Shoe Price Increases Accelerated in January — And With Trump’s Tariffs, The Hikes Might Just Be Beginning

Stephen Garner
·3-min read

Shoe prices began to rise in January after ending 2024 with modest movement, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).

Last month, retail footwear prices increased 1 percent from a year ago, the most in six months, the FDRA noted. This came as prices rose year-over-year across all three target markets. Prices for children’s shoes were up 0.1 percent, men’s increased 1.1 percent and women’s footwear climbed 1.2 percent in January.

More from Footwear News

In fact, the FDRA said that children’s footwear prices rose for the fourth straight month, men’s footwear prices climbed eleven of the last twelve months, and women’s footwear prices expanded the most in seven months.

“The acceleration in retail footwear prices came as overall inflation sped up and duties paid on footwear imports grew at double-digit year-over-year rates for the fourth straight month,” Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN. “The long-term co-movement between trends in duties paid on footwear imports and retail footwear prices is well established.”

This latest increase in shoe prices is just the beginning if President Trump’s heightened tariffs on China remain in place. As for when these increases may hit consumers, FDRA president and chief executive officer Matt Priest told FN last week that they could come as soon as back-to-school.

“If you think about orders being placed and the need to bring in more product for back-to-school, I can envision that’s when these increases may occur,” Priest said. “The other problem is that tariffs are being added on everything from China, so there is a broader concern about disposable income for working families. Their budgets are already stretched, so to add this extra layer it is going to cost more for families with less discretionary income when they look to buy things like footwear.”

But for now, Raines added that action needs to be taken to mitigate further increases. “As inflation and footwear prices reaccelerate, now is not the time for the new administration to impose even higher duties on America’s largest footwear suppliers, saddling consumers with even higher prices,” Raines said.

January’s movement in footwear prices comes at the same time the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that overall inflation accelerated for the fourth straight month.

The bureau’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, saw prices increase 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, after rising 0.4 percent in December. Prices were also up 3.0 percent over the last 12 months, the fastest in eight months.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.4 percent in January and increased 3.3 percent over the same time last year.

Best of Footwear News

Sign up for FN's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Latest stories

  • Why is Trump imposing tariffs and which countries will be hit hardest? - in charts

    These graphics explain how the US trade deficit has changed, why Trump may be targeting certain countries with tariffs and what the impact could be

  • Opinion - Amid Democrats’ soul-searching, we need to rethink the Obama presidency

    The Obama presidency, while highly regarded and beloved among Democrats, must be reexamined in order for the Democratic Party to win, as Obama's presidency was marred by inaction in the face of the Global Financial Crisis and his lack of prioritizing helping homeowners, fiscal austerity and progressive reform.

  • Fed rate cuts bets trimmed as Powell says 'close but not there' on inflation

    A hotter-than-expected inflation reading makes it much more likely that the Federal Reserve will keep rates on hold for the foreseeable future, reinforcing a cautionary stance from Jerome Powell and other central bank policymakers.

  • Why the Federal Reserve could shock the markets this summer: Economist

    Don't rule out a rate hike this year — maybe sooner than you think, prominent economist Torsten Sløk said.

  • Analysis-Thailand's big casino gamble hangs on fine print of regulations

    Thailand is setting its sights on becoming a global gaming hub, with plans to build a casino industry that generates billions in revenue, draws some of the biggest names in the business and benefits a thriving tourism sector. But experts warn success will come only by playing its cards right on regulation, an area in which Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has a patchy record, such as its botched efforts to legalise cannabis in 2022. "They want a transparent process that will protect their investment with appropriate regulation," said Fredric Gushin of Spectrum Gaming Group, which helped Singapore build its casino industry into the world's No. 3, after Macau and Las Vegas.

  • Russia's budget deficit jumps 14-fold in January

    Russia's fiscal deficit jumped 14-fold in January due to a 73.6% increase in spending at the start of the year, reaching 1.7 trillion roubles ($17.73 billion) or 0.8% of national output, the finance ministry said on Tuesday, citing preliminary data. "This is primarily due to the accelerated financing of expenditures within the first quarter and will not affect the quarterly trajectory or the achievement of the target parameters of the structural balance for 2025 as a whole," the ministry said. Russia recorded a budget deficit of more than 3 trillion roubles, or about 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), in 2024 for a third year running.

  • Exclusive-China's record mergers in $8 trillion small banking sector raise future risks

    Many of the roughly 4,000 small Chinese banks are backed by indebted provincial governments and largely funded via short-term money market and interbank borrowings, potentially jeopardising financial stability in the event a few of them fail. At least 290 rural Chinese banks and rural cooperatives were merged into larger regional lenders in 2024, according to Reuters calculation of regulatory and company filings over the past 12 months. The scale of the mergers, which have not been reported previously, underscore the depth of the problem in a crucial corner of China's financial sector.

  • Watch: House Republicans give remarks with Trump agenda on shaky ground

    House Republican leaders delivered remarks Tuesday morning as lawmakers appear divided on some of President Trump’s legislative agenda — an issue that threatens to derail their timeline as the Senate prepares to push a competing budget plan. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) suggested Monday that the lower chamber could advance a budget resolution by the end…

  • Britain stares at a second recession in little more than a year as growth stalls

    Economic growth slowed down sharply in the second half of the year

  • Why are Britain’s farmers protesting?

    Farmers from across the UK are protesting against changes to inheritance tax, which they say could have a detrimental effect on their livelihood. Here's what to know.

  • Opinion - The Pentagon needs a budget cut, not a spending spree

    Lawmakers are pushing to increase Pentagon spending by up to $500 billion, but this would accelerate our national debt and fail to address wasteful programs and inefficiencies.

  • How Argentina took a chainsaw to government, a year before Elon Musk's DOGE

    At Argentina's Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation, two piles of laws to be streamlined or cut sit on a wooden desk near an Elon Musk biography and a figurine of libertarian President Javier Milei with his iconic chainsaw. This is the nerve center of the South American nation's bold year-old experiment to slash regulation and the size of government, moves that are shaking up the embattled economy and drawing praise from U.S. President Donald Trump and Musk. Argentina's already well-entrenched streamlining model - though different in important ways - offers lessons for the United States, where Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is tearing through government departments, cutting costs and firing state workers in a way never seen before in Washington.

  • Treasury launches leak inquiry over reports OBR has cut UK growth forecast

    The watchdog is reported to have cut its growth forecast for the UK, causing problems for the Chancellor as she attempts to stick to her fiscal rules.

  • Speaker tries to wrangle his Republican ‘free-range chickens’ in effort to land tax cuts for Trump 2.0 budget

    ANALYSIS: Mike Johnson insists his budget plans are on schedule but he still faces a political pressure test, writes John Bowden

  • Stock market today: Most of Wall Street sinks after inflation worsens

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 225 points, or 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite edged higher by less than 0.1%. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 2.7% below $72 after President Donald Trump said he had agreed with Russia’s president to begin “negotiations” on ending the war in Ukraine. Treasury yields also remained notably higher in the bond market, cranking up the pressure on financial markets after the morning’s report said U.S. consumers had to pay higher prices for eggs, gasoline and other costs of living than economists expected.

  • Powell says Trump's comments won't affect interest rate decisions by the Fed

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's calls for lower interest rates won't lead the central bank to change its rate decisions. “People can be confident that we’ll continue to keep our heads down, do our work, and make our decisions based on what’s happening in the economy,” Powell said, under questioning from members of the House Financial Services Committee. Powell spoke on the second day of his semiannual testimony to Congress.

  • House Republicans Eye Big Cuts To Medicaid And Food Assistance

    New budget plan envisions $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, offset partly with spending cuts and the rest adding to the federal deficit

  • Bitcoin May See Gains from Soft U.S. CPI, Major Risk-On Surge in BTC Appears Unlikely

    A soft U.S. inflation report later Wednesday will likely bode well for risk assets, including bitcoin. But those expecting bullish fireworks may be disappointed.

  • Bank of England to cut interest rates only twice more, NIESR predicts

    Britain is set for solid growth and falling inflation this year but the Bank of England has little scope to cut interest rates further, the NIESR think tank predicted on Wednesday in a relatively upbeat set of forecasts. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research also said finance minister Rachel Reeves remained just on track to stay within her fiscal rules when the Office for Budget Responsibility updates its forecasts next month - though it said there should be a greater focus on long-term debt challenges. NIESR forecast the British economy would grow by 1.5% this year - double a Bank of England forecast last week and above the 1.3% average in last month's Reuters poll of economists - followed by the same growth rate in 2025.

  • FACT FOCUS: FEMA funding to New York City to assist migrants is misrepresented

    Elon Musk posted Monday on X that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency he heads had uncovered millions of dollars being spent illegally by FEMA to house migrants in New York City. The claim, which has spread widely on social media, led FEMA's acting director to suspend payments sent to house migrants in New York City and the firing Tuesday of four federal employees. CLAIM: FEMA sent $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.