The footwear industry is characterized by intense natural resources input and large and diverse waste generation, many of which are hazardous, offering risks to the environment as well as human health. A wide variety of materials are used in the products, which hampers the treatment of post-consumption waste, worsening the scenario for the issue of waste in the footwear industry. Waste prevention aims at preventing or reducing both quantitative and qualitatively the waste flows, and thus, the environmental impacts caused by them. The adoption of prevention activities in the footwear industry contributes to the mitigation of several impacts associated with this product's life cycle. This research had the objective of studying waste prevention in the Brazilian footwear industry, as to unveil and systematize existing initiatives and practices, discussing them in light of the literature on the subject and identifying the challenges and opportunities for their progress. The conceptual basis of Industrial Ecology was used to analyze the findings. A descriptive-exploratory single case study with multiple analysis units was conducted aiming at answering the research questions: i) How have waste prevention activities been occurring in the footwear production?; ii) What are the challenges and opportunities for the progress of waste prevention in this area? The research found that waste prevention activities in the footwear industry are still timid, focusing mainly the selection of less toxic or recycled materials, as well as efficiency in the use of raw materials. The last is connected to cost reduction, taking place in the component sector mainly in the chemical industry through the internal reutilization of byproducts and in the manufacture sector, through efficient cutting of the parts. In general, the Brazilian footwear production is characterized by high competitiveness, pursuing cost reduction and gain maximization. That presents challenges for the implementation of waste prevention activities for setting low prices as priority, usually obtained by the externalization of social and environmental costs. It also harms the interest in collaboration between organizations. The supply chains are wide and lack articulation, which hinders information and materials circulation between organizations. Regarding the materials, the research found cycling possibilities within the productive environment for several of them, although these are not put into practice. The case of the Brazilian footwear industry is emblematic for the crisis in the economic system based in the technical-scientific paradigm (according to which, development is equal to economic growth). It underlines the need for a paradigm shift, as well as a new material rationality.