Despite a strong start to 2025, the Dutch retail sector has been experiencing some volatility. Sales in the footwear sector recorded significant fluctuations, reaching their lowest point in April with a decline of 7.5%, before recovering to a decline of 2.5% in May. Notably, the footwear sector experienced negative inflation in these months, meaning consumers paid less for footwear. However, imports to the Netherlands have increased in the first quarter, and Retail confidence remains above zero. Therefore, despite negative consumer confidence and a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, there may still be some hope for the rest of the year   

We spoke to Andy Polk, Executive Director of the Footwear Innovation Foundation and Vice President of the FDRA, to learn more about the newly established Foundation and its most recent initiative, the Footwear LaunchPad   

Both the US President Donald Trump and the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said that the tariffs faced by the Southeast Asian country would be reduced from 32% to 19%   

In light of the anticipated increase in defence spending by NATO countries, the Portuguese footwear industry is gearing up to increase its production of technical footwear   

The Japan-based fashion retailer Fast Retailing has reported a strong performance over the first nine months of its fiscal year, reiterating its outlook for the full year