U.S. athletic footwear sales, after dipping 4 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, grew 20.3 percent last year to more than $19.9 billion, according to the 2022 SFIA Manufacturers’ Sales by Category report from the trade group.

Fourteen footwear categories posted double-digit wholesale sales increases in 2021 led by fitness/workout (+42.5%), running (+32.6%) and walking (+27.8%). Running, with more than $5.85 billion in wholesale sales, represented the largest segment and exceeded the second-largest category of Classics/Originals ($2.88 billion) by more than 103 percent.

No athletic footwear category suffered a sales drop last year. But in two-year segment comparisons of 2019 to 2021, the three team footwear categories of football (-11.8), baseball (-11.6%) and volleyball (-11.5%) all suffered double-digit drops and were undoubtedly impacted by school closures and schedule cancellations during the pandemic. During the same two years, the soccer boot segment was flat and basketball shoe category was up 6.3 percent.