adidas Warns Of Sneaker Price Hikes Thanks To Trump’s Tariff War
President Donald Trump’s war on tariffs touches every consumer, whether it be technology, cars, or, recently, just about everything you buy from Amazon.
Now, sneakerheads will also suffer from higher prices, and adidas has confirmed it, thanks to its relationship with Beijing, which leaves them “somewhat exposed.”
“Higher tariffs will eventually cause higher costs for all our products for the U.S. market,” adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said in a statement revealing its first quarter results. “Given the uncertainty around the negotiations between the U.S. and the different exporting countries, we do not know what the final tariffs will be.”
With rising prices thanks to tariffs, Trump hopes American companies will return to manufacturing. However, with labor costs and the forward-thinking required to build factories and source products, it’s become messy pretty quickly as adidas confirms that nearly none of its products are manufactured in the USA.
adidas continues, “Therefore, we cannot make any ‘final’ decisions on what to do. Cost increases due to higher tariffs will eventually cause price increases, not only in our sector, but it is currently impossible to quantify these or to conclude what impact this could have on the consumer demand for our products.”
According to CNBC, the three stripes often use overseas factories in countries like Vietnam and Cambodia. Trump has made it clear that companies that work with them will face a hefty 46% tax if they can’t reach a mutually beneficial deal.
adidas hasn’t said they’ll pass that entire added cost to consumers, instead promising that “U.S. consumers will get the adidas product they want and to the best possible price.”
To compensate for the expected loss, adidas plans to overdeliver in non-U.S. markets to lessen the blow.
So, if you were looking to pick up a pair of the it shoe of the moment—Sambas or Gazelles—to kick start your summer rotations, now’s the time to hit that “buy now” button.
Though tariffs are looming, adidas proudly delivered a better beginning to 2025 than expected, up 13% year over year, with double-digit growth in Originals, Sportswear, Running, Training, Specialist Sports, and Performance Basketball.
The only decrease in business, adidas says, comes with “the phase-out of the Yeezy business” after cutting ties with Kanye West amid his antisemitic tirade.
