Global footwear production remained stable in 2025, rising by just 0.1% to reach 24.6 billion pairs, according to the newly released World Footwear Yearbook 2026 published by APICCAPS, the Portuguese Footwear Association.

The report also revised its estimate for 2024, showing that global footwear production grew by nearly 10% that year. While the volume of global footwear exports slipped slightly by 0.1% in 2025, the value of exports increased by 1.6% to $172 billion.

Asia continued to dominate footwear manufacturing, accounting for 88.7% of global production. China remained the world’s largest producer with 13.7 billion pairs, representing 55.6% of total output.

India was the 2nd largest footwear producer with 3 billion pairs, followed by Vietnam with 1.7 billion pairs. Outside Asia, Brazil and Mexico were the only countries to feature among the world’s top 10 footwear producers.

The report also highlighted Asia’s growing importance as the world’s largest footwear market, accounting for 56% of global consumption. China remained the biggest consumer with 4.8 billion pairs, followed by India at 2.8 billion pairs and the United States at 1.95 billion pairs.

On a per person basis, however, North America recorded the highest footwear consumption at 4.6 pairs per person, followed by Europe at 4.1 pairs, while Africa averaged 1.6 pairs.

On the export side, China remained the leading footwear exporter, shipping 9 billion pairs in 2025. However, its global export share continued to decline, falling to 61.2% from 69.1% a decade ago. Vietnam was the biggest beneficiary of this shift, increasing its share of global footwear exports to 11.2%.

In Europe, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands continued to play an important role as logistics and re-export hubs with Germany ranking as the world’s 4th largest footwear exporter by volume.

The average global footwear export price recovered to $11.65 per pair in 2025 after declining in 2024, although it remained below the record $11.96 reached in 2023.

Europe recorded the highest average export price at $34.76 per pair, compared with $8.02 in Asia, reflecting differences in product positioning and manufacturing profiles.

For a detailed analysis and country by country insights, readers can purchase the World Footwear Yearbook 2026 from APICCAPS.