Shoe price increases decelerated in June after rising the fastest in nearly four years the prior month, according to the latest data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA).

Despite the slowdown, shoe prices still climbed 4.1 percent in June, easing from May’s sharpest advance in 45 months, the FDRA noted. By target market, men’s and women’s prices rose 3.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, both off from May’s recent spurts. But children’s accelerated by climbing 4.7 percent year-over-year, the fastest in nearly four years.

Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN that this latest read on retail footwear prices pegs footwear prices through the first half of the year up 3.2 percent, supporting FDRA’s earlier outlook for full-year footwear prices to rise at the third-fastest rate in 34 years. 

“This latest read also supports our earlier caution that price pressure would continue to permeate the footwear supply chain to store shelves and into less confident footwear shoppers’ pockets in 2026,” Raines said.

Last month’s deceleration in retail footwear prices also comes at the same time the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that overall consumer prices in June rose less than expected.

According to the bureau’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, retail inflation rose 3.5 percent in June from a year earlier after rising 4.2 percent in May.

The report also saw prices decreased 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in June, after rising 0.5 percent in May. This decline was the largest one-month decrease since April 2020 when it fell 0.8 percent, the bureau said.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the core CPI remained unchanged in June, after rising 0.2 percent in May, and increased 2.6 percent over the same time last year.

This latest data follows the release earlier this month of the FDRA’s second quarter 2026 Shoe Executive Business Outlook Survey which showed that one in three shoe executives see their retail prices rising as much as five percent this year.

According to the survey, over three in five respondents said their operating costs are higher from six months ago, while over half see their landed costs rising as much as 10 percent in 2026.

What’s more, the survey also found that one in three respondents see their retail price rising as much as five percent this year. Plus, nearly two in three don’t expect in increase or decrease hiring over the next six months.