GEHWOL Foot Care Trends 2024-2025: Beauty trends and self-care determine foot care

Foot care has long been more than pure hygiene - it is becoming an indispensable part of a modern lifestyle. The latest GEHWOL Foot Care Trends show how more and more people regard it as a key to self-care and relaxation. 76% of people in Germany like things to be neat and tidy down below. Social trends such as mindfulness, careness and beautyness are playing increasingly important roles. Compared to the general public, people with an affinity for foot care are significantly more open to beauty and careness trends, take the initiative more often with specific care measures, and have higher quality standards when choosing products.

Foot care is very important to most people in this country. Just as it was two years ago, 76% of people in Germany stated that regular foot care is important to them in the current survey. The importance of foot care has furthermore increased, especially among female twens and women in the 30-49 age group, which can be attributed to the motivations of careness and beautyness. For example, over half of women attach importance to beauty trends and enjoy trying out new products. Nearly three-quarters try to integrate self-care into their everyday lives, even during stressful times. Among men, on the other hand, these issues only play a role for one in three respondents.

The reasons for foot care are varied and show how individually it is perceived. GEHWOL Foot Care Trends has identified the following care types:

• Problem-oriented improvers: Care for their feet due to problems
• Risk-conscious preventers: Prone to foot problems and do care for preventive reasons
• Health-conscious care enthusiasts: Have no problems, but pay attention to a healthy lifestyle
• Self-attentive care enthusiasts: Combine care with a positive body feeling and doing something nice for oneself
• Beauty-conscious beauties: Have a sense of aesthetics and groom towards a beauty ideal
• Foot care nihilists: Perform care only when absolutely necessary

Social trends don’t stop at foot care. Mindfulness and beauty are the most important drivers for positive grooming awareness, with women (63%) regarding this as more important than men (45%). For men, problem solving is the main deciding factor: 18% of men say that they only care for their skin and feet when they have acute problems. This method is hardly an option for women. Only one in ten women share this opinion.

When foot care is highly valued, people are increasingly turning to specialized products or professional foot care. For example, approx. 70% of beauty and care-conscious persons regularly use creams or lotions on their feet, compared to 62% among average Germans. These groups also rely more frequently on products with special active ingredients that support their care goals. When selecting foot care products, most people seek high-quality ingredients and good quality management. The vast majority (81%) deems both mandatory, but people who also consider foot care important are even more likely (84%) to want this. Even people who do not attach particular importance to foot care appreciate high product quality. However, they do so significantly less often (59%). On the other hand, a product needs to appeal to them visually more often, otherwise they won't buy it. In addition to quality, self-attentive care enthusiasts and risk-conscious preventers in particular also pay attention to natural ingredients. Wellness and sensual care experiences are also important here. Around two thirds of young people and beauty enthusiasts like to round out their skincare rituals with a pleasant scent or a coordinated care series.

Healthy feet, active living: What makes foot care important

The health of their own feet is important to people in Germany. After all, keeping them healthy also means staying mobile and living an active life. As expected, foot care plays an even greater role in people who are prone to skin problems. They consistently take care of their feet to prevent problems. 88% of them therefore consider regular foot care important or very important - significantly more than the population average of 76%.

Interestingly, a positive attitude towards foot care does not necessarily result in greater satisfaction with one's own feet. Around half of persons who consider foot care important are not satisfied or less satisfied with the condition of their own feet. Affected persons complain about problems such as dry skin, excessive callus or frequently cold feet. In contrast, those who consider foot care less important or not important at all are more likely to be satisfied. The strong link between the desire for health and a tendentially critical view of the corresponding status of one's own feet on the one hand and the appreciation of foot care on the other underlines the motivation for care: Those who have a high basic need to be well groomed while also seeing a need for action on their own feet are consequently also more willing to take action. And this reveals itself in a special appreciation for foot care measures.

Incidentally, it doesn't matter whether you are a man or a woman when it comes to the frequency of foot problems. It is only when it comes to dry skin and cold feet that women are clearly ahead. On the other hand, men are more likely to contract foot or nail fungus than women.