Bangladesh's synthetic and athletic footwear exports have been growing rapidly, emerging as a bright spot in the country's export basket, which is heavily dominated by readymade garments.
In the decade preceding the end of fiscal year 2023-24, non-leather footwear exports ballooned 120 percent, jumping from $189 million to $416 million.
Such robust growth has continued into the current fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
In the first five months of FY25, non-leather footwear exports grew 41 percent year-on-year to $217.81 million, EPB data shows.
Although Bangladesh has long been trying to diversify its export basket, readymade garments still account for over 80 percent of total exports.
According to a market assessment by the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida), the rise in non-leather shipments is a result of increased work orders from well-known global brands like H&M, Puma, Decathlon, FILA and Kappa.
The main export destinations for these products are Spain, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, India, Italy and Germany.
EPB data shows that Bangladesh's non-leather footwear exports have grown at an average annual rate of 23 percent in the past 10 years while the leather footwear industry has seen average growth of only 6 percent.
Leather footwear exports grew to just over $544 million in FY24 from $483.81 million in FY15.
However, despite the segment's enormous potential, synthetic shoe exporters receive a cash incentive of only 4 percent while the leather footwear sector was afforded 15 percent.
Though dominated by small-scale factories, the synthetic footwear segment is rapidly growing due to the relatively low investment required to set up an export-oriented production unit.
In contrast, he said, the synthetic footwear industry does not have such compliance requirements, leading to increased exports.
According to Maximize Market Research, a global market research and consultancy firm, the global athletic footwear market was valued at $68.26 billion in 2023.
