Learn 5 footwear market trends for 2025 to help you make smarter, more sustainable, and more profitable business plans.
Giving footwear buyers what they want isn’t only about quality. It’s about paying attention to what the market wants. Let’s explore five key footwear market trends—and how you can use NuORDER to meet these evolving needs.
Trend #1: Switching from DTC to Wholesale
Direct to consumer (DTC) has become more difficult in recent years. Competing on popular platforms means the risk of getting lost in a sea of ads. The harder this environment gets, the more your brand may have to work — and spend — to stand out.
The 2023 PowerReviews’ Apparel Shopping Trends survey says a majority of footwear spending is now online, with 58% of shoppers spending at least $50 a month online on shoe purchases. But there may be a happy middle ground — using digital technology to access a more traditional wholesale approach to selling footwear. With NuORDER, you can build online catalogs and use digital pricing strategies, like unique pricing for preferred customer segments. The result is a DTC “feel” in a wholesale environment, helping your brand stand out.
Trend #2: The Demand for Sustainable Footwear
The U.S. Department of the Interior finds that of 20 billion pairs of footwear produced annually, about 300 million of those end up in landfills and may take centuries to decompose naturally. Many of those are chock-full of non-biodegradable materials. Customers are noticing. Brands are following suit with more sustainable footwear designs. For instance, in 2024, Asics started selling a shoe that’s designed to be dismantled and recycled.
Footwear brands are also reviewing their supply chains. Creating its own Green Leaf Standard for procurement, New Balance aims to ensure that products are at least 50% sustainable material. What’s more, Steve Madden is revamping its sustainability audits of suppliers to encourage accountability and transparency.
Expect future wholesale buyers to ask more sustainability questions — and maybe to expect specific shopping options so they can offer the same to their customers.
Trend #3: 3D Technology
Shoe design is happening faster than ever thanks to 3D printing. But 3D technology can do more than create rapid prototypes. 3D printing from home could one day provide custom-made insoles featuring materials from top brands. And 3D technology can make shopping online a vastly different experience.
3D modeling, for example, is one NuORDER feature you can use to create 360-degree images before a buyer clicks “order.” It’s more than putting an image on a turntable: a fully-3D shoe preview gives buyers a look from every angle, giving your products an advantage over sellers who only offer photos.
Trend #4: Comfort Over Everything
Remember that 2023 PowerReviews’ Apparel Shopping Trends Survey we mentioned? When asked about the most important factor in shoe shopping decisions, comfort topped the list for 93% of shoppers. What’s more, 77% of customers look to ratings and reviews for guidance when shopping for shoes — shoppers are doing their due diligence to source the most comfortable shoes.
Brands are taking note. The founder of Spanx recently unveiled Sneex, a redesigned comfort high-heel line. Lululemon, Heydude, and others also have new shoes and campaigns that are placing a great emphasis on comfort.
Trend #5: Customized Footwear
NuORDER’s Assortments feature creates a collaborative environment for your team, mixing in automation so your wholesale buyers only see the latest and most up-to-date product inventory. You can use Assortments to identify customer needs and customize what they see, creating a “bespoke” experience.
Knowing your sales data from this back end will be vital. It means you can create these bespoke experiences for buyers, ensuring that your products match buyer needs. And custom is the name of the game these days. The more customized your offerings, the more you create a DTC-like experience—without the headaches of expensive advertising.
Interested in using NuORDER to become more responsive to evolving customer trends? Book a demo with us today.
