Abstract: The fashion industry, especially the footwear sector, plays an important role in addressing global climate change. Leading footwear companies have set carbon neutrality targets and focus on product carbon footprint management systems, which are essential in driving green, low-carbon transitions in production and consumption. However, the intricate structure and diverse materials used in footwear products present multiple challenges in accurately quantifying their carbon footprints. This study systematically analyzes China′s policies on product carbon footprints, assesses the current state of the footwear industry supply chain, and underscores the necessity of advancing research on carbon footprints in footwear products. By reviewing both domestic and international research on footwear product carbon footprints, the study identifies challenges in accurately quantifying these carbon footprints. The findings show that the 18 existing studies lack transparency and comparability in their carbon footprint measurements, with varying quantification methods and no unified standards. Only seven studies have quantified the full life-cycle carbon footprint, and just three have conducted uncertainty analysis. This has posed challenges to the development of the carbon footprint management system for footwear products. The difficulty lies in the absence of a unified and standardized method for quantifying the carbon footprint of footwear products, the lack of high-precision activity data, and mismatched emission factors. The production of footwear products is approximately three times the global population. As the world′s largest producer and consumer of footwear, China´s progress in this area is pivotal to achieving its national carbon goals. Therefore, China needs to establish a unified, standardized method for quantifying the carbon footprint of footwear products, identify high-carbon-emission stages, and propose strategies for carbon reduction, such as optimizing eco-design, recycling and disposal of solid waste, reducing carbon emissions in the supply chain, and guiding consumers. These efforts will promote emission reductions and sustainable development in the footwear industry, ultimately contributing to the achievement of the ‘dual carbon’ goal.