Shoe prices climbed the fastest in more than 36 months in January, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).
While overall inflation eased a bit in January – climbing a milder-than-expected 2.4 percent year-over-year – retail rose 2.0 percent, which was higher than five of the last six months and the most since 2022, the FDRA noted. For comparison, shoe prices increased 1.1 percent year-over-year in December.
All key target markets saw year-over-year increases, led by men’s retail footwear prices jumping 3.4 percent, the most in 20 months. Children’s prices advanced 1.5 percent last month, the fastest in more than a year, and women’s prices increased 1.1 percent, higher for the sixth straight month.
Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN that the year “started on an ominous note,” as the increase in shoe prices are “more evidence” of price pressure building across the supply chain.
“The jump in retail footwear prices comes as the average landed, duty-paid cost per pair for footwear imports jumped at a double-digit year-over-year rate for the ninth straight month since the spring and ‘Liberation Day,’” Raines said. “Over time, this measure and the year-over-year change in retail footwear prices largely have moved in step with one another, suggesting the streak of sharply higher import costs is beginning to push retail footwear prices higher.”
Last month’s increase in retail footwear prices also comes at the same time the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that overall consumer prices in January increased “less than expected.”
According to the bureau’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, retail inflation rose 2.4 percent in January from a year earlier after rising 2.7 percent in December.
The report also saw prices increase 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.3 percent in January and increased 2.5 percent over the same time last year.
