Shoes are a wardrobe piece that needs to be both functional and fashionable. It’s a product that people need every time they step outside their house for various occasions.
The shoe industry is fairly young compared to other multi-billion dollar business trades. Most shoe companies responsible for the pile of sneakers in your closet have only been around to build their business for a little over 50 years.
While many of the largest shoe companies in the world are on the newer side of the spectrum, that hasn’t limited their success in terms of revenue and sales in the slightest. The biggest shoe manufacturers around the globe collectively make near a trillion dollars annually.
If you’re curious to find out more about the major contenders in the footwear industry, read through the following ten largest shoe companies globally.
Nike. Oregon, USA
Annual Revenue: $34.4 billion
Number of Employees: 73,100
Year Founded: 1964
The iconic Nike ‘swoosh’ logo and their catchy slogan “Just Do It” are easily recognized by everyone worldwide. Nike, Inc. is known as being a quintessential producer of American sportswear since its establishment in 1964.
Back then, the company went by the name of Blue Ribbon Sports. The business name changed to reflect their most popular brand of shoe, Nike. After steadily opening retail stores to sell their athletic shoes, Nike had locations in over 170 countries by the 2000s.
While Nike’s success is attributed to its high-quality product, it’s also thanks to the sponsorships of major athletes.
Some of Nike’s many celebrity endorsem*nts include:
Cristiano Ronaldo
Tiger Woods
Michael Jordan
Lebron James
Nike spends more than any other shoe company to get top athletes on board with their brand. It’s an investment that’s paid off according to their yearly revenue and growth over time because Nike, Inc. is the largest shoe company in the world.
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Adidas. Herzogenaurach, Germany
Annual Revenue: €19.84 billion ($23.9 billion)
Number of Employees: 57,000
Year Founded: 1949
The history behind Adidas tells the tale of brotherly rivalry. Adidas was founded in Germany under the name “Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory” to supply athletes with top-of-the-line equipment, like running shoes.
The two brothers who formed the company, Adi and Rudolf Dassler, worked in harmony to build the business for 25 years. However, in 1949, they split off to establish their sportswear organizations after tensions mounted between the two. Their separation was the birth of Adidas through Adi and their rival Puma by Rudolf.
While both companies went on to find success, Adidas came out on top. The infamous three-stripe logo is represented around the globe on its athletic clothing and shoes. Adidas is the second-largest shoe brand today, selling more than 445 million pairs every year.
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Kering. Paris, France
Annual Revenue: €13.1 billion ($15.8 billion)
Number of Employees: 38,000
Year Founded: 1963
While the two largest shoe companies in the world specialize in shoes for athletes, the third-largest has a very different footwear focus. Kering is the owner and manufacturer of several well-known luxury shoewear brands.
Some of the luxury brands that Kering manages include:
Saint Laurent
Gucci
Bottega Veneta
Balenciaga
Pomellato
While Kering represents some of the most well-known shoe companies today, that’s not how the company started. Originally, the company was founded by Francois Pinault to function in timber trading.
This business strategy slowly moved towards retail over its first twenty years. After several big acquisitions at the turn of the century, Kering became quickly synonymous with the luxury shoe and clothing brands it owned.
Kering’s accumulation of luxury brands has made them one of the largest shoe companies globally based on revenue.
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Skechers. California, USA
Annual Revenue: $4.6 billion
Number of Employees: 11,800
Year Founded: 1992
Skechers is one of the youngest shoe corporations in the business. Founded nearly 30 years ago, their brand mostly handles sneaker and casual footwear products. Their main demographic is adults between the ages of 18 and 40 looking for trendy and comfortable shoes.
Five years after its inception, they had over 900 styles of shoes available for their customers and sold them in over 2,000 stores internationally. Skechers still has many different kinds of shoe styles, including:
Casual sneakers
Athletic sneakers
Sandals
Wedges
Flats
Not only is Skechers considered one of the largest shoe companies in the world, but they’re also the fastest-growing footwear business on the market.
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New Balance Athletics Inc. Massachusetts, United States
Annual Revenue: $4.5 billion
Number of Employees: 5,000
Year Founded: 1906
Another wildly successful shoe brand the specializes in athletic footwear is New Balance. New Balance has been around for over a century and has used that time to build a shoe brand that endures the test of time.
William Riley founded the company in 1906 to create a shoe that provided arch support points that enhanced comfortability and balance. Hence, the ‘New Balance’ title.
Some of the New Balance products available today include:
Basketball shoes
Running shoes
Baseball shoes
Skateboarding shoes
Casual shoes
Although New Balance doesn’t bring in the hefty annual revenue that its higher-ranking competitors have, it’s still one of the most influential and longest-running shoe companies worldwide.
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Burberry. London, United Kingdom
Annual Revenue: $3.5 billion
Number of Employees: 9,752
Year Founded: 1856
Burberry is another modern shoe company with an extensive history that spans over 150 years. 21-year-old Thomas Burberry founded the company way back in 1856 as a fabric and garment business.
It wasn’t until the twentieth century that the first Burberry storefront opened in London to showcase their unique durable, and waterproof fabric. These went on to be the template for most rain gear attire.
Burberry was trademarked and became the main supplier of clothing to the British Army in World War II. Burberry spread globally and eventually introduced luxury shoes known for holding the same high-quality standard of materials.
While Burberry’s main focus is luxury clothing, their shoe line remains one of the largest worldwide according to revenue and global employment numbers.
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Asics Corp. Kobe, Japan
Annual Revenue: $3.15 billion
Number of Employees: 7,864
Year Founded: 1977
Asics is a Japanese sportswear shoe company created to cater to the wide variety of sports becoming available in the Olympics during the 1970s. The company’s main objective of their athletic shoe line is to improve people’s health, and in turn, their lives.
Asics started by releasing their basketball shoes to the public in 1950, but they’ve gone on to diversify their portfolio greatly over the years.
Today, Asics has many different kinds of athletic shoes for:
Marathon running
Wrestling
Gymnastics
Soccer
Baseball
Fencing
Volleyball
The variation in their athletic footwear products has made Asics one of the largest shoe companies around the world.
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Converse. Massachusetts, USA
Annual Revenue: $1.9 billion
Number of Employees: 3,500
Year Founded: 1908
Converse began in the twentieth century when they gained traction as a footwear producer that made military-grade boots and rubber shoes.
However, the brand leaned more towards athletic shoes and stylish casual sneakers after releasing the iconic Converse All-Stars in 1917. The introduction of these basketball shoes resulted in a massive spike in Converse shoe sales.
Converse remained a global leader in the shoe market for the next fifty years by designing innovative shoes that attracted customers.
The company also gained a positive reputation in the sports community over the 1980s for sponsoring national basketball events. Much of the company’s global success came from expanding with professional basketball itself.
Like Nike, Converse gained a great deal of its success and notoriety from its investment in endorsem*nts from athletes. The sponsorship strategy has proved to be triumphant for Converse because they’ve been one of the biggest shoe companies on the planet for over a hundred years.
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Steve Madden. New York City, USA
Annual Revenue: $1.4 billion
Number of Employees: 3,172
Year Founded: 1990
The story of the women’s footwear company Steven Madden, Ltd. describes a business that truly started from the ground up. Named after its founder, Steve Madden was created with a mere sum of $1,100 and the idea of selling fashionable footwear.
Over the first year of its existence, Steve Madden came out with its signature chunky platform shoe, which revolutionized women’s footwear styles of the day and bolstered the company’s success.
By the time Steve Madden had reached its 5th birthday, the company had brought 38 million dollars in sales annually. Their revenue has only increased in recent years. Their profitability comes from the shoe company’s many popular brands, such as:
Steven by Steve Madden
MADDEN
Betsy Johnson
Stevies
Madden Girl
The business that started with a little over a grand now has 250 Steve Madden stores selling their chic shoes across 65 different countries. An impressive feat considering that the brand has only existed for 30 years. This makes Steve Madden, Ltd. one of the largest shoe billion-dollar companies in the world.
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Dr. Martens. Wollaston, United Kingdom
Annual Revenue: £672.2 Million ($933.3 Million)
Number of Employees: 990
Year Founded: 1947
Dr. Marten’s shoe brand became popularized in the late 1940s for its bulky and sturdy boot that working-class citizens could depend on. They had a unique design because the boot featured an air-cushioned sole that was more comfortable than the common leather one.
In the 1960s, the Dr. Martens boot became a fashion icon during a time of societal change. People were attracted to the functionality and funkiness of Dr.Marten’s shoes. The brand quickly embraced the punk fashion culture that was buying out their footwear and continued marketing to this demographic into the 2000s.
As of 2021, Dr. Marten’s boots continue to be a footwear staple in the music and fashion scene, certifying Dr. Martens as one of the biggest global shoe companies in the retail market.
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