign operations or contract production to foreign manufacturers. Crocs sources its production from licensed manufacturers in Asia. Sketchers designs and markets footwear, but contracts the actual manufacturing to foreign producers, primarily in Asia.
Industry Forecast
Footwear Manufacturers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Jan 13, 2025 - Manufacturers Seeking Close-to-Home Factory Partners
- According to Footwear News, more American footwear brands are considering finding a supply chain location closer to home amid the threat by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration of new tariffs. Manufacturers in the US told Footwear News that they have seen more brands looking for factory partners on US soil to avoid tariff issues. Trump has announced tariff plans of 10% to 20% on imports from all foreign countries and a 60% to 100% tariff on imports from China. About 99% of the shoes sold in the US are currently imported from China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, and tariffs in these regions could significantly increase footwear costs. Some US manufacturers had already been adjusting their supply chains to bring manufacturing locations closer to home following the supply chain meltdown during the pandemic. Hilos, which offers a US-based manufacturing solution for footwear manufacturers and recently partnered with Steve Madden to reduce its foreign production, noted that the upcoming 2028 Olympics based in Los Angeles and the 2026 US bicentennial have also driven demand among brands for “Made in the U.S.A” products. Elias Stahl, CEO of Hilos, said footwear made in the US uses new technologies and a different approach than overseas factories due in part to the fact that the US lacks the level of skilled shoe industry workers needed to assemble shoes. Per Stahl, “The way that footwear is made overseas — 65 parts assembled in 150 steps — is not viable in the U.S., nor is it necessarily something we want to bring back.”
- Producer prices for footwear manufacturers increased 1.8% in November 2024 compared to a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Employment by apparel manufacturing companies fell 5.3% in November compared to a year ago, and average wages for nonsupervisory employees dropped 3.2% to $18.64 per hour during the period, according to the BLS. US manufacturing activity contracted in December 2024, marking the ninth consecutive month of contraction for the Manufacturing PMI, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The Manufacturing PMI registered 49.3% in December, up 0.9 percentage points from the 48.4% recorded in November. A reading above 50% indicates manufacturing expansion.
- Footwear manufacturer Steve Madden has announced it is significantly reducing its production in China, to adjust to the estimated impact of president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff proposals, according to CEO Today magazine. Trump has proposed universal 10-20% tariff on imports from all countries and an additional tax on imports from China. Steve Madden’s CEO Edward Rosenfeld said the company has been preparing for the potential scenario by creating a wider network of manufacturing partners since China currently accounts for about 70% of Steven Madden’s imports. The company said it expects to reduce its sourcing from China to between 40% to 45% by the end of 2025, in order to stay competitive in the shifting landscape of tariffs and international trade. Steven Madden has said it is looking to other countries with more favorable conditions for manufacturing and is not considering moving back to the US. Per Rosenfeld, “We are not considering bringing production back to the U.S. The costs just don’t make sense for us or the industry." According to a report from the National Retail Federation, the cost of a $50 pair of sneakers could rise from $59 to $64 if the proposed tariffs go into effect.
- Footwear prices fell for the first time in a year in August 2024, declining 0.9% year over year, according to data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) in Footwear News. Women’s shoe prices decreased 2.4% in August 2024 year over year, and prices for children’s shoes were down 2.6% during the same period. These declines offset an increase of 2.2% in men’s retail footwear. Year to date, overall retail footwear prices are up 0.7%, the same as the first eight months of 2023, according to Gary Raines, a chief economist at the FDRA, in the Footwear News report. By segment, men’s and women’s footwear prices were up 2.2% and 0.6%, respectively, year to date, while children’s footwear prices were down 1.4%.
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