• U.S. footwear consumption by volume for 2011 dropped 3.8 percent to more than 2.18 billion pairs of shoes.  While consumption dropped slightly over the significant gains made in 2010, the decrease in consumption does not represent a return to the recession-level consumption experienced in 2008 and 2009.
• While U.S. footwear consumption slightly declined in 2011, the value of sales grew by 4.8 percent to $66.1 billion at retail.  This growth reflects both the increase in price driven by higher supply chain costs, including increases in materials, labor, and transportation, as well as consumers returning to purchases of shoes at higher price-points coming out of the recession.
• 98.6 percent of footwear sold in the United States is made internationally, a 0.2 percent decline from 2010, which represents the first-ever decline in import penetration, or the amount of the U.S. footwear market supplied by imports.
• On average, every American, including every man, woman, and child in the United States spent $212 on more than seven pairs of shoes in 2011.
• Americans, on average, continue to spend an ever smaller percentage of their household income to buy more shoes.

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is the national trade association representing apparel, footwear and other sewn products companies, and their suppliers, which compete in the global market.  AAFA's mission is to promote and enhance its members' competitiveness, productivity and profitability in the global market by minimizing regulatory, commercial, political, and trade restraints.

American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA)