Footwear: a mapping of global production

As highlighted in a previous article published in Magazine International, export figures for the first half of 2026 show different performances among the main footwear-producing Countries. These results reflect different abilities to respond to current market conditions, but are also the consequence of the different production specialization characterizing each country.

The footwear sector, in fact, is far from homogeneous and comprises product categories with different characteristics, market positioning and destination markets. Production specialization can therefore become an important key to interpreting the different dynamics observed in international markets.

Production dynamics differ across footwear categories

An analysis of footwear production over the 2022-2025 period highlights a polarization of the market, with technical segments growing while open footwear (sandals) and less specialized products have generally contracted.

The production mix includes four footwear categories with a production value exceeding €25 billion:

• Town footwear with uppers of leather remains the largest segment overall, with €71 720 million.
• Town footwear with rubber is the second-largest category, with €50 645 million.
• Casual footwear with textile uppers represents a significant segment worth €39 937 million.
• Sports footwear with textile uppers completes the group of the main categories, with €25 590 million.

Table 1 - Footwear: Global production dynamics by product category

Source: ExportPlanning calculations

Fastest-growing segments

Only a few segments recorded a positive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2022-2025 period, with technical products clearly prevailing:

• Waterproof footwear with protective toe caps: the most dynamic segment, with growth of +6.9% in value and +9.4% at constant prices.
• Sports footwear with textile uppers: recorded a +2.0% increase in value, although volumes (at constant prices) declined by -5.6%.
• Town footwear with uppers of leather: showed marginal value growth of +0.2%, against a decline in volumes of -2.3%.

Segments experiencing the sharpest slowdown

The most pronounced decline over the 2022-2025 period affected open footwear and non-technical rubber or textile products:

• Natural leather sandals: recorded the sharpest decline, with -22.2% in value and -33% at constant prices.
• Rubber sandals: declined by -14.2% in value and -17.8% in volume.
• Rubber boots and Other textile footwear: both recorded an annual decline in value of -8.9%.
• Casual footwear with textile uppers: despite growing in 2025 alone (+3.3%), the segment showed a negative trend over the four-year period, with -2.9% in value and a significant -8.1% at constant prices.

In summary, the resilience of production value was supported by premium segments (leather) and technical and protective products, while sectors linked to seasonality (sandals) and the non-specialized mass market (rubber boots) experienced the sharpest slowdowns.

Production composition of the sector's main players

An analysis of the production composition of the 15 leading global players reveals distinct industrial models, with clear geographical specialization across the rubber, leather and sports footwear segments.

Asian producers have a production structure that is more oriented towards rubber and sports footwear:

• China: production is heavily concentrated in town footwear with rubber (45.9% of the total) and casual footwear with textile uppers (22.4%), which together account for more than two-thirds of total production.
• Vietnam: has a more balanced profile between leather city footwear (28.9% of total production value), sneaker-type sports footwear (24.6%) and rubber footwear (19.9%).
• Indonesia: stands out for production focused on sneaker-type sports footwear (30.3% of the total) and sports footwear with textile uppers (23.6%), which together account for more than half of total value.
• India: the Country specializes in leather footwear (42.2% of total value), followed by sports footwear with textile uppers (11.3%) and uppers (9.3%).
• Cambodia: production is focused on leather footwear (34.9% of total production) and rubber footwear (23.5%).

The European model is characterized by a significant prevalence of high-quality leather footwear:

• Italy: shows a strong specialization in leather, with town footwear with uppers of leather accounting for 54.4% of total production.
• Portugal: has the highest share by far in the leather footwear segment (70.8% of total production), with only a marginal presence in other segments.
• Germany: although focused on leather (42.9%), maintains a significant share of rubber footwear (20.1%) and casual footwear with textile uppers (16.6%).
• France: production is mainly divided between leather footwear (47.2%) and casual footwear with textile uppers (22.9%).
• Spain: has a profile similar to France, with 42.4% of production consisting of town footwear with uppers of leather and 20.2% represented by casual footwear with textile uppers.
• Poland: production is oriented towards leather (39.9%) and rubber (22.2%), with a significant component of casual footwear with textile uppers (21.2%).

The analysis highlights three main structural differences.
The predominance of leather products in Europe. While in European countries leather footwear almost always accounts for more than 40% of production (reaching 70% in Portugal), in Asia this share is generally lower, with the exception of India.

In Asia, rubber products prevail. In China, the rubber footwear segment is dominant (45.9%), a category that rarely exceeds 20% in Europe (Germany and Poland) and is almost negligible in Italy (9.8%) and Portugal (7.2%).

Southeast Asian Countries, particularly Indonesia and Vietnam, dominate the sports footwear segment, whether sneakers with leather uppers or sports footwear with textile uppers.

Conclusions

The analysis of production composition therefore makes it possible to interpret the performance of the world's leading footwear players from a different perspective.

On the one hand, Asian Countries have greater exposure to rubber products and sports footwear, which have shown different dynamics within the global market in recent years. On the other hand, the leading European producers are more heavily concentrated in leather footwear.

It is precisely this different composition that represents a key factor in interpreting the competitiveness of different production systems. In a market characterized by increasingly selective demand, specialization is not merely a constraint; it can become a positioning factor: technical and higher-functional-content segments show greater resilience, while categories more exposed to seasonality and the mass market are more vulnerable.

For the European industry, and particularly for the Italian industry, a clear challenge therefore emerges: to defend the competitive advantage built on quality and specialization in the leather segment, while continuing to capture the evolution of international demand. A joint analysis of production and international trade is therefore essential to understand not only who is growing the most, but also through which production model.

To jointly analyse footwear production by product category and the corresponding production technologies, the ExportPlanning Information System enables users to:

• identify footwear segments with the strongest production dynamics;
• analyse the markets where demand for the technologies used in footwear production is concentrated, and identify those recording the highest growth rates.

An integrated analytical approach to identify the footwear segments with the highest growth potential and the production technologies supporting their development.