U.S. footwear imports fell by one percent to $19 billion in the first nine months of 2017 from $19.3 billion in the year-earlier period, according to the most recent import data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Although China maintained its position as largest supplier of U.S. footwear, at 56.5% of total, it lost 2.5 percentage points of U.S. footwear import share in the past year, as shipments fell by 5.2% to $10.8 billion.
Year-to-date imports from Vietnam have grown by 12.4%, increasing that country’s share from 18.8% of U.S. imports to 21.3%.
Footwear imports from Indonesia grew by 6.3%, bringing the total from that country to more than $1 billion dollars and 5.9% of the total.
Italy is the United States’ fourth largest trading partner in shoes, as well as the priciest. The average pair of imported Italian shoes carried a value of almost $74, more than nine times the value of a pair from China.
The Dominican Republic saw its footwear shipments to the U.S. fall by 30 percent, the most of any top 10 trading partner.
