The footwear market in France

The primary function of footwear is to protect the foot. However, footwear is also a fashion accessory, responding to a logic of renewal other than simple functional use until the shoe wears out. The footwear market covers all types of footwear, from those worn daily to those used for a specific activity.

There are several categories of footwear, according to the Fédération française de la chaussure:

Town and leisure footwear

Sports footwear

Indoor footwear

Work and safety footwear

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.