Athletic and sports footwear with both outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics — excluding ski boots, waterproof safety-toe boots, and other specifically enumerated types — falls into this broadly traded N.E.S. heading. In practice, this captures a wide range of performance footwear including cleated athletic shoes, water shoes, and molded rubber sports sandals where the upper is also rubber or plastics rather than textile or leather. The heading is one of the most commercially active in the footwear schedule, reflecting the dominance of synthetic materials in modern athletic footwear manufacturing. Importers should be precise about upper material: footwear with textile mesh uppers — even with rubber soles — classifies under a different heading, making material composition documentation from the factory essential.

AI-written summary of the official U.S. Census Bureau trade figures on this page — verify before relying on it.