Shoe Sales In America For The First Time In Ten Years

Americans like shoes.

On average, every woman, man and child in the United States buys 8 pairs of shoes a year.

But in the past 10 years, shoe sales in the US have dropped for the first time, a sign of problems in the US economy.

Last year, shoe sales fell 0.4% to $2 billion 390 million, compared with an increase of 5% in 2006.

This is the first shoe sales decline since 1998.

Look ahead this year, the situation will be even worse.

In the first 5 months of this year, shoe imports dropped by 7.3% to 1 billion pairs, according to the latest data from the American Apparel and Footwear Association.

Why?

The price of shoes, which has been declining for many years, is now on the rise.

According to the industry report, the retail price of American shoes increased by 2.5% over the same period in June.

In the United States, 9 pairs of 10 pairs of shoes are supplied by China. As China's currency appreciates against the US dollar and Chinese wages increase gradually, the price of Chinese shoes has increased rapidly.

Some Chinese manufacturers have moved to Vietnam to reduce costs, prompting Vietnam to become the second largest source of shoes for American stores.

Congress passed the tax law that protects American shoe companies.

But American companies, including Nike, say that when almost 99% of the domestic sales of shoes are from overseas, and when overseas costs are rising, protection is no longer meaningful.