diff --git a/tests/serde/test_serde.py b/tests/serde/test_serde.py
index 4588db6f..fde0eb7b 100644
--- a/tests/serde/test_serde.py
+++ b/tests/serde/test_serde.py
@@ -61,6 +61,10 @@ class Foo:
     ids=lambda x: x["class_name"],  # type: ignore
 )
 def test_serde_all_objects(fmt: str, object_info: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
+    if "fmt" in ("json", "msgpack"):
+        # skip these format tests if cattrs is not installed
+        pytest.importorskip("cattr")
+
     klass = getattr(ufoLib2.objects, object_info["class_name"])
     loads = getattr(klass, f"{fmt}_loads")
     obj = klass(*object_info["args"])