According to the American Apparel & Footwear Association's (AAFA) newly released ShoeStats 2008 report, the average American continued to shop for footwear in 2007, though not with the tenacity of recent years.
While Americans still bought almost 2.4 billion pairs of shoes in 2007, that number represented a slight decrease from 2006, indicating America's love affair with shoes may be softening because of a slowing U.S. economy.
ShoeStats 2008 examines business and trade information, covering U.S. footwear consumption, production, employment, imports and retail prices. The report is derived from AAFA's 2007 Trends: An Annual Statistical Analysis of the U.S. Apparel and Footwear Industries publication.
“Shoes will always be a necessary purchase,” explained Kevin M. Burke, President and CEO, AAFA. “How much shoppers buy though is clearly influenced by overall economic trends.”
“As we begin to see the cost of goods tick up and retail sales slow, it becomes more imperative than ever for Congress to pass the Affordable Footwear Act (H.R. 3934/S. 2372), legislation that would eliminate the hidden regressive import taxes on low-cost shoes,” continued Burke.
“This edition of ShoeStats tracks new and continuing industry trends and may help business leaders in their decision-making process going forward,” continued Burke.
American Apparel & Footwear Association
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