There are 436 different ways to classify footwear imports.
Footwear tariffs are the largest inhibitor of design innovation and profit realization for the footwear industry. These regressive and prohibitive duties were established in the 1930s, averaging 12.3% compared to just 1.3% for all consumer goods, and can reach as high as an astonishing 67.5%. The federal tariff code (USHTS) for footwear is more than 150 lines full of technical details, there are more than 430 ways to classify a shoe, AND the cliff notes for the U.S. tariff code for footwear is longer than the code itself—causing the industry to expend enormous amounts of time and money on experts to both interpret what footwear falls where within the code, and how they might have to change footwear components to lower their duty costs.
Due to the technical nature and inherent confusion of footwear customs issues, FDRA ensures both large and small companies develop stronger clarity involving their footwear duty costs through continuous updates on new rulings and classification assistance. FDRA is the only association in America fighting to completely eliminate footwear tariffs to help companies and their consumers who are paying higher costs as a result. Information on FDRA’s robust and innovative customs program that helps provide clarity on customs and duty issues can be found below. We have also developed FootwearCustoms.com, a customs portal that helps FDRA members stay organized, up-to-date, and achieve access to all customs docs at their fingertips.
