U.S. Retail footwear prices rose 4.2 percent year over year (YoY) in April, accelerating from a spike of 2.4 percent seen in March, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).
FDRA said the 4.2 percent increase is the fastest rate in 43 months, with the month marking the 4th time in the last 5 months that footwear price gains have accelerated. Overall, footwear prices have risen in eight of the last nine months.
FDRA noted that the increases in footwear prices are in step with accelerating overall inflation while also running above the national inflation rate. According to the Consumer Price Index from the BLS, overall inflation climbed 3.8 percent year over year in April, the fastest in 34 months. This marked the 3rd straight month of broader accelerating price gains.
Andy Polk, SVP and executive director, Footwear Innovation Foundation, at FDRA, said the fact that price hikes in footwear are running faster than general inflation demonstrates the impact of U.S. tariffs. Polk said, “Footwear inflation was larger than overall inflation because the products being sold have higher tariffs and the pass-through is happening. It’s not just higher transit costs due to oil. Footwear price increases are clearly impacted by the tariffs when you isolate it this way.”
By category, men’s retail footwear prices rose 3.9 percent in April, the biggest gain in 23 months. Men’s retail footwear prices have risen in 23 of the last 30 months. Women’s retail footwear prices jumped 4.5 percent, the ninth straight increase and the most in 42 months. Children’s footwear prices increased 3.9 percent, the fastest rate in 35 months.
Gary Raines, FDRA’s chief economist, said, “The latest increase retail footwear prices came as the average landed, duty-paid cost per pair footwear imports is up 13.7 percent versus the same first quarter of last year and on track to jump to a record in 2026. This latest read supports our earlier caution that price pressure would permeate the footwear supply chain to store shelves and into footwear shoppers’ pockets in 2026.”
Image courtesy Nike
