Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does this activity cover?
It covers the wholesale of footwear, supplying casual and formal shoes, boots, sandals, and sports footwear in bulk to retailers and other businesses.
2. Who are the typical customers?
Shoe shops and fashion retailers, market traders, and businesses buying footwear in volume, across the UAE.
3. What footwear is included?
Casual and formal shoes, boots, sandals, and sports footwear, supplied in a full run of sizes by the box, carton, or container.
4. Is this wholesale or retail?
Wholesale. The activity supplies footwear in bulk to retailers and businesses. Retail sale of footwear to the public is a separate activity.
5. Does this include manufacturing footwear?
No. Manufacturing footwear is a separate activity, as is the wholesale of leather goods. This activity supplies finished footwear in bulk.
Start a Wholesale of Footwear Business with Meydan Free Zone
Every shop that sells shoes has to get them from somewhere, by the box and the container, in a full run of sizes. A footwear wholesaler is that supplier, sourcing shoes, boots, sandals, and trainers in bulk and delivering them to the retailers who put them on the shelf.
Footwear is a large and steadily growing market worldwide. The global footwear market was worth USD 495.46 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 912.13 billion by 2034, according to Fortune Business Insights1.
The UAE market is smaller but resilient, worth around USD 1.3 billion in 2025 and growing about 3.90 percent a year, according to IMARC Group2. For a footwear wholesaler, that is dependable demand: every retailer needs shoes in stock, in the right styles and a full size run, season after season.
Footwear is a steady, repeat purchase across every age group and season, and the market behind the shelves is large and growing. The figures below show the global footwear market a wholesaler supplies into and the UAE market it serves.
Sources: Fortune Business Insights (2025); IMARC Group (2025).
Picture a footwear wholesaler's warehouse. Cartons of the new season's styles arrive from manufacturers and are checked and shelved by size. A sales rep takes an order from a shoe shop for a range of sandals ahead of summer. A team picks and packs a container of trainers for a retailer. A buyer reviews next season's samples. The wholesaler earns on volume and turnover, so the work is a steady cycle of sourcing, stocking, and supplying footwear.
In a market that buys shoes year-round, the wholesalers that win are the ones with the right styles and full size runs in stock.
Whether it is formal shoes, summer sandals, or a container of trainers, a footwear wholesaler keeps the region's shoe shops and retailers supplied.
Who is this for?
- Footwear wholesalers: Businesses supplying shoes, boots, sandals, and trainers in bulk to UAE retailers.
- Shoe distributors and importers: Operators sourcing footwear from manufacturers and supplying retailers.
- Bulk suppliers to shoe shops: Firms holding full size runs and delivering to shops and traders.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a wholesale footwear business supplying a steady, year-round retail market.
[blockCTABizActivityList]
4641.07 - Wholesale of Footwear
Under this activity, your business is licensed to wholesale footwear, supplying shoes, boots, sandals, and sports footwear in bulk to retailers and other businesses.
A footwear wholesaler buys shoes in bulk and supplies them on to retailers and other businesses. The range typically spans casual and formal shoes, boots, sandals, and sports footwear, in a full run of sizes, sourced from manufacturers and sold by the box, carton, or container.
The buyers are mixed: shoe shops and fashion retailers, market traders, and businesses buying footwear in volume. It is a volume-and-range business: the wholesaler is paid to source the right styles, hold the sizes, and deliver to retailers reliably.
The activity is specifically for the wholesale of footwear. Retail sale of footwear to the public falls under a separate activity, as does the wholesale of leather goods (4649) and the manufacture of footwear.
The line is precise. If your business supplies footwear in bulk to retailers and businesses, you are in. If you sell shoes to the public at retail, wholesale leather goods, or manufacture footwear, a different activity applies.
[blockCTATradeLicense]
Third-Party Approval
No third-party approval is required for this business activity.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance
This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
[blockCTAContact]
Citations
1 Fortune Business Insights. Footwear Market Report. Fortune Business Insights, 2025.
2 IMARC Group. UAE Footwear Market Report. IMARC Group, 2025.
