May/June 2022 ~ Footwear Insight • 9 footwearinsight.com
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HER WORKING
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puma-safety.com
By Bob McGee
U
.S. athletic footwear sales, aer dipping 4 percent
during the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, grew
20.3 percent last year to more than $19.9 billion,
according to the 2022 SFIA Manufacturers' Sales by
Category report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.
Fourteen footwear categories posted double-digit wholesale
sales increases in 2021 led by fitness/workout (+42.5%), running
(+32.6%) and walking (+27.8%). Running, with more than $5.85
billion in wholesale sales, represented the largest segment and
exceeded the second-largest category of Classics/Originals ($2.88
billion) by more than 103 percent.
No athletic footwear category suffered a sales drop last year.
But in two-year segment comparisons of 2019 to 2021, the three
team footwear categories of football (-11.8), baseball (-11.6%) and
volleyball (-11.5%) all suffered double-digit drops and were un-
doubtedly impacted by school closures and schedule cancellations
during the pandemic. During the same two years, the soccer boot
segment was flat and basketball shoe category was up 6.3 percent. n
No Surprise: Athletic
Footwear Sales Were
Up this Past Year
RESEARCH
