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Tariffs Give Parents Back-to-School Shoe Anxiety
Tariffs Give Parents Back-to-School Shoe Anxiety

Yahoo

time17-07-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Tariffs Give Parents Back-to-School Shoe Anxiety

Eighty percent of consumers expect to pay more for children's shoes this fall due to tariff-driven price increases. According to data points from the 2025 AlixPartners U.S. Consumer Footwear Survey, in partnership with the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), 16 percent respondents expect shoe prices to increase by 10 percent or less, with 34 percent noting price hikes will range from 10 percent to 25 percent and 30 percent expecting the uptick to be 25 percent or more. More from WWD Kohl's Upping the Ante on Footwear During Critical Back-to-School Season Kristin and Kyle Juszczyk Embrace Classic Footwear Styles for ESPYs 2025 Red Carpet Coats Group to Buy OrthoLite for $770 Million Price was a key driver in purchasing decisions, and the only factor to see an increase in interest versus the 2024 study. Seventy-seven percent said 'absolute lowest prices' was a major factor in their choice of store, either online or in person, versus 74 percent in 2024. It was also the determining factor in where consumers are choosing to shop, with mass market retailers the top retail destination at 23 percent due to brand range and perceived affordability. Specialty stores followed at 18 percent and branded store or website at 17 percent to round out the top three shopping channels for back-to-school (BTS) footwear. Sticker shock is also forcing consumers to rethink their spending patterns. Half of the respondents said they expect brands and retailers to absorb a portion of the cost increases. This same group also said they are both trading down and seeking quality and versatility in what they buy, while they also plan on making fewer purchases. AlixPartners survey: deep dive According to Bryan Eshelman, a partner and managing director at AlixPartners and a co-author of the study, in the upper price tier product lines, brands still matter as well as quality. 'People are willing to spend maybe a little bit more on a per-pair basis, but maybe [they will be] buying fewer pairs,' he said. 'And so when they spend an extra $20 on a pair of shoes, they'll want to make sure it's the right brand, the right quality, and that it's a versatile product that they can wear for a number of occasions so they're getting more bang for their buck in that way.' At the other end of the spectrum, the lower-income consumer will be harder hit by the price increases, largely because lower-priced shoes are produced in countries where tariffs are at a higher rate. And then there are brands such as Nike Inc., which said in May that it was raising prices on select goods, averaging between $2 and $10. But the brand won't be increasing prices on any kids' products, whether footwear or apparel, and there won't be any price increases for any Jordan product. That seems to be a good marketing move for Nike. 'Nike is in a reinvention phase right now, trying to regain their cool factor. So, I think they have a strong incentive to try to direct consumer sales towards the younger product lines to try to rebuild that cool factor,' Eshelman said, adding that 'if I were them, … I'd want to give the impression to the consumer that I'm protecting kids and families from price increases.' He also noted that brands with strong 'brand heat' can probably 'afford to take the price up and get away with it because people are willing to pay for a good product and a great brand.' 'Footwear retailers are stuck between a rock and a hard place,' Matt Priest, FDRA's president and CEO, said in a statement. 'Tariffs raise wholesale costs across the board, but consumers aren't willing — or able — to absorb those increases. That leaves retailers squeezed on both sides, eroding margins and forcing tough decisions on inventory, pricing, and sourcing.' When faced with a 25 percent to 30 percent increase, 33 percent of consumers said they would likely buy cheaper brands, while 35 percent they would reduce spend elsewhere to afford the brands they want, and 38 percent said they would buy fewer pairs to keep within their budget. In addition to the focus on price, 34 percent said they would search for a similar or dupe product at a lower cost, while 33 percent said they would search for a promo code. The survey determined that brands that offer value without compromising on comfort or style — such as the athletic category — are the mostly likely winners. In fact, the athletic/athleisure shoe category saw a projected 28 percent year-over-year increase in spend versus 2024 levels. In contrast, fashion-first retailers and maybe even luxury brands, might struggle to get sales. The fashion/dress shoes or boots category only saw a 3 percent increase in projected spend when compared with 2024 levels. The study found that 73 percent of Gen Z and millennial parents said they'd skip trend-driven footwear styles in favor of 'durability and price.' That also means that both shoe manufacturers and retailers should 'design to value' as consumers trade down and scrutinize style features versus price points, strategists at AlixPartners advised. The study found that consumers also have a preference for retailers that offer buy-now-pay-later options, loyalty rewards and real-time price comparison tools The 2025 survey also took into account the possibility of inventory shortages. The advisory firm recommended that retailers have accurate and timely inventory visibility to meet consumer needs — whether via store-to-store transfer, shipping from store, or shipping from a distribution center — to avoid the risk of disappointing a consumer. And AlixPartners advised that retailers should know what their competitors are doing about pricing and promotional strategies. That's one way to make sure they don't stand out negatively from a pricing perspective. Eshelman said he hasn't seen any indication of low inventory, but noted that consumers are more aware of that possibility due to supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said most retailers have been bringing goods in and taking advantage of pauses in the implementation of higher tariff rates. The AlixPartner retail expert also believes that shoe firms and retailers are bringing more goods in again, now that the tariff deadline was moved out to Aug. 1. And that means consumers may not see price increases for some items until at least through mid-September. That's because much of the assortment mix for BTS and early holiday have landed, and any spike in new tariffs takes effect when the goods 'exit the country, not when they arrive' in the U.S., he explained. Hibbett in June launched a new kids'-focused app for BTS, Adidas earlier this month released an early BTS sneaker collection featuring Sambas, available at Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker. And in May when Shoe Carnival posted first quarter results, CEO Mark Worden said he was optimistic about BTS sales, given its lack of manufacturing or wholesale operations and the rebanner of Shoe Carnival stores to the Shoe Station brand. Worden said at the time that the company has been in 'close collaboration with vendor partners' and that it has not yet experienced any massive product cost or price increases. The AlixPartners study polled over 1,000 U.S. consumers in June. At that time, nearly half of respondents at 48 percent said they either already started BTS shoe shopping or plan to finish it before July 4, mostly due to concerns over rising prices. Forty-three percent planned to begin between July 5 and Aug. 15, and 9 percent said they would shop after Aug. 15. The peak BTS spend is typically July and August. And in general, those who expect to spend between $150 to $200 per child increased from 15 percent to 19 percent, while those who said they expect to spend between $100 to $150 fell to 24 percent from 29 percent in 2024. The consultancy firm also noted that consumers pulling forward their spend could mean there's less available later on for holiday spend. NRF BTS Survey Separately, the retail trade group National Retail Federation (NRF) said on Tuesday that two-thirds, or 67 percent, of BTS shoppers had already started purchasing items for the upcoming school year, mostly due to concerns that prices will rise because of tariffs. The early start is up from 55 percent in 2024. The 67 percent data point represents the highest since NRF started tracking early shopping in 2018. 'Consumers are being mindful of the potential impacts of tariffs and inflation on back-to-school items, and have turned to early shopping, discount stores and summer sales for savings on school essentials,' said Katherine Cullen, NRF's vice president of industry and consumer insights. The NRF survey found that 84 percent still have at least half of the purchases left to complete, mostly because 47 percent are holding out for the 'best deals.' Another 39 percent aren't sure of what items are need and 24 percent are planning to spread out their budgets Best of WWD All the Retailers That Nike Left and Then Went Back Mikey Madison's Elegant Red Carpet Shoe Style [PHOTOS] Julia Fox's Sleekest and Boldest Shoe Looks Over the Years [Photos] Sign in to access your portfolio

US footwear industry urges tariff relief ahead of school season
US footwear industry urges tariff relief ahead of school season

Fibre2Fashion

time14-07-2025

  • Business
  • Fibre2Fashion

US footwear industry urges tariff relief ahead of school season

As reciprocal trade deals near finalisation, footwear industry leaders led by the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), are calling on Ambassador Greer to ensure new tariffs are not added on top of already steep footwear duties. As trade deals near finalisation, the FDRA urges Ambassador Greer not to stack new tariffs on already high footwear duties, which hit working-class families hardest. With children's shoes already taxed up to 48 per cent, the industry said that added tariffsâ€'like the 20 per cent on Vietnamese goodsâ€'could worsen inflation and threaten footwear jobs. The industry stressed that current tariff rates—averaging 12 per cent and reaching as high as 48 per cent for children ' s shoes — already burden working-class US families disproportionately. With President Trump recently confirming a new 20 per cent tariff on Vietnamese-made goods, industry representatives argue that this effectively doubles the cost for many footwear imports already taxed at that level. Children ' s shoes, they emphasise, are rarely produced in the US and are essential for education, sports, and child health — especially ahead of the back-to-school shopping rush. The letter, which follows an earlier appeal to President Trump in May, supports his stance that tariffs should not aim to revive domestic sneaker or T-shirt production. Signatories also highlighted the sector's limited strategic relevance to national security and pointed out that footwear companies are already set to pay over $5 billion in duties this year alone. Industry groups are urging the administration to exempt footwear from additional reciprocal tariffs or provide credits against current Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rates. Without action, they said, consumers could face rising prices and job losses across the footwear supply chain. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)

Deep inside U.S. economy, more sticker prices start going up due to tariffs, and inventory is headed down
Deep inside U.S. economy, more sticker prices start going up due to tariffs, and inventory is headed down

CNBC

time27-06-2025

  • Business
  • CNBC

Deep inside U.S. economy, more sticker prices start going up due to tariffs, and inventory is headed down

On the surface of the U.S. economy, prices are higher. The latest inflation data out on Friday from the government showed a bigger uptick than forecast. On Thursday, Nike said it took a $1 billion hit due to tariffs and the fact that price increases have yet to hit. Inside the U.S. economy, within distribution networks that manage inventory, there are fewer items overall due to the trade war, but more goods on which sticker prices are going up. "We are now seeing multiple customers increasing pricing," said Ryan Martin, president of distribution and fulfillment for ITS Logistics. While price tags are placed on items at the manufacturer, Martin said over the past month his company has started re-ticketing "millions of units of products for many customers," items ranging from apparel to consumer products in the warehouse being prepped for eventual delivery or immediate transport to stores. Depending on the product, price increases range from 8%-15%, he said. "This is creating additional inflation," Martin said. It is happening in e-commerce as well, he said, though the price change is reflected online, not on the product. A new survey from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America for Q2 shows 55% of respondents expect their average retail price to rise between 6%-10% in 2025 as a result of tariffs. Martin says the last time he saw this amount of re-ticketing was during the pandemic, and it was much higher then. "Everything was getting more expensive at that time, transportation, labor, and quantities of product," he said. "We saw increases across all products, including food and beverage," he said. "Re-ticketing was between 30%-40%." With current concerns about trade uncertainty and consumer softness, retailers and manufacturing clients are managing inventory by shrinking SKU counts and importing fewer SKUs they are keeping. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that GDP shrank by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2025. "The overall inventory footprint is smaller," said Martin. "You are looking at three months of inventory on hand now versus six." Supply chain data from the warehouse sector and the growing number of empty shipping containers at ports are pointing to a more mild peak season (the summer buildup of inventory for the back-to-school and holiday shopping periods). Warehouse inventory levels are down 6% month over month, according to the Logistics Management Index. Comparing readings from the first half of June to later in the month, growth in inventories started to slow down, which suggests that an increase in early June was temporary, according to Zachary Rogers, associate professor of supply chain management at Colorado State University. "Because of how long it takes inventories to move through systems, we haven't seen any big shifts in transportation yet," said Rogers. "Warehouse capacity did move from mild contraction to mild expansion." The data for the full month of June is not in yet, but Rogers said it is highly unlikely the results would change in any meaningful way. "We're far enough along that we basically know where they'll end up," he said. Rogers explained the mild expansion seen earlier in the month was consistent with the containers that were processed at the ports. U.S. importers have been hesitant to pull forward full ocean freight orders because of the tariffs. The 50% tariff on Chinese goods is still too high for many retailers, even after a recent pause in higher tariffs President Trump has threatened on Chinese goods. The West Coast ports are now seeing a small bump in containers starting to arrive for the holidays. But based on the Port of Los Angeles Optimizer, which tracks the ocean trade destined for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, July imports will be lower than July 2024. "This is notable because July moving into August is when we would expect to see the numbers going up," Rogers said. On the East Coast, the situation is different. The Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest port on the East Coast, released its May monthly container data on Thursday, showing the port processed 774,698 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). "The tariffs are certainly not going to impact us anywhere near as much as they are going to be on the West Coast because we don't depend on China as much as our West Coast counterparts," Bethann Rooney, director of the Port of New York and New Jersey, told CNBC. "We've already seen an increase in volumes from Europe, Southeast Asia, India, and Vietnam. I don't anticipate a significant surge in July, but we are going to see strong volumes." But Rooney added the shift is relatively small as far as re-routing of supply chains sourcing in Europe and Southeast Asia. "We are seeing maybe a 1% change year over year," she said. "Cumulatively, it makes an impact. But we're certainly not seeing a tremendous change in routing, although it is clear that many beneficial cargo owners [U.S. companies] are changing their sourcing or diversifying their sourcing." Another leading indicator of future freight orders is the movement of empties. Empty container trade is necessary to keep the flow of exports moving. CNBC analysis of empty containers shows there is no rush of empties leaving the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to go back to be refilled. During the pandemic, empties were a priority to return to Asia so they could be refilled and exported back to the United States. "The fact that so many empty containers are still sitting at the ports also suggests that importers are not expecting our normal August-September peak season," Rogers said. Trucking and warehousing will see some activity at the wholesale/distribution level throughout Q3, thanks to the wave of goods coming into the ports, with those goods eventually moving to retailers in September and October. But Rogers added, "At this point, though, it seems highly unlikely that we will see a normal peak season." "Even at present inventory levels, we already have a ton of inventory on hand, and with the tariffs that are still in place, I would expect that imports, particularly those related to manufacturing, will be lower than what we would have expected at the beginning of the year," he said. Another warning sign is a dramatic fall in the ocean freight rate average on the Transpacific route from the Far East to the U.S. West Coast since an earlier spike in June. Average spot rates have plummeted from the Far East to the U.S. West Coast by 39% since June 1, according to Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Xeneta. "The Transpacific into U.S. West Coast is the key battleground for carriers when it comes to China exports, so spot rates have fallen harder and faster as they prioritized bringing capacity back onto this trade in the immediate aftermath of the lowering of 145% tariffs," he said. Sand said it is only a matter of time before shippers do the same on the U.S. East Coast, and spot rates begin to fall sharply there as well. This pullback in orders is being closely watched by economists. Oxford Economics wrote in a recent note that on the import side, consumer goods continued to trend lower with a $4.3 billion decline after the $33 billion decline in April. "This was partially offset by a gain in autos, while other categories were mostly unchanged. We expect imports will trend lower over the course of the year as effective tariff rates remain elevated and the economy slows," it stated. "Indecision is the best decision right now with shippers because of all the tariff talk," Martin said. "No one knows what will happen tomorrow or understands the cost structure. It's better to have lean inventories in this case," he added.

Trump wants America to make things again. Does it have what it takes?
Trump wants America to make things again. Does it have what it takes?

Boston Globe

time04-06-2025

  • Business
  • Boston Globe

Trump wants America to make things again. Does it have what it takes?

But there is a catch. The operation works only because his company, Saitex, runs a much bigger factory and fabric mill in southern Vietnam where thousands of workers churn out 500,000 pairs of jeans a month. Trump's tariffs have upended supply chains, walloped businesses and focused the minds of corporate leaders on one question: Does America have what it takes to bring jobs back? Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In many industries, the undertaking would take years, if not decades. The United States lacks nearly every part of the manufacturing ecosystem -- the workers, the training, the technology and the government support. Advertisement 'There are some harsh realities,' said Matt Priest, CEO of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, a trade group. And Trump's strategy is shrouded in uncertainty. Last month, he said, 'We're not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts' in the United States. But his steepest tariffs, set to take effect in July, were directed at countries that make clothes and shoes for sale to Americans. Vietnam, at 46%, was one of the hardest hit. Those tariffs, intended to push companies to bring factory work home, were deemed illegal by a ruling last week by the U.S. Court of International Trade. That decision was temporarily paused by a different court, giving judges time to evaluate an appeal by the Trump administration. Amid all the legal wrangling, Trump has promised to find other ways to disrupt the rules of trade. Advertisement Trump has exposed the difficulties in closing the vast distances, geographical and logistical, between where many products are made and where they are consumed. The gulf was laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic, when strict health policies in Asian countries led to the shutdown of factories. When they reopened, orders had piled up and snarled shipping routes trying to ferry goods across thousands of miles. For executives like Bahl of Saitex, the turmoil caused by Trump's trade policies has brought fresh urgency to the challenges of managing global supply chains. 'The extended fear and uncertainty that COVID brought was unforeseen,' Bahl said. 'There was nothing that could help us except survival instinct.' In response, Saitex opened a factory in Los Angeles in 2021. Since Trump announced his intention to impose steep tariffs on Vietnam, Bahl has been thinking about how much more he can make in the United States. He could probably bring about 20% of production to the States, up from 10% today, he said. He believes Saitex could be a blueprint for other apparel companies: 'We could be the catalyst of the hypothesis that manufacturing can be brought back to the United States,' he said. But his experience highlights how hard it would be. There are no mills in America on the scale of what the industry needs, nor major zipper and button suppliers. The cost of running a factory is high. Then there is the labor problem: There just aren't enough workers. Advertisement American factories are already struggling to fill around 500,000 manufacturing jobs, according to estimates by Wells Fargo economists. They calculate that to get manufacturing as a share of employment back to the 1970s peak that Trump has sometimes called for, new factories would have to open and hire 22 million people. There are currently 7.2 million unemployed people. Trump's crackdown on immigration has made things worse. Factory jobs moved overseas to countries, like Vietnam, that had growing populations and young people looking for jobs to pull themselves out of poverty. The future that Trump envisions, with millions of factory jobs, would have to include immigrants seeking that same opportunity in the United States. Steve Lamar, CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, an industry lobby group, said there was a gap between a 'romantic notion about manufacturing' and the availability of American workers. 'A lot of people say we should be making more clothing in the U.S., but when you ask them, they don't want to sit in the factory, nor do they want their kids to sit in the factory,' he said. 'The problem is that there aren't any other people around,' he added. At Saitex's Los Angeles factory, most of the workers come from countries like Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. Some 97% of the clothes and shoes that Americans buy are imported for cost reasons. Companies that make everything in the United States include firms like Federal Prison Industries, also known as Unicor, which employs convicts to make military uniforms for less than minimum wage, Lamar said. Advertisement Other companies make some of their fashion lines in the United States, like New Balance and Ralph Lauren. Others are playing around with a model where they make small batches of clothes in the United States to test designs and determine their popularity before commissioning big orders -- usually from factories in other countries. It is hard to make things in great volume in America. For Bahl, it boils down to the cost of a sewing machine operator. In Los Angeles, that person gets paid around $4,000 a month. In Vietnam, it is $500. In Saitex's factory there, which Bahl set up in 2012 in Dong Nai province, an hour's drive from Ho Chi Minh City, more than a dozen sewing lines are neatly laid out and humming six days a week. On a recent day, hundreds of workers pushed panels of jeans through sewing machines so quickly that the fabrics, briefly suspended in the air, looked as though they were flying. The work was augmented by sophisticated machines that can stitch labels onto a dozen shirts at a time, or laser a distressed pattern onto multiple jeans. Nearby, at a spray carousel, a robot mimicked the precise movements of a worker spraying denim. 'The speed is much higher in Vietnam,' said Gilles Cousin, a plant manager overseeing the sewing section. If Trump really wants to bring jobs back, Bahl said, he should give some tariff exemptions to companies like Saitex that are doing more in the United States. American factories like his can't expand without importing many of the things that go into their finished products. For its part, Saitex ships bales of American cotton to Vietnam, where its two-story mill turns fluffy cotton lint into thread and, eventually, rolls of fabric. That fabric is then dyed and shipped back the United States for his Los Angeles factory. Advertisement Until there is enough momentum from companies making things in the United States, the fabric, zippers and buttons will have to be brought into the country. Moving production from overseas would require huge investments, too. Saitex has plowed around $150 million in Vietnam, where its factory recycles 98% of its water, air dries its denim and uses technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and cut down on labor-intensive practices. In the United States, Saitex has spent around $25 million. These are long-term commitments that take at least seven years to recover, according to Bahl. Ultimately, if Trump decided to stick to his original 46% tariff on Vietnam and Saitex could not soften the financial blow, it would have to look to other markets to sell the products it made in Vietnam -- like Europe, where it sends about half of what it makes. 'But then,' Bahl said from Los Angeles, 'what happens to our factory here?' This article originally appeared in

Nike, Adidas, Puma, Steve Madden, Skechers, Caleres + Dozens More Companies Urge Trump to Exempt Shoes From Tariffs in FDRA Letter
Nike, Adidas, Puma, Steve Madden, Skechers, Caleres + Dozens More Companies Urge Trump to Exempt Shoes From Tariffs in FDRA Letter

Yahoo

time29-05-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Nike, Adidas, Puma, Steve Madden, Skechers, Caleres + Dozens More Companies Urge Trump to Exempt Shoes From Tariffs in FDRA Letter

The footwear industry is making sure its voice is heard in Washington. The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), along with more than 80 leading U.S. footwear firms, on Tuesday sent a letter to U.S. President Donald J. Trump urging him to exempt footwear from his administration's reciprocal tariff plan. More from WWD Looming U.S. Tariffs Drove Swiss Watch Export Surge in April Tiptoeing Around Trump, Fashion Refines Trade War Rhetorical Style Is Deckers' Hot Streak Coming to An End? Hoka's U.S. Slowdown + Tariff Worries Weigh on Stock 'We are hit particularly hard by the tariff actions, because the U.S. government already places asignificant tariff burden on our industry before any new tariffs are added,' the letter stated. It cited as one example children's shoes, which has 'rates of 20 percent, 37.5 percent, and higher, before accounting for the reciprocal tariffs.' The letter also noted that the new reciprocal rates are 'stacked on top of the existing high footwear tariff rates,' resulting in many American footwear companies now having to pay tariffs ranging from 'more than 150 percent to nearly 220 percent.' Significant price increases preclude American consumers from having affordable footwear options, the letter stated. More importantly, the letter emphasized that 'these tariffs will not drive shoe manufacturing back to the U.S.' On the contrary, the footwear firms emphasized that the new tariffs will remove the 'business certainty' that is needed to take on significant capital investment required to both plan for sourcing shifts and invest in the machinery and materials needed to produce shoes in the U.S. 'We are in fact the one industry where tariffs do not significantly increase domestic production; tariffs just become a major impact at the cash register for every family,' the letter stated. Moreover, many footwear firms don't even know how they're going to pay the costs of already shipped merchandise that's now arriving on U.S. shores, and the inability to pay would place many U.S. footwear businesses 'at imminent risk.' The companies that signed the letter—including Adidas, Brooks, Caleres, Columbia Sportswear, Crocs, Designer Brands, Genesco, Nike, Puma, Rocky Brands, Skechers, Steve Madden, Under Armour, VF Corp., and Wolverine Worldwide, among others—added that they are 'deeply concerned about imminent U.S. footwear job losses, added costs for consumers, and reduced consumer spending that will fundamentally hamper our industry and harm the entire U.S. economy.' The signers of the letter are seeking a more 'targeted' approach—one that focuses on strategic items rather than basic consumer goods—that would advance critical national security imperatives without causing unnecessary pain to American families.' The letter to Trump was also sent to Howard W. Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Jamieson Greet, U.S. Trade Representative, and Scott Bessent, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Higher tariffs have been a growing concern since Trump won the presidential election last November. Crocs CEO Andrew Rees told investors in February during a conference call on fourth quarter earnings results that the firm was embedding tariff increases on goods from China and Mexico, based on then-expected rates that were presumed to stay in place for the remainder of 2025. FDRA data showed that footwear sales plunged 26.2 percent for the week ended Feb. 22 from year-ago levels on fears over tariff increases. But then Trump disclosed his administration's plans to implement reciprocal tariffs on April 2, with the new rates blowing existing duty estimates out of the water as footwear firms scrambled to figure out how to adjust their business model to take into account double-digit percent rate increases. And if the reciprocal tariffs weren't bad enough, Trump went on to hike duties on goods from China, with some as high as 145 percent. Currently, there is a 90-day pause on the reciprocal increases, while keeping a universal base increase of 10 percent, on the hopes that other nations will come to the table to negotiate an improved trade deal that benefits the U.S. The exception is China, for which there is no 90-day pause. Meanwhile, footwear industry executives have formed a forward-thinking research think tank, Footwear Innovation Foundation, that will help the shoe sector become more proactive in reshaping the future of footwear in the U.S. Best of WWD All the Retailers That Nike Left and Then Went Back Mikey Madison's Elegant Red Carpet Shoe Style [PHOTOS] Julia Fox's Sleekest and Boldest Shoe Looks Over the Years [Photos]

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