World

German footwear manufacturers achieve modest sales growth in 2025

Mar 3, 2026 Germany

Sales by German footwear manufacturers rose by 3.2% year-on-year in 2025, according to the German Federal Association of the Footwear and Leather Goods Industry (HDS/L)

Data divulged by the German Association at the last MICAM trade fair shows that sales by German shoe manufacturers totalled 2.33 billion euros in 2025, up by 3.2% from 2.25 billion euros the previous year. While domestic sales increased by 6% year-on-year to reach 1.73 billion euros, foreign sales declined by 5.9% to 493 million euros.

Examining the employment figures, the number of employees at German footwear companies with 50 or more staff decreased by 1.8% to 9,124. Including smaller companies, the sector employs around 15,500 people.

International trade

In 2025, Germany exported 364.7 million pairs of shoes, worth a total of 10.6 billion euros. This figure represents a 2% increase, as compared to 2024. As in previous years, Poland was the most important destination for German shoes, with 72.9 million pairs exported, marking a year-on-year 8.1% increase. Growth in exports was also recorded for France (7.5%), Spain (15.1%) and Italy (1.5%).

At the same time, there was a 10.5% increase in shoe imports last year, with a total of 737.5 million pairs imported into the European country. On a comparable basis to 2024, imports of shoes from China to Germany rose by 6.8%, with significant increases of around a fifth also recorded for shoe imports from Vietnam and Indonesia.

Conversely, exports of shoes from India and Bangladesh to Germany fell by 2.1% and 5.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, imports from European countries such as Italy, Portugal and Spain increased by 5.2%, 16.7% and 35.0% respectively.

2026 Outlook

According to the HDS/L business survey, 40% of participating companies expect their sales to remain at the 2025 level in 2026, a level of stability that is being driven by international business. Half of the companies intend to keep their export business at the same level in 2026 as in the previous year.

Companies in the sector also identify several risks hindering economic activity. Three out of four companies consider domestic demand to be the greatest risk, with the bureaucracy also playing a crucial role – 70% of the companies surveyed consider the economic policy framework to be a risk to their economic development over the next six months.

The World Footwear 2025 Yearbook (more information available HERE) also pointed out that the country's small domestic industry, which is primarily based in the Rhineland-Palatinate region, struggled in 2024 amid an economic slowdown and shifting consumer dynamics.

Source: ostechnik.de

Image Credits: unsplash.com

Germany Exports Imports International Trade Organisations Sales