The footwear market - France

However, the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, particularly between sports and casual footwear, due to the advent of sneakers as everyday footwear. Despite a boost in 2022 following the pandemic, the size of the footwear manufacturing market is steadily declining, settling at 630 million euros in 2023, while the retail sector remains strong with sales of 5.51 billion. This is symptomatic of international competition poorly managed by national brands, and of the backlash from the pandemic, as demonstrated by the recent receivership of the Vivarte group and the takeover of its subsidiaries by various French and international groups. Competition is therefore very strong in this sectorwith major brands such as Chausséa and André benefiting from a strong public image, as well as exclusive distributors of foreign brands, and Internet pure players such as Sarenza and Zalando benefiting from large online inventories. The sector must adapt to the digitization of the market, which has prompted the main players to invest massively in online tools, as well as to the emerging trends of clothing take-back and second-hand buying, which stand up to the fast-fashion that has hitherto ruled the apparel sector.