According to an attention grabbing report issued by Transparency Market Research, the global footwear market is expected to make lengthy strides, reaching $211.5 billion by 2018.
The study identifies Asia as the epicenter of the aggressive expansion of the industry. It seems set to grab 30.1% of global footwear revenues by 2018. Europe, a distant second, is projected to take 21%.
Asia will benefit from its comparably low manufacturing costs and increased domestic consumption fueled by rising incomes. A bigger middle class translates into more demand for shoes.
While athletic footwear will benefit from a modest 1.8% annual growth it’s non-athletic footwear that is expected to make major leaps forward, due to an emphasis on increasing fashion-forward designs and the proliferation of celebrity endorsements.
Children’s footwear is forecast to make robust gains, growing 3.7% annually.
A hefty 70% of the global footwear market is consumed by five major players: Puma, Nike, Adidas, Reebok and New Balance. Most of the remaining market is dominated by K-Swiss, Asics, Converse and Sketchers.
