The footwear market only needs to look at import cargo trends and factory shipments to understand how much attention brands and factories are paying to President Trump’s tariffs and the recent cancellation of many of them. It feels like the supply chain is paralyzed, unsure of what to do next.

Last February was one of the last good months for shipment volume out of Asia and creates an issue for manufacturers this year who have to anniversary or comp those shipments. Last February (2025), Asia factories were pushing to move goods through the ports before tariffs hit in late spring, and then it became a moving target with “whack-a-mole” tariff deals cut worldwide.

Before the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that many of the tariffs imposed by the president were done so without legal basis, the market appeared to find its direction and settled down, with many brands acknowledging raising prices or announcing plans to do so in 2026 to maintain margins (or take advantage of the situation to build margin).

Now, the conversations are about refunds from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which could total $135 million to over $200 million.

Brands, retailers, and factories worked overtime in the early months of last year to bring forward goods and deliveries to mitigate the impact of the tariffs. Now they are back to deciding whether to fight for refunds on the taxes paid.

Feng Tay Enterprises, one of the longest-tenured manufacturers of Nike footwear, was among the companies that benefited last February, as manufacturing revenues jumped 11.4 percent year-over-year (y/y) to NT$6.63 billion in 2025. Fast forward to last month, and February 2026 manufacturing revenues fell 12.3 percent y/y to NT$5.81 billion.

The company’s January 2026 shipment volume was down less than 2 percent, bringing 2026 two-month year-to-date revenue to NT$12.6 billion, or a 6.9 percent y/y decline.

Feng Tay Enterprises reports in New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) currency.

Yue Yuen Industrial
Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited, the manufacturer of footwear for most major outdoor and athletic brands, reported that its February 2026 net consolidated operating revenue jumped 19.4 percent year-over-year to $674.5 million, after a 6.7 percent decline in February 2025.

For the first time in a long while, it was a surge in China retail sales that drove the strong y/y growth for the month and was the positive driver in the business, while Manufacturing declined in the mid-single digits.

The company’s net consolidated cumulative operating revenue for the 2026 year-to-date (YTD) period through February rose 0.7 percent year-over-year to $1.38 billion.

Yue Yuen Manufacturing
The company’s manufacturing business posted a 5.9 percent decline in February, a sharp reversal from the 14.9 percent increase in February last year and the 0.6 percent increase in January 2026.

Manufacturing was down 2.5 percent for the 2026 two-month YTD period through February, cycling against a 7.7 percent increase in the 2025 two-month YTD period.

Yue Yuen, and its footwear manufacturing business, trade and report in U.S. dollar ($) currency.

Pou Sheng China Retail
Yue Yuen’s Pou Sheng China retail business saw a significant inversion again in February, jumping 81.5 percent y/y year-over-year after posting a sharp 32.5 percent decline in January 2026

The business has worked its way out of its downward trend from last year, inching up 0.9 percent for the two-month YTD period after closing the year down 7.2 percent year-over-year in 2025.

Pou Sheng trades and reports in the Chinese RMB or Yuan currency.