Footwear manufacturing remains heavily concentrated in two main power players: China and Vietnam. Other countries, however, are slowly taking advantage of China’s falling market share, offering alternatives to help brands broaden their diversification without leaving the region.
According to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) 2025 Footwear Production Power Rankings, compiled with data from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), China still dominates footwear production, with 964 million pairs of shoes exported to the U.S. in 2025, almost double that of Vietnam’s 574 million pairs, and almost five times as many as Indonesia (ranked third at 194 million pairs). All other countries held their 2025 ranking position over 2024 except Bangladesh, which rose two spots, Thailand, which rose to 10th place (replacing Brazil), and Germany, which fell one spot. Mexico was the only country that trended flat in 2025, with higher landed costs offsetting a weaker peso.
In general, footwear sourcing doesn’t migrate as quickly as apparel, which tends to shift around the globe in response to tariffs and local issues. “For the longest time, footwear’s top three [country] suppliers have accounted for 95% of our input or imports,” said Matt Priest, president, FDRA. “We’re not like apparel; you can’t just take your sewing machines and move overnight.”
That heavy footwear concentration helps explain why even major geopolitical and economic shocks don’t dramatically reshuffle the rankings. The system is too entrenched, and too costly, to quickly reconfigure, leading to many sourcing eggs in very few baskets.
Overall, the industry is more about adapting in place. When costs elevate, designs are engineered with fewer materials and fewer elements to “get that FOB price down,” which is taking the value out of a pair of shoes, said Priest. “The strategy mirrors the shrinkflation seen in other industries, where consumers get less for more”.
Vietnam’s Steady Rise
No country has gained more from China’s gradual pullback than Vietnam. Initially the lone recipient of China’s declining market share, Vietnam has been growing ever since, despite skeptics’ claims that it can’t grow any further.
“I remember the FDRA’s first sourcing shifts report in 2010, and we got feedback from people saying that Vietnam doesn’t have capacity, but it’s 2026 now and people are still saying that. And sourcing is still shifting there,” said Priest. Not only is Vietnam the backbone of athletic footwear, but other types of consumer goods’ categories have also shifted to there ever since trade actions of Trump’s first term. “So I will never count them out from a capacity perspective.”
From the culture to ease of working with the government, “people also enjoy sourcing from Vietnam, but at some point they will hit a ceiling.”
Vietnam has also gotten more expensive, with landed costs climbing to a 24-year high of $21.17/pair in 2025, but that hasn’t deterred shipments, which have climbed for 23 of the past 25 years, reaching a record 29% in volume in 2025.
The rise of the “spillover” economies
Despite Vietnam’s expansion, production is also spilling into neighboring countries, creating a second tier of manufacturing hubs. Cambodia, geographically adjacent to Vietnam, has emerged as one of the fastest risers, now ranked fourth. Shipments rose 50% to a record 105 million pairs in 2025, higher than 17 of the last 18 years. Average landed cost relative to the rest of the world sank to a five-year low.
“Cambodia is the one country that is really showing substantive growth, and it will always draft behind Vietnam that way,” said Priest.
Indonesia continues to hold the number 3 spot, benefiting from cost competitiveness (a 26-year-low due to a weak rupiah).
Bangladesh: the next frontier?
While further down in the top 10 rankings, Bangladesh is capturing attention for rising up two spots from last place to 8th position. Exports to the U.S. rose a hefty 76% in 2025 to a near record as the taka declined, sinking the average landed cost premium over world cost to an 18-year-low.
Bangladesh might be a global powerhouse in apparel, but Priest notes footwear sourcing there remains “exploratory.”
“There are a number of companies that are kicking the tires to see what’s possible there,” he said. “Bangladesh is a part of the sourcing mix for a number of our companies, but once we get beyond Indonesia and Cambodia, it’s much smaller volumes relative to the major players within that list.” Additionally, footwear’s complexity requires specialized labor and capital investment to get infrastructure up to speed.
Looking at the rankings, it’s clear that not all sourcing follows the same rules, or a race to the bottom on price like many Asian countries. Italy, for example, operates in a completely different orbit with the highest landed costs of all countries and volumes of only 20 million pairs; a tiny number compared to Asian producers.
“Italy is like wine,” Priest said. “It’s known for quality, luxury footwear. And it operates in its own hemisphere.”
