Footwear Prices Rise at Fastest Rate in 5 Months

Footwear prices rose at the fastest rate in five months in September as inflation persisted across the broader consumer sector.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), consumer prices in September increased 0.4 percent from the prior month and 3.7 percent from the same time last year. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.3 percent from August and 4.1 percent from the same month in 2022.

Most of September’s monthly inflation increase came from shelter costs, which rose 0.6 percent from the prior month and accounted for more than half of the increase. The increase in the gasoline index also contributed to the monthly rise, with the energy index rising 1.5 percent over the month.

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When it comes to footwear, data from Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) showed that retail shoe prices rose 0.6 percent in September, the fastest rate in five months. Women’s footwear was up 2.1 percent and kid’s was up 1.1 percent. That was offset by a decline in men’s footwear prices, which were down 1 percent, marking the eighth straight month of price drops in this category.

With this slight overall increase in shoe prices, year-to-date footwear prices have changed little compared to the first nine months of the prior year.

According to Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, import costs for footwear have tended to rise or fall in line with overall retail footwear prices in the long-term.

“We noted earlier this year that an usually wide gap between rising import costs and these mostly flat retail footwear prices had arisen, and to close this gap we looked for either retail footwear prices to go sharply higher or — more likely — landed costs to decline,” Raines said. “We still have little evidence to suggest retail footwear prices will go sharply higher anytime soon.”

He added that import costs have declined in recent months and FDRA expects this to continue to drop throughout the year, “narrowing this gap further as the market returns to equilibrium.”

Early estimates for the holiday season point to a slight increase in consumer spending as inflation continues to ease. Holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 3.5 percent and 4.6 percent in 2023, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast. Adobe predicts U.S. online sales from November to Dec. 31 to rise 4.8 percent year-over-year to $221.8 billion.