Running Shoes, Inflation, and the Supply Chain

A large amount of imports, including shoes, have been stuck on freighters due to labor shortages and increased demand.

It's common knowledge that the Federal Reserve wants to keep inflation at a slow, steady pace of 3% or less per year and that, for the first time since the 1980s, this pace has been broken. Inflation is as high as 10% at the moment.

As runners, we have seen the effects of inflation driving up the price that we are paying for our shoes. In fact, in 2021 the price of adult shoes rose 5%, while kids shoes rose 11%. In 2022 these prices have continued to rise. We know that in late 2020 and throughout 2021, companies struggled to maintain product output, as the economy reopened and rebounded. Most shoe retailers use production plants in Vietnam and these largely shut down during the pandemic and were not reopened until late 2021. Once reopened, manufacturing was slow and shipping products to the United States presented many setbacks, such as massive delays at ports. 

On the flip side, during the pandemic, runners were given extra time off work so they naturally ran more. Because of this, the demand for running shoes increased despite the pandemic. This demand rose partly due to the fact that we were running more, but was also largely due to the abundance of money that was pumped into our wallets from stimulus checks. We all became a little richer (temporarily), which created excessive demand and, ultimately, led to shoe prices being effected by demand-pull inflation. In other words, the low supply of shoes added to increased demand resulted in higher prices. The Brooks Ghost and Hoka Clifton, for example, both rose $10 in price to $140. 

Will this be the only increase in price? Inflation is still running hot and runners have not slowed down. Though the supply chain has sorted itself out to some extent — back-orders and long wait times for shoes are becoming more infrequent — prices, certainly, will not go down. Even shoes going on sale will likely have higher discounted prices. As inflation eventually cuts deeper into our wallets, the runner may seek to put more and more miles on their shoes, delaying a new purchase as long as possible. The Federal Reserve is currently working to combat inflation, and in doing so, it must reduce unsustainable demand. This will eventually pose a challenge to shoe retailers across the country. Nonetheless, it cannot stop us running!