U.S. footwear imports saw double-digit growth in February, helped by both the strong dollar and increasing demand for the category.
According to the most recent U.S. Department of Commerce data, U.S. footwear imports increased by 17.8 percent compared to February 2015, to $2.49 billion, versus a 3.6 percent rise in overall goods and services imports in the month.
In the first two months of 2016, footwear imports have increased by almost 11 percent. China has the largest share of U.S. footwear imports, at 63 percent of the total, down from 66 percent in the first two months of 2015. Footwear imports from Vietnam have grown by 34 percent so far this year, increasing that country’s share from 14.5 percent of U.S. imports to 17.6 percent.