Footwear

About

Footwear is one of the top-level segments of the GS1 Global Product Classification, the scheme this site uses to file a product by what it is. It sits at the root of the hierarchy, with no parent above it, and gathers everything worn on the foot, together with the preparations, inserts and spare parts that keep it wearable.^[1]

The segment holds a single family, also called Footwear, which divides into five classes. General Purpose Footwear is everyday wear, split into boots, whose uppers extend above the ankle, and shoes, whose uppers do not. Athletic Footwear separates the general purpose kind, meaning non-specialist walking and gymnasium shoes, from the specialist kind, such as spiked running shoes and studded rugby boots. Indoor Footwear covers slippers, split according to whether the upper is fully enclosed or leaves the toe, back or instep exposed. Safety/Protective Footwear covers occupational boots, shoes and overshoes, made of robust materials and carrying features such as steel toecaps. Footwear Accessories is the largest class, with five bricks covering cleaning and care preparations, shoe colours and dyes, replacement parts such as laces and heel caps together with brushes and shoe horns, footwear inserts, and variety packs.^[1]

Fourteen bricks sit beneath those classes, and an individual product is filed at brick level. Three distinctions decide which brick applies, and the scheme draws them again and again: whether the upper extends above the ankle, whether it is fully or partially enclosed, and whether the design is general purpose or made for a specific purpose. The descriptive text sits at brick level too: every one of the fourteen carries both a definition and a list of exclusions, while this segment, its family and all five of its classes carry none. None is therefore reproduced here, and the description above is drawn from the titles and brick definitions below the node. One boundary is worth noting for anyone filing a product: inserts designed for a particular orthopaedic condition are specifically excluded from the footwear inserts brick.^[1]

Subcategories

• Footwear

References

1. ↑ GS1 GPC Browser, publication 286 (May 2026) Accessed 2026-09-12.