Where Are Palladium Boots Made & Manufactured?

Originally, Palladium shoes were manufactured in Lyon, France. After WW2, Palladium changed from manufacturing airplane tires to canvas and rubber boots. Modern-day Palladium is owned by the American company K-Swiss and manufactured off-shore in China and Vietnam.

Where They Are Actually Manufactured

According to the American Apparel & Footwear Association, 98% of shoes are manufactured abroad (outside the U.S.), and nearly 75% of those imported goods are coming from China. Due to footwear manufacturing being almost entirely overseas, you will be hard-pressed to find even American shoe companies with complete production in the U.S.

K-Swiss does not own their own factories. K-Swiss manufactures their shoes through contracted factories in Asia. This is typical, since the current trend in the footwear industry is to hire out production to contracted factories in Asia. In fact, many Asian factories produce different brands of shoes for multiple customers.

Human Rights Concerns

Ever since Nike published a report on its south-east Asian factories in 2005, footwear companies have been very conscious of human rights concerns for factory laborers. K-Swiss and other footwear labels have implemented standards for their contracted factories. According to Palladium’s website, K-Swiss has asked all of their contracted factories to implement the SA8000 Standard. The standard bans child labor, mistreatment of workers, illegal overtime, and overtime for which workers are not paid higher wages.

Improving working conditions for workers in south-east Asia is an ongoing issue, however you can be reassured that K-Swiss has taken a first step with the SA8000 standard in manufacturing the Palladium brand.