Shoe store margins
This index tracks the margin shoe retailers earn (selling price minus what they paid for the shoes), not the shelf price itself. Below it is set against what shoppers paid in stores for all footwear.
September 2026. Store prices (all footwear): +3.4%.
Against +22% in stores over the same years: 1.5% vs 0.9% a year.
Index 163.06. Latest is 45.9% below it. Low since 2003: August 2026.
Shoe store margins vs store prices, 2003 = 100
- Shoe store margins
- All footwear in stores (CPI)
Last ten years, stage by stage
- 2016−0.5%In stores: +0.4%
- 2017+1.4%In stores: −0.5%
- 2018−3.8%In stores: −0.5%
- 2019+4.2%In stores: +0.5%
- 2020+0.6%In stores: −2.5%
- 2021+7.0%In stores: +3.7%
- 2022+7.3%In stores: +4.6%
- 2023−0.3%In stores: +0.2%
- 2024−5.7%In stores: +0.7%
- 2025+3.9%In stores: −0.0%
In 4 of the last 10 years this index and store prices moved in the same direction. Retail margin indexes swing widely from month to month, because a small change in the gap between buying and selling price is a large change in the margin itself; read them over several years rather than month to month.
Other stages
- Factory-gate footwear prices+3.1%12 months to September 2026
- Men’s shoes at the factory gate+3.7%12 months to September 2026
- Women’s shoes at the factory gate+1.2%12 months to September 2026
- Athletic, rubber and plastic shoes at the factory gate+1.2%12 months to September 2026
- Imported footwear prices+1.9%12 months to September 2026
- Imported leather-upper footwear+1.2%12 months to September 2026
- Footwear imported from China+4.0%12 months to September 2026
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, series PCU458210458210 (Shoe store margins (PPI, shoe retailers)), base Jun 2002=100. How we calculate