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
Sep 19, 2024 - Footwear Prices Take Downturn
- 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%.
- Consumer confidence levels increased in August 2024, according to data from The Conference Board. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index was 103.3 in August 2024 from 101.9 in July 2024. Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, noted that confidence was the highest among those over age 35 and those in the income category of over $100,000. Plans for large appliances and smart phone purchases rose on a six-month average basis. Plans to buy a home dropped to a 12-year low while plans for car purchases improved on a six-month average basis.
- Discounts are not expected to drive footwear sales during the back-to-school shopping season, as pandemic-driven volatility in promotion activity levels out, according to a recent report from Circana. After two years of volatility, the percentage of footwear units sold on promotion returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Footwear promotional effectiveness also declined in Q1 2024. According to Circana’s Future of Footwear study, consumers say the top factors influencing their purchases for kids and teens are quality, price, and child or teen requests. Despite early brand and retailer promotions, back-to-school footwear purchases are expected to peak close to the start of school.
- US manufacturing activity contracted in August 2024 for the fifth consecutive month after a brief expansion in March, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The Manufacturing PMI registered 47.2% in August, up 0.4 percentage points from the 46.8% recorded in July. A reading above 50% indicates manufacturing expansion. Prior to the uptick in March, US manufacturing activity had fallen below the baseline for growth for 16 consecutive months. August’s New Orders Index was in the contraction zone at 44.6%. The August Production Index was 44.8%, a decrease from July’s 45.9%. Five manufacturing industries tracked by the ISM reported growth in August: Primary Metals; Petroleum & Coal Products; Furniture & Related Products; Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Products; and Computer & Electronic Products. The industries reporting contraction in August were Textile Mills; Printing & Related Support Activities; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Fabricated Metal Products; Transportation Equipment; Wood Products; Machinery; Paper Products; Chemical Products; and Miscellaneous Manufacturing.
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