Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature.

Cultures have different customs regarding footwear. These include not using any in some situations, usually bearing a symbolic meaning. This can however also be imposed on specific individuals to place them at a practical disadvantage against shod people, if they are excluded from having footwear available or are prohibited from using any. This usually takes place in situations of captivity, such as imprisonment or slavery, where the groups are among other things distinctly divided by whether or not footwear is being worn.

In some cultures, people remove their shoes before entering a home. Bare feet are also seen as a sign of humility and respect, and adherents of many religions worship or mourn while barefoot. Some religious communities explicitly require people to remove shoes before they enter holy buildings, such as temples.

In several cultures people remove their shoes as a sign of respect towards someone of higher standing. Similarly, deliberately forcing other people to go barefoot while being shod oneself has been used to clearly showcase and convey one's superiority within a setting of power disparity.

Practitioners of the craft of shoemaking are called shoemakers, cobblers, or cordwainers.

Footwear has been used by humans since prehistoric times, with paleoclimatology suggesting that they would have been needed in some areas of human settlement by at least 50,000 years ago (BP) during the Last Glacial Period. Fossilised tracks have been found on the South Cape Coast, South Africa, that may date to 130,000 BP. Osteologists have found evidence of the effect of footwear on human remains by around 40,000 years ago. The oldest shoes so far recovered were found on the Spirit Cave mummy, from Great Basin Desert in Nevada, and dating to approximately 10, 600 BP. Another pair of shoes were recovered by a team under Luther Cressman in Fort Rock Cave, Oregon, US, in 1938. They had been preserved under the Mazama Ash deposited c. 5025 BC during the volcanic eruption that formed Crater Lake. In 1999, they were dated to around 10,500–9,300 BP.

Geta (wooden sandles) have been worn in East Asia, at least since the Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BCE). Egyptian butchers sometimes wore platform sandals with thicker soles than usual to raise their feet out of the gore. Wealthier Egyptians also sometimes wore platforms. The Greeks distinguished a great variety of footwear, particularly different styles of sandals. The heeled cothurnus was part of the standard costume for tragedians, and the effeminate soccus for comedians. Going barefoot, however, was frequently lauded: Spartan boys undergoing military training, Socrates, and Olympic athletes all went without shoes most of the time. Similarly, ancient China considered footwear an important aspect of civilization—particularly embroidered slippers—but often depicted Taoist immortals and gods like Xuanwu barefoot. The Book of Exodus records Moses reverentially removing his shoes at Mount Sinai and the priests likewise went barefoot at the Temple of Solomon before Babylonian customs prevailed and entering houses of worship in footwear became common in Judaism and Christianity.

The Etruscans experienced several footwear trends, including the prominently pointed shoe or boot now known as the calceus repandus. The Romans saw clothing and footwear as unmistakable signs of power and status in society. Patricians typically wore dyed and ornamented shoes of tanned leather with their togas or armor, while plebeians wore rawhide or hobnail boots and slaves were usually required to be barefoot. These class distinctions in footwear seem to have lessened during the imperial period, however, as the emperors appropriated more and more symbols of high status for themselves. The Romans were the earliest people currently known to have shaped their right and left shoes distinctly during creation, rather than pulling them tight and allowing them to wear into shape. The Catholic patron saints of shoemaking—Crispin and Crispinian—were martyred during the Diocletianic Persecution.