Fashion footwear is the category dominating back-to-school sales, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD. "Everyone said this would be the year of skinny jeans--and some consumers are
buying them, but they're not taking off as expected quite yet," he said. By contrast, NPD detected an 11 percent year-over-year growth rate in August sales of footwear, a trend that is continuing this
month.
