FDRA releases 2023 Shoe Sustainability Progress Report
According to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA)’s latest Shoe Sustainability Progress Report, 5% more industry respondents have full visibility of their entire materials supply chain than in 2022.
From the footwear materials, development and sourcing professionals surveyed between October and November, this figure stood at 29% in this year, versus 24% in 2022.
Strikingly, only 34% of those asked could say that they had been using more bio-based materials in 2023 than during the 12 months prior, a decline of 7%. By contrast, 53% now aim to increase the proportion of such material in upcoming and specific product lines, up from 44% a year before.
Meanwhile, there was a noticeable drop-off in how many respondents said their use of recycled materials had grown in the past 12 months: 63% in 2023 versus 80% in 2022.
This was in light of 68% of those surveyed sharing plans to up shoes’ recycled content in upcoming and specific product lines, compared to 82% a year earlier.
Find the full report here.
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