Shoe prices decelerated in February in tandem with overall inflation, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).
Last month, retail footwear prices slid a modest 0.2 percent from a year ago, only the second decline in the last 18 months, the FDRA noted. This came as prices dropped 1.5 percent year-over-year for children’s shoes and declined 0.6 percent for women’s footwear. This was offset by a 0.8 percent increase in men’s shoes last month.
“The dip in retail footwear prices comes as duties rose year-over-year again in January, higher for the eighth straight month and inventories at publicly traded footwear companies are rebounding, an issue that tends to weigh on pricing power,” Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN. “As duties rise again while footwear prices decline, now is not the time for the new administration to impose even higher duties on America’s largest footwear suppliers.”
The movement in shoe prices follow weeks of uncertainty on which goods from which countries will receive extra tariffs when imported in the U.S. As of last week, President Donald Trump has deferred duties on Mexico and Canadian goods covered under the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement — including an array of footwear, apparel and textile products — until April 2.
However, on Wednesday, President Trump imposed sweeping 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States. This sparked the European Union and Canada to retaliate within hours with countermeasures on U.S. goods – signally that a possible trade war is still in the cards.
February’s movement in footwear prices comes at the same time the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that overall inflation rose slightly lower than economists expected.
The bureau’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, saw prices increase 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in February, after rising 0.5 percent the month prior. Prices were also up 2.8 percent over the last 12 months, after rising 3.0 percent in January.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.2 percent in February and increased 3.1 percent over the same time last year.
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