The Arrows team attracted the attention of Wataru Ohashi, president of Footwork Express Co., Ltd., a Japanese logistics company, who began investing heavily from 1990 after previously sponsoring a Japanese Formula 3000 team. The arrangement required prominent display of the Footwork logo, and the team was officially renamed Footwork for the 1991 season. Jackie Oliver retained operational control throughout.
The 1991 season opened with the A11C chassis fitted with Porsche engines, but the combination proved deeply uncompetitive. Neither Michele Alboreto nor Alex Caffi could qualify in Brazil. A prototype FA12 chassis appeared but was destroyed when its suspension failed at the Tamburello corner at Imola. Caffi was then injured in a road accident and replaced for several races by Stefan Johansson. By mid-season the team abandoned the Porsche engines in favour of Hart-prepared Cosworth DFR units, but results failed to improve sufficiently and the team was consigned to pre-qualifying for the latter half of the year.
For 1992, Aguri Suzuki joined Alboreto alongside a supply of Mugen V10 engines, derived from the Honda V10s Mugen had serviced for Tyrrell the previous year. The FA13, designed by Alan Jenkins, was a straightforward machine that yielded four points-scoring finishes for Alboreto, including fifth places in Spain and San Marino. The team finished equal seventh in the Constructors' Championship with six points.
Derek Warwick replaced Alboreto for 1993, partnering Suzuki with Mugen power and the new FA14 chassis. It proved a disappointing season. Warwick scored all four of the team's points with a sixth at the British Grand Prix and a fourth at the Hungarian Grand Prix — the best result Footwork would achieve until late 1995. The team placed ninth in the Constructors' Championship. At year's end Ohashi withdrew his direct sponsorship, resulting in the loss of Mugen engines too.
Despite the departure of the Footwork livery, the FIA continued to recognise the team as Footwork because Ohashi retained shares. Jenkins designed the FA15 for Gianni Morbidelli and Christian Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi showed strong pace, running third at Monaco before a gearbox failure ended his race. The revised aerodynamic regulations introduced after the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola disrupted the team's progress, but they still scored nine points and finished ninth in the championship. Fittipaldi departed for IndyCar at the end of the season.
With finances increasingly strained, the team signed pay driver Taki Inoue to partner Morbidelli. Financial pressure forced Morbidelli to be temporarily replaced mid-season by Max Papis, though he returned for the final three races. At the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, Morbidelli took the team's first and only podium finish. Combined with a sixth in Canada, Footwork finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship. Oliver and Rees subsequently bought back Ohashi's shares with assistance from a German finance house.
In March 1996, Tom Walkinshaw acquired a controlling interest, buying out Rees and taking a 40% stake alongside associate Peter Darnbrough with 11% and Oliver retaining 49%. The team was rebranded TWR Arrows for the remainder of the 1996 season, though the FIA still formally recognised it as Footwork until 1997. Jos Verstappen scored the team's final point under the Footwork identity with sixth in Argentina.
In 2001, Ohashi's logistics company collapsed in a fraud scandal. The following year, the TWR-operated Arrows team itself folded due to financial difficulties, bringing a definitive end to the Arrows lineage of which the Footwork years formed a substantial chapter.