Ahead of the seventh World Footwear Congress in Istanbul (November 7-9), footwear industry bodies in the host country said Turkey had produced 582 million pairs of footwear of all types in 2022.

They said there are 15,000 companies working in the Turkish footwear industry at the moment, with a combined total of 350,000 employees.

Export values increased by more than 20% in 2022 to reach $1.3 billion. In terms of volume, Turkish footwear manufacturers exported 370 million pairs last year.

And in the first nine months of 2023, the Turkish footwear industry achieved export revenues of $932 million, shipping a volume of 301 million pairs to export markets.