Shoe prices began to increase again in December after a month of reprieve as overall inflation remained unchanged from November, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).
After pausing momentarily in November, retail resumed their streak of gains in December by rising 1.1 percent year-over-year, higher four of the last five months, the FDRA noted.
Echoing the previous two reports, prices for children’s footwear declined again by 1.9 percent year-over-year in December. Elsewhere, men’s footwear prices rose 1.7 percent year-over-year last month while women’s footwear prices climbed 1.9 percent, higher for the fifth straight month.
For the full year, the FDRA added that footwear prices were little changed in 2025. Women’s shoe prices rose 0.7 percent in 2025, while men’s dipped 0.2 percent and children’s declined 1.5 percent prices.
Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN that with headline inflation in 2025 the slowest in five years, retail footwear prices were mostly flat on the year, the weakest also in five years.
“We note that average landed costs and average duties per pair on footwear imports continue to climb, with both rising year-over-year for at least the last eight months,” Raines said. “This implies latent pressure across the supply chain that may reach to store shelves in 2026.”
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 December remained unchanged from November.
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 2.7 percent in December from a year earlier, the same increase as November.
The report also saw prices increase 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in December. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.2 percent in December and increased 2.6 percent over the same time last year.
