Market Trends of Footwear Industry
Potential Increase in Demand for the Athletic Footwear Segment
- Growing enthusiasm and awareness regarding the health benefits of sports and fitness activities, the flourishing retail e-commerce sector worldwide, and rising levels of disposable income of consumers are the key factors facilitating segment growth. Rising health concerns because of a sedentary lifestyle and the resultant problems caused by it are benefitting athletic footwear demand. This influences people to actively take part in both indoor and outdoor physical activities.
- Sports such as soccer, basketball, tennis, badminton, and other physical activities such as running, gymming, and others have become common among consumers. For instance, according to Sports England, it is estimated that about 5,896.8 participated in running, 4,842.6 in gym sessions, and 2,012.3 participated in soccer and other physical activities at least twice a month in England between 2021 and 2022. These sports require a certain amount of physical fitness and minimum equipment, such as shoes that protect feet and give comfort while performing the activity. These factors encourage the customer to buy or own more than one pair of footwear dedicated to the sport, resulting in increasing the sales of the footwear in the market.
- Moreover, major global sporting events held periodically, like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Cricket World Cup, Super Bowl, and FIFA World Cup, also boost the demand from both athletes and non-athletes individuals. For example, in March 2022, Puma partnered with Lega Serie A. Puma to be a technical partner of the football league and was the official supplier of athleisure and football for all matches in Europe. The footwear market has seen a steep rise in the demand for athletic footwear emerging from lifestyle users, owing to the growing health consciousness.
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Asia-Pacific Holds a Prominent Share in Footwear Industry
- China and India alone account for nearly one-third of the global population, and this ensures that the Asia-Pacific is the largest footwear market in the world. Countries are likely to maintain their lead as combined. They comprise almost 40% of the entire global footwear market. This can be attributed to several factors, like rapid urbanization and a preference to adopt a Western lifestyle and/or brands, especially in the middle class and rich society. The region is also home to many multinational sports equipment companies that are often at the forefront of innovation. They will likely lead the world in developing new footwear that fulfills both the penchant for design and a preference for superior quality.
- According to the Thailand Textile Institute, around USD 2.16 billion worth of leatherwear and footwear products were imported into Thailand in 2022. Thailand's imports of leather clothing and footwear grew in value that year compared to the year before. According to World Footwear, Asia alone accounted for approximately 87.4% of the world's footwear production in 2022, reflecting the region's significant concentration of the footwear manufacturing industry. This was due to the availability of cheap labor and raw materials, which allowed the manufacturers to produce the footwear at lower prices in bulk amounts. This has led to the availability of numerous options in the footwear category at competitive prices, which drives the market studied across the region.
- Moreover, the footwear industry in Asia-Pacific has been gaining traction in recent years, given people's awareness and consciousness about health and ongoing fashion trends. This has led to a slew of new players, most of whom bank on affordable price points to dive into the masses, mostly in smaller cities and towns. These brands buttress online retailers like Amazon, Flipkart, Rakuten, Foot Locker, and Myntra to penetrate the Asia-Pacific market.
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