Highlights
US Retail: recovery gains ground amid ongoing pressures
Clothing and footwear sales have improved since January, with the latter already exceeding last year’s figures, but overall retail remains slightly below 2024’s levels. Although holiday forecasts point to moderate growth, rising inflation, falling consumer confidence and shifting interest rates suggest an economically fragile backdrop. Trade pressures are also having an impact on the sector: the value of footwear imports increased, but their volume fell, suggesting that retailers are absorbing higher costs through surgical price increases. A one-year suspension of additional tariffs on Chinese footwear provides temporary relief, but economic uncertainty persists
Premium ContentFrom demographics to demand: what lies ahead for the footwear industry
Demographic change, evolving consumer preferences, technological innovation and increasing economic fragmentation are reshaping the global footwear industry, a theme explored at an international conference held under the FAIST Agenda
Kering Foundation launches research programme on violence against women and children
In partnership with McGill University and the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), the Kering Foundation is launching a research programme that addresses the intersection between violence against women and children



































