What is CE marking on footwear?

The most common misunderstanding we hear from buyers is that CE marking is a general "EU approval" every shoe needs. It is not. CE marking applies to footwear placed on the EU market as personal protective equipment — safety toe-cap boots, protective work footwear and similar. A running shoe, a sandal or a fashion sneaker is not PPE, and marking it CE would be wrong rather than reassuring.

For safety footwear, the requirements themselves are set out in the EN ISO 20345 standard — toe-cap impact and compression, slip resistance, and whichever optional protections (penetration resistance, antistatic, water resistance) the shoe claims. CE marking is the declaration; EN ISO 20345 is what the shoe is measured against.

Certification is not something a factory can grant itself. It is done at accredited third-party or notified test labs, which is where we route certification and compliance work — our own in-house lab handles the physical testing during development and production.

DOING manufactures safety and protective footwear built to EN ISO 20345, and we coordinate certification with accredited third-party labs. If your market needs CE-marked PPE footwear, tell us the protection level and market and we will tell you what the shoe has to pass.