Abstract: A wear monitor for footgear can indicate when a shoe or component may have exceeded its expected useful life. The indication can be triggered by a measure of use, such as steps taken or distance accrued in the shoes, either through estimation or actual measurements. The monitor can take into account varies parameters related to the individual wearer of the shoe and environmental factors to more accurately determine when a pair of shoes has reached a wear out period. By employing sensors, the monitor can also be measure certain operating parameters of the shoe, such as the loss of a critical amount of resilience, and indicating to the wearer that the shoes are no longer adequate to protect the wearer from injury. The wear monitor can be fabricated into the shoe during manufacturing or can be a portable stand-alone device and can employ various technologies to provide a status indication to the wearer.