There are 330-340 million consumers in the US who buy footwear. Businesses need to take a lot of careful consideration when designing and developing their footwear so they produce products that consumers want to buy.
In America, we import about two and a half billion pairs of shoes every single year. Looking at this per capita, this equates to around 7.2 or 7.3 pairs of shoes for every single man, woman, and child in this country every single year.
American consumers import and purchase more footwear per capita than any country in the world. We don’t have the resources in our own country to meet the needs of the American population so we import a lot of materials from other countries.
Of the two and a half billion pairs of shoes, we may produce around 30 million pairs a year here in the US. Production takes a lot of capital-intensive investments, as well as high skilled labor to ensure that the footwear is of the highest quality.
Often, companies have to figure out more innovative ways to source their products and distribute this product through the supply chain. And this supply chain involves the movement of materials through several other countries before they arrive in America.
For example, they may be shipped to Vietnam from China, then exported out of Vietnam across the Pacific to the port of Long Beach or the port of LA. The products are then distributed to a distribution center in Southern California or somewhere in the Midwest, such as Louisville or Memphis. Finally, it is distributed out to a retailer or consumer, which can be in any state of the country.
So, as a business, it’s important to focus on sustainable practice when sourcing the materials for your footwear. This is important for both a consumer awareness perspective and an environmentally friendly perspective.
