Comfort Is King in Women’s Fashion Footwear Industry

Happily, the sport-leisure footwear category has a stronghold on the footwear market, making comfort shoes, boots and sandals readily available to a more demanding consumer, even in more fashion forward brands.  Today, U.S. footwear industry growth is comfort driven, with sport-leisure the fastest growing category, according to NPD, an American Market Research company.  “Comfort is no longer a bad word – in fact, consumers today won’t compromise on comfort and the definition is evolving,” said Beth Goldstein, fashion footwear and accessories analyst. 

 A perfect example is the “Star” canvas sneaker by Taos, a huge retail hit!  It’s cute, trendy and very comfortable.  It was, in fact, named “one of the ten best women’s shoes for traveling the world,” by USA Today.  The Curves & Pods ® premium comfort foot bed provides balance, stability and amazing arch support.  Plus it is available in myriad styles and colors.  

Today’s consumer wants shoes that look as good as they feel and most major women’s brands like Clarks, Earth, Merrell etc. have been pushed to address the demand for comfort, support and style.  As a result, there are many more patterns in the sport-leisure category.

In conclusion, today’s consumer has many options when on the hunt for fashion footwear with comfort, support, wearability and on-trend styling.