Who goes up and who goes down. China, Italy, Spain and Turkey down, while Portugal and Southeast Asian countries on the rise. This is the dashboard of world footwear according to the latest 2025 data collected by APICCAPS, the Portuguese association of footwear, leather and component manufacturers, association that publishes the World Footwear Yearbook every year.
Who goes up and who goes down
The world’s top player in the footwear industry is China, but its leadership is declining again this year. Between January and August 2025, Chinese exports fell 2% in volume, (6.05 billion pairs) and 8.8% in value ($28.9 billion), compared to the same period last year. The trend would reflect, according to APICCAPS, both the changing structure of the Chinese economy and trade tensions with the US. In other words, tariffs lead brands to shift production volumes to other Asian countries. For example: Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Between January and July, Vietnam recorded $14.1 billion in exports (+9.5%). Indonesia is at 4.2 billion (+13.6%) and India at 1.4 billion (+3.7%).
European dashboard
In Europe, Portugal beats Italy and Spain. In the first seven months of the year, Portuguese exports reached 1 billion euros, an increase of 2.4%. Conversely, Spain recorded a 1.9% drop to 2.1 billion; Italy slipped to 5.8 billion (-1.6%). Germany is also in positive: +1.4% to 5.7 billion. Overall, the EU showed a 3.2% increase in the value of exports (29.3 billion euros). In difficulty was Turkey, due to the devaluation of the lira: Turkish exports fell 14.6% to $612 million.
Imports
On the import front, the U.S. (the world’s largest market for shoe purchases) imported 1.3 billion pairs (+0.4%) worth $16 billion (+4.6%) between January and July. Data that suggests, writes APICCAPS, a shift by U.S. consumers toward more expensive products. More simply, data shows rising prices due to U.S. tariffs. Then there is Brazil, where imports increased 28.8% between January and July. According to Abicalçados (the Brazilian footwear industry association), this figure reflects the invasion of cheap Chinese products, a consequence of the U.S.-China trade war.
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