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Good thing Carrie Bradshaw, the shoe-loving heroine of Sex and the City, wasn鈥檛 a footwear venture capitalist. The high-heeled, high-priced, and hard-to-walk-in pairs beloved by the TV icon are pretty much the least fundable concept in the shoe startup space lately.

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Instead, when they do dip their toe in the footwear space, venture investors have been putting a premium on comfort.

At least that鈥檚 what recent funding records indicate. Over the past year-and-a-half, investors have tied up roughly $170 million in an assortment of , according to an analysis of 附近上门 data. The vast majority is going to sellers and designers of footwear that people might actually want to walk in.

Top funding recipients are a varied bunch, including everything from used sneaker marketplaces to high-end designers to toddler play shoes. Startups are also experimenting with little-used materials, turning used plastic bottles, merino wool, and other substances into chic wearables.

Below, we look at how startups are leveraging market trends to get a foot in the door.

Growth Market

It should be noted that recent footwear funding activity comes on the heels of some positive developments for the shoe industry.

First, this is a huge and growing industry. One recent pegged the global footwear market at $246 billion in 2017, with annual growth rates of around 4.5 percent.

Second, public markets are strong. Shares of the world鈥檚 most valuable footwear company鈥擭ike鈥攈ave climbed more than 50 percent over the past nine months to reach a market cap of nearly $130 billion. Stocks of several smaller rivals, including Adidas, have also performed well.

Third, men are spending more on footwear. Though they鈥檝e long been stereotyped as the gender with more restrained shoe-buying habits, men are putting more money into footwear and could be on track to close the .

Sneakering In

Both men and women are spending more on sneakers, and venture capitalists have taken notice. Sneakers and sneaker-related businesses account for the majority of footwear startup funding, as consumers increasingly opt for more casual, sportier styles.

Much of the innovation is in the sale and design of pricey, high-performance shoes. The largest footwear-focused round in recent months, for instance, went to , operator of an online sneaker marketplace that specializes in rare and high-end shoes. The three-year-old, Los Angeles-based company that secured a $60 million Series C in February.

Other sneaker companies to raise funding recently include , an auction-style GOAT competitor, , a streetwear retailer, and , which makes high-performance athletic shoes for children.

The spike in sneaker funding comes amid a growth streak for the sector. As mentioned previously, much of that is driven by men. However, one other bullish sneaker trend footwear analysts point to is the of women. Driven perhaps by a desire to walk more than few blocks without being in pain, we鈥檙e buying fewer high heels and more sneakers.

Stylish And Eco-Friendly

Demand for more comfortable footwear doesn鈥檛 only translate into more sneaker sales. Venture investors also see potential in other comfy shoe startups, particularly those with eco-friendly options.

In this camp is , a maker of merino wool shoes in casual styles that has raised over $27 million to date. Meanwhile, , which makes shoes out of recycled plastic bottles and sells them for around $125 a pair, has brought in $7 million.

Slippers are also a fundable space, as evidenced by the $2 million seed round last fall for , a maker of footwear for people who want to pad around the house in slippers while also looking stylish.

And as previously noted, it doesn鈥檛 look like high heel-focused startups have been kicking up a lot of capital lately. However, designers that offer varied heel heights are still scoring some big rounds. This category includes , a two-year-old brand that has raised over $40 million to scale up a shoe design portfolio that runs the gamut from flats to spike heels.

But Does It Make Money?

Recent history shows you can make a good exit with a shoe startup. And you can also flop or stagnate.

One of the more noticeable recent flops was Vancouver-based Shoes.com, an online shoe retailer which last year and filed for bankruptcy following disappointing sales.

Others found they weren鈥檛 as good a fit for today鈥檚 consumers as hoped. Most recently, , a made-to-order women鈥檚 shoe startup that raised over $25 million, secured a small to keep operations afloat. A few years earlier, ShoeDazzle, a celebrity-backed shoe subscription service with more than $60 million in funding, at a steep markdown.

Meanwhile, developers of 3D printing and scanning technology are stepping up the pace of M&A. In April, Nike snapped up , a seed-funded startup that specialized in 3D foot-scanning. Last year, Aetrex Worldwide, a leading maker of therapeutic footwear, bought 聽, a venture-backed maker of 3D-printed custom orthotics and insoles.

Granted, it鈥檚 hard to imagine an episode about Carrie Bradshaw shelling out for custom orthotics. But in the exit-driven world of startup financing, it seems clear that Manolo Blahniks are out, while sneakers and insoles are in.