Retail footwear prices not only rose again in April, but the increases accelerated again. Higher prices impacted all key markets, in step with accelerating overall inflation, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).
In fact, shoe prices jumped 4.2 percent year-over-year in April, higher eight of the last nine months and the fastest in 43 months, the FDRA noted. April also marks the fourth time in the last five months that footwear price gains have accelerated.
Related Stories
Women’s retail footwear prices jumped 4.5 percent, the ninth straight increase and the most in 42 months. Men’s shoe prices advanced 3.9 percent last month, higher 23 of the last 30 months and the most in 23 months, while children’s footwear prices increased 3.9 percent, the fastest in 35 months.
You May Also Like
Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN that 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,” Raines said.
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 April increased at a faster-than-expected rate.
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 3.8 percent in April from a year earlier after rising 3.3 percent in March. This marks the highest inflation rate since May 2023.
The report also saw prices increase 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in April, after rising 0.9 percent in March. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.4 percent in April and increased 2.8 percent over the same time last year.
The major culprit for these increases is energy, which rose 3.8 percent in April, accounting for over 40 percent of the monthly all items increase. The energy index increased 17.9 percent for the 12 months ending April.
This newest inflation data comes after Circana noted earlier this month that rising prices led to modest footwear sales growth in the first quarter of 2026.
According to Circana’s Retail Tracking Service, total U.S. footwear sales increased 1 percent versus the same period last year in the first quarter of 2026. And while overall units sold declined, higher average selling prices continued to support topline revenue.