Tariffs will make sneakers, jeans and almost everything Americans wear cost more, trade groups warn

NEW YORK AP Sending children back to school in new sneakers jeans and T-shirts is likely to cost U S families significantly more this fall if the bespoke tariffs President Donald Trump put on leading exporters take effect as planned American industry groups warn About of the clothes and shoes purchased in the U S are imported predominantly from Asia the American Apparel Footwear Association disclosed citing its the bulk newest figures Walmart Gap Inc Lululemon and Nike are a sparse of the companies that have a majority of their clothing made in Asian countries Those same garment-making hubs took a big hit under the president s plan to punish individual countries for exchange imbalances For all Chinese goods that meant tariffs of at least He set the import tax rates for Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia at and and products from Bangladesh and Indonesia at and Working with foreign factories has kept labor costs down for U S companies in the fashion commerce but neither they nor their overseas suppliers are likely to absorb new costs that high India Indonesia Pakistan and Sri Lanka also got slapped with high tariffs so aren t immediate sourcing alternatives If these tariffs are allowed to persist ultimately it s going to make its way to the consumer disclosed Steve Lamar president and CEO of the American Apparel Footwear Association Another pact group Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America provided estimates of the price increases that could be in store for shoes noting of the pairs sold in the U S are imports Work boots made in China that now retail for would go up to while customers would pay for running shoes made in Vietnam at this moment priced at the group disclosed FDRA President Matt Priest predicted lower-income families and the places they shop would feel the impact majority He announced a pair of Chinese-made children s shoes that cost in the present day will likely carry a price tag by the back-to-school shopping season according to his group s calculations Preparing for a moving target The tariffs on the top producers of not only finished fashion but countless of the materials used to make footwear and apparel shocked U S retailers and brands Before Trump s first term U S companies had started to diversify away from China in response to pact tensions as well as human rights and environmental concerns They accelerated the pace when he ordered tariffs on Chinese goods in shifting more production to other countries in Asia Lululemon revealed in its latest annual filing that of its sportswear last year was manufactured in Vietnam in Cambodia in Sri Lanka in Indonesia and in Bangladesh Nike Levi-Strauss Ralph Lauren Gap Inc Abercrombie Fitch and VF Corporation which owns Vans The North Face and Timberland also stated a greatly reduced reliance on garment-makers and suppliers in China Shoe brand Steve Madden revealed in November it would reduce imports from China by as much as this year due to Trump s campaign pledge to impose a tariff on all Chinese products The brand announced it already had spent several years growing a factory system in Cambodia Vietnam Mexico and Brazil Industry experts say reviving the American garment industry would be hugely expensive and take years if it were feasible The number of people working in apparel manufacturing in January stood at and had dwindled to by January of this year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Sri Lanka employs four times as multiple despite having a population less than one-seventh the size of the U S Along with lacking a skilled and willing workforce the U S does not have domestic sources for the more than materials that go into making a typical shoe the Footwear Distributors Retailers of America noted in written comments to Trump s contract representative Shoe companies would need to find or set up factories to make cotton laces eyelets textile uppers and other components to make finished footwear in the U S on a large scale the group wrote These materials merely do not exist here and plenty of of these materials have never existed in the U S the organization declared Price increases may come as a shock The expected barrage of apparel price increases would follow three decades of stability Clothes cost U S consumers essentially the same in as they did in according to U S Bureau of Labor Statistics statistics Economists and industry analysts have attributed the trend to free pact agreements offshoring to foreign countries where workers are paid much less and heated competition for shoppers among discount retailers and fast-fashion brands like H M Zara and Forever But customers unaccustomed to inflation in the apparel sector and coming off several years of steep rise in the costs of groceries and housing may be extra sensitive to any big jumps in clothing prices Priest of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America explained he has observed shoppers pulling back on buying shoes since Trump s return to the White House They re nervous he noted They ve obviously been playing the long encounter as it relates to inflation for a number of years now And they just don t have the endurance to absorb higher prices particularly as they re inflicted by the U S administration Winners and losers in a garment business war According to a description by British bank Barclays published Friday the winners in the tariff wars are retailers that have at least one of these attributes big negotiating power with their suppliers a strong brand name and limited sourcing in Asia In clothing and footwear that includes off-price retailers Burlington Ross Stores Inc and TJX Companies which operates T J Maxx and Marshalls as well as Ralph Lauren and Dick s Sporting Goods according to the description The companies in for a tougher time are those with limited negotiating power limited pricing power and high product exposure in Asia a list including Gap Inc Urban Outfitters and American Eagle Outfitters according to the record Secondhand clothing resale site ThredUp cheered a related action Trump took with his latest round of tariffs eliminating a widely used tax exemption that has allowed millions of low-cost goods greater part of them originating in China to enter the U S every day duty-free This agenda change will increase the cost of cheaply produced disposable clothing imported from China directly impacting the business model that fuels overproduction and environmental degradation ThredUp declared Several industry analysts and economists disclosed they think tariffs will end up being a consumer sales tax that widens the yawning gap between America s wealthiest residents and those in the middle and lower end of the income spectrum So where will the U S be buying its apparel now that the tariff rates on Bangladesh Vietnam and China are astronomical Mary E Lovely a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics explained of the schedule set to take effect Wednesday Will the new Golden Age involve knitting our own knickers as well as snapping together our cellphones