Footwear

A new study has found that eco-conscious trainer brands are falling short of true sustainability by focusing narrowly on materials while ignoring broader eco-design principles. Despite the footwear industry’s significant environmental footprint, many brands continue to implement fragmented initiatives without addressing the full product lifecycle or integrating social and economic considerations into their sustainability frameworks.

The Kolhapuri chappal—a timeless symbol of Indian craftsmanship—is in the news and for all the wrong reasons. But behind the buzz lies a story of decline: collapsing artisan networks, synthetic clones, policy failure, and raw material bottlenecks. As younger generations abandon the trade and fake lookalikes flood the market, this once-thriving rural industry is fast unravelling.

The footwear industry is finally kicking back against outdated data and misinformed comparisons with apparel. A new report busts myths around the industry's carbon impact, revealing major emission cuts and outlining clear paths for progress. With better materials, smarter factories, and accurate research, footwear can lead the way in fashion’s sustainability race.

The European Commission has enforced the much-awaited Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) for apparel and footwear thus giving this industry segment a standard methodology to calculate product environmental footprints, with specific category requirements.

Re-strategise, re-set, upskill, go compliant, build in agility and resilience—these should be the mantras for the footwear industry as it gears up in the next 89 days for the final dictum from the White House. And yeah, US+1 will work here too. And that could well be here’s looking at you India!

The policy changes for the Indian leather sector as announced in the Indian Budget 2025-26 could well be a fantastic opportunity for innovation, growth, global market expansion even as some healthy competition awaits. An analysis.

Shoemaking that had thrived during the Mughal Era, surviving British Raj, and burgeoning after Independence, today sees itself back to where it had all started. The city of love in India needs to find a feasible solution to the carcinogenic waste of its footwear industry.

Fashion for Good has launched a collaborative ambitious initiative aimed at accelerating the next generation of footwear innovations needed to drive circularity spanning four workstreams across the supply chain from materials to end of use.

Consumers could one day get to pick sneakers that fit their personal running style if research on a new model developed at MIT reaches commercial scale.