The Internet and the increased economic productivity led to the equity market booms around the world, and caused an influx of wealth to the United States, Europe and Asia.

Youth culture in the 1990s was characterized by environmentalism and entrepreneurship. Western world fashions were often individualistic: tattoos and body piercing gained popularity and "retro" styles inspired by fashions of the 1960s and 1970s were also prevalent. Some young people became increasingly involved in outdoor activities that combined embracing athletics with the appreciation of nature

For business, footwear remains much the same as it was in the eighties. The traditional styles still held strong, though sometimes untraditional colours or fabrics are used to update the design. The young prefered brightly coloured hush puppies loafers with both business suits and casual wear.

For the younger generation, shoes for street wear range from Doc Martens, which became a mainstream norm in the mid-nineties, to athletic shoes, to styles borrowed from the sixties and seventies such as the Chelsea boot.

Toes at the beginning of the decade were pointed, but by the mid-nineties, they became domed and round. Sandals for summer are the norm, and birkenstocks in 1993 made a huge comeback to become the mainstream summer footwear.

Women can select from a broad range of styles to suit every mood, business, or social occasion: comfortable low heeled walking shoes, stilettos and mid-height heels are executed in a variety of leathers, suedes and fabrics.

The revival of the seventies style brought back platforms and huge block heels by mid decade, by 1996, they adorned just about every pair of women’s shoes from athletic to pumps to casual styles. Hush Puppies reappeared on the mass market in 1997, and the younger crowd adopted the style in bright new colours, complete with a high block heel.

By 1997, haute couture decided that a more feminine look needed to return to fashion footwear, strappy sandals returned, but they retained the block heel.

In 1998, the fashion industry threw away the clunky look of block heels and platforms and reintroduced slimmer heels such as the Cuban and the Louis. These styles were seen in stores in the late 90s, but it wasn't until the next decade that they ousted the block heel for the younger fashion set.