How Tariffs Are Hitting Running Stores in 2026 — And What To Do About It

The Supreme Court struck down the broadest IEEPA tariffs in April 2026. That was celebrated for about six hours before a new 10% across-the-board tariff was announced. By the time you read this, the number may have changed again. That's the operating reality for run specialty retailers in 2026: chronic uncertainty with a side of price increases.

In 2024, FDRA members paid roughly $3 billion in tariffs. In 2025, that number hit $6.2 billion — more than double, in a single year. Of all shoes sold in the United States, 99% are imported. That means tariffs aren't a political abstraction. They're a line item on your cost of goods that got dramatically worse and hasn't stabilized.

This post isn't about predicting what tariffs will do next. Nobody can do that accurately. It's about the concrete things independent run specialty retailers can do right now to protect margin, manage inventory risk, and communicate price changes to customers without torching the relationship.

What's Actually Happening to Your Shoe Prices

Through most of 2025, brands absorbed the tariff hit using pre-tariff inventory they'd stocked ahead of the deadlines. That buffer is largely gone. As 2026 opened, those inventories ran out and brands started making the hard decision: pass through or eat the cost. Most chose some version of passing through.

The FDRA surveyed shoe executives in Q4 2025 and found 44% expected landed costs to rise 1–10% over the next 12 months, with another 25.5% projecting 11–20% increases. Some categories — particularly those still heavily sourced from Vietnam and China — will see higher pressure. Your Brooks, HOKA, and New Balance reps may have already had those conversations.

The Margin Math No One Is Talking About Openly

Run specialty's average selling price of $145.95 is already 40% above the all-channel average of $102, according to Circana data presented at The Running Event. That premium exists because you deliver something Amazon and Dick's Sporting Goods literally cannot: a fit process, a gait analysis, a guarantee, and a human being who knows the difference between a Hoka Bondi and a Clifton and can explain it in plain language.

When brand costs rise 10–15%, you have three choices: raise prices, compress your margin, or sell more of what you control. Most independent retailers instinctively try option two — taking the hit themselves — because they're afraid option one will drive customers to Amazon. That fear is mostly wrong. Here's why.

Customers who shop at run specialty stores are already paying a premium for the experience. A $10–$15 price increase on a $160 shoe is a 6–9% increase on a product they trust you to recommend. The customers you're most likely to lose on price are the ones who were already comparison-shopping online. They weren't your long-term customers anyway. The customer who values your fit process and your exchange policy is dramatically less price-sensitive than you think.

What the Brands Will and Won't Tell You

Vendors are navigating their own margin pressure while trying not to spook their retail partners. A few things worth knowing:

• Most brands have already priced in some tariff impact for their 2026 wholesale costs. Ask your rep directly what the price change cadence looks like for the next two buying seasons.
• Vendor co-op marketing funds still exist and many stores don't claim them. In a margin-compressed environment, co-op is essentially free money — ask every brand rep what's available for your volume level. HOKA's "Fly Human Fly" campaign and Brooks' retail training programs both include co-op components most independent retailers never tap.
• Don't over-inventory brands that are under price pressure. The spike in HOKA markdowns visible across 2025 is a warning sign. When a brand starts moving product at discount, the full-price story erodes. Diversify your buy.

The Inventory Strategy for Uncertain Times

The retailers who weathered 2025's tariff volatility best had three things in common: they hadn't over-indexed on one brand, they had tighter open-to-buy discipline than usual, and they understood their sell-through data by SKU. If you're reading this and you don't have a clear picture of your top 20 SKUs by sell-through rate and margin contribution, that's the first problem to solve — before you place another major order.

A few practical moves for the current environment:

• Tighten your re-order lead times where possible. Brands that can ship from domestic or nearshore inventory are worth paying attention to. Ask your reps about lead time commitments for your top models.
• Diversify into emerging brands with domestic or non-tariff-impacted sourcing. The RIA noted in early 2026 that the retailers best positioned for the year are those trying emerging brands with a story to tell. Brands like Topo Athletic, Lems, and others sourcing outside the highest-tariff countries have a structural cost advantage right now.
• Shift mix toward apparel and accessories where you have more pricing control and domestic sourcing options exist. More on this below.
• Pre-sell your strongest models through email to your list before price increases hit. A rotation reminder email that mentions "current pricing on your shoe is still in effect through [date]" is both honest and commercially effective.

How to Communicate Price Increases to Customers

This is where most independent retailers get it wrong — they either say nothing (and the customer is surprised at the register) or they over-explain (and make it sound like an apology).

The framing that works: honesty + context + your value. "We want to let you know that prices on several of our top shoe models have increased due to import costs that affected the entire footwear industry. Our prices went up because every retailer's costs went up. What hasn't changed is the fit process, the exchange policy, and the fact that we've been doing this since [year]. You're still getting the same expertise and the same guarantee — just at the price the industry is actually operating at."

That message, sent proactively to your email list before the price change hits, will land better than a sticker shock moment at the register. It also differentiates you: Amazon and big box stores just raise prices. You explain it like a business owner who respects your customer's intelligence.

The One Structural Move That Protects You Long-Term

Tariffs are a symptom of a larger structural reality: footwear-dependent specialty retailers are permanently exposed to brand and supply chain risk they can't control. The diversification play isn't just about having six brands instead of three. It's about building revenue streams that aren't subject to import tariffs at all.

Services. Training programs. Run clubs with paid coaching components. Insole fitting as a revenue line. Apparel with domestic or local production options. Used gear programs. Any revenue that doesn't flow through a Vietnamese or Indonesian factory is structurally protected from whatever trade policy comes next.

The stores that will look back on 2025–2026 tariff volatility as a catalyst rather than a crisis are the ones who used it to diversify — not just their brand mix, but their fundamental business model. If you want to talk through what that looks like for your specific store, start with a conversation.

For more on how to position your store competitively in a changing market, read our guides on pricing strategy for run specialty and how to compete with Amazon and big box. And if you're thinking about your brand mix, our piece on the best running shoe brands for independent retailers covers the current competitive landscape in detail.