Katie Abel and Vicki M. Young
9 min read
What’s the way forward? It’s the billion-dollar question right now.
As vendors and retailers gather at FFANY in New York this week for the start of the spring ’26 buying season, President Donald Trump’s trade policy and his punishing tariffs are top of mind.
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It’s not known what might happen to duty rates when the temporary 90-day freeze on global tariff hikes ends this summer. (Right now, the pause that ends for most countries is set to conclude on July 9; for China, the date is Aug. 14.)
What is clear is that some footwear prices are going up as consumer confidence remains on shaky ground.
At the same time, the footwear landscape is undergoing rapid consolidation — Dick’s Sporting Goods is gearing up to buy Foot Locker, and Skechers is set to go private in the biggest shoe buyout in the industry’s history. In the department store sector, the future of Saks Global, which acquired Neiman Marcus in December, is also weighing on the industry, with the cash-strapped company expected to drop up to 600 vendors.
“We’re basically in triage mode as we try to figure out what costs will be for our brands and then what retailers can absorb and what consumers can absorb,” said Matt Priest, president and chief executive officer of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA). He expects an “elevated pricing landscape” for the foreseeable future due to the uncertainties connected with tariffs, which will make it “hard for any brand or retailer coming into the June market to fully understand the depth and breadth of what actions lie ahead because it’s been so unpredictable to this point.”
Retailers big and small are shifting strategies in real time as tariff realities can change from day to day.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told Wall Street during the retailer’s first quarter conference call last month that as the tariff numbers have changed, his merchant team has pivoted and recalculated quantities. “Where it can be more challenging is making decisions related to things like Halloween and Christmas further out. And how do you make a quantity call? And what tariff number do you use?” McMillon’s only answer was that the mass discounter has a sales plan and it will “operate against that sales plan,” meaning that some quantities will be adjusted based on certain tariff assumptions.
A number of independents said they are in wait-and-see mode as Trump’s trade policies continue to unfold — and they’re focusing on tried-and-true strategies to give them an edge.
