Key Facts and Figures

European shoes are recognised worldwide as a distinctive symbol of traditional values combined with high quality products.

Top 5 exporters in Europe in 2022 were Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands. Germany leads European exports in volume, Italy in value. Italy is the sole representative among the world’s top producers.

In the same year, footwear exports recorded a notable increase of 9%. Although the majority of these exports originate from Asian Countries, the share of exports from EU Countries has increased from 11.4% to 13.2%. Overall, at an aggregate level, the geographic pattern of footwear exports has remained largely unchanged in recent years.

Italy (12th), Spain (19th), and Portugal (20th) represent together 10.6% of the world’s top 20 producers (per Quantity) in 2022, with 7.6%, 1,8%, and 1.2% respectively.

EU exports to third countries have increased by 51% in quantity and 147% in value from 2009 until 2019, with a slightly decrease in 2020 and 2021.

In 2018, the European footwear sector (EU28) was represented by 19.856 companies and 276.742 direct employees.

As regards continental flows, intra-European trade represents nearly one third of all global footwear exports.

(Source: World Footwear Yearbook 2023)