If passed in the United States House of Representatives, the AFA would eliminate approximately $800 million in duties on a variety of different types of footwear, including lower-priced children’s footwear, outdoor shoes and some athletic footwear.
In 2008, the US government collected over $1.7 billion dollars in duties on imported
shoes, far more than any other duty collected on any other single imported product. The
added cost to cover the duties directly resulted in consumers paying almost $5 billion
dollars more than they needed to in stores for their shoes.
Given the current economic climate that threatens further US job losses, quick passage of the Affordable Footwear Act would protect and create jobs in the US footwear industry. Footwear brands and retailers would be able to avoid further downsizing through increased sales revenues at the same time passing on savings to consumers as the duty costs are removed from the price of footwear at retail.
In addition, because the legislation does not affect the few remaining footwear items still manufactured in the United States, and even provides additional protections for those items, the Affordable Footwear Act would protect domestic footwear manufacturing jobs.
For further information please contact info@blcleathertech.com
Source: Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA)
