Since the beginning of 2024, footwear imports to Russia have decreased by almost 12%, to 261 million pairs.

A significant drop was recorded in the boots category: import volume decreased by 41.6% year-on-year, to 13.5 million pairs. Boot imports also fell 5.7%, to 57.4 million pairs. At the same time, imports of sneakers showed an increase of 19.9%.

The general director of the Stockmann chain, Gennady Levkin, explains the reduction in purchases due to the drop in consumer demand. In his words, in 2025 a decrease in purchasing volume is expected, 10% compared to the current year. Econika co-owner Sergei Sarkisov notes that the company places orders 7-8 months before the start of the season.

Analysts earlier recorded an overall decline in consumer activity in the fashion segment. According to Focus Technologies, in summer traffic in clothing and footwear stores in Russia fell by 10% year-on-year, and in September the drop reached 12%.

Zenden CEO Alexander Sarychev notes that the reduction in orders is due to excess purchases in 2022-2023, when retailers expected demand to grow. Among the reasons is also the increase in the cost of loans.

Magic group president Alexander Peremyatov adds that the decline in foreign supplies is partly due to difficulties in paying counterparties. It emphasizes that footwear is a seasonal product, the supply of which is important at a strictly defined time, and interruptions can have serious consequences.

Imports constitute an important part of the footwear supply in Russia: in the third quarter their share was 65.6% (in 2023, 70.6%). The main suppliers are China, India, Pakistan and Türkiye. Levkin notes that Vietnam also remains an important source of supplies.

Due to the decrease in imports in July-September, the total supply of footwear on the Russian market decreased by 2.9% to 146.5 million pairs. The national production volume increased by 13.6% year-on-year, up to 50.4 million pairs. Ozon noted that the range of Russian platform shoes has multiplied by 2.2 and that of imported ones by one and a half times. Wildberries claims that the share of Russian footwear in sales exceeds 25%.

Peremyatov is confident that the volume of imported supplies will recover over time. He noted that shoes are a category where consumers are not willing to save. Yandex Market also confirmed that demand for shoes is especially high during sales periods.

According to Ozon, in the last six months the demand for products of Russian designers on the market has doubled. For one customer there are four orders for locally produced clothing, shoes and accessories.