News
  • Login
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • Reel
  • Future
  • More
Saturday, September 5, 2026
No Result
View All Result

NEWS

3 °c
London
8 ° Wed
9 ° Thu
11 ° Fri
13 ° Sat
  • Home
  • Video
  • World
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • US & Canada

    AI data centres are booming in Australia – but at what cost?

    Trump’s peace envoys to visit Moscow and Kyiv over weekend

    Niger coup attempt: Is Russia proving better at protecting friends than fighting enemies in West Africa?

    Maharashtra gives taxi and tuk-tuk drivers a year to learn Marathi language

    Tate brothers charged with further trafficking and sex crimes in Romania

    Falkland Islands: UK support ‘unwavering’ after Argentina restates claims

    ‘We expect our sons to be killed,’ father of teen shot dead in West Bank tells BBC

    Lindsay Clancy’s case ends in a mistrial – what happens next?

    Nick Kyrgios cleared to return to tennis after accepting one-month ban for positive cocaine test

  • UK
    • All
    • England
    • N. Ireland
    • Politics
    • Scotland
    • Wales

    Diamond League results: Amy Hunt continues strong season with third in Diamond League final

    The Grand Tour's new presenters: 'I hope we prove the critics wrong'

    Clock starts ticking on race to buy Scotland’s ‘forgotten Einstein’ church in Galloway

    Cave art discovery suggests first humans in Ireland came from Wales

    Disability benefit: Two out of three NI Pip decisions overturned at tribunal

    Trump’s response is key as Argentina’s Falklands demands get louder

    US Open 2026 results: Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones lose to end British singles interest in New York

    UK weather: Weekend heat for parts of UK before more rain next week

    Is Hearts’ McPake poised to gatecrash Pocognoli’s Scotland squad?

  • Business
    • All
    • Companies
    • Connected World
    • Economy
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Global Trade
    • Technology of Business

    Virgin’s Richard Branson: Flight price rises due to ‘foolish leaders’ starting wars

    Why are European countries moving their gold out of North America?

    Watch: How much can Canada fight back in its trade war with the US?

    B&Q and Five Guys among firms which paid staff below minimum wage

    NI employers named for not paying staff minimum wage

    Argentina to sanction oil firms as Falklands dispute with UK heats up

    Almost half of households do not see benefits of economic growth, report says

    Why wait? Business grads buying firms to install themselves as CEO

    Trump $1 coin makes him first living president on US currency in a century

  • Tech
  • Entertainment & Arts

    Dancers say Lizzo ‘needs to be held accountable’ over harassment claims

    Freddie Mercury: Contents of former home being sold at auction

    Harry Potter and the Cursed Child marks seven years in West End

    Sinéad O’Connor: In her own words

    Tom Jones: Neighbour surprised to find singer in flat below

    BBC presenter: What is the evidence?

    Watch: The latest on BBC presenter story… in under a minute

    Watch: George Alagiah’s extraordinary career

    BBC News presenter pays tribute to ‘much loved’ colleague George Alagiah

    Excited filmgoers: 'Barbie is everything'

  • Science
  • Health
  • In Pictures
  • Reality Check
  • Have your say
  • More
    • Newsbeat
    • Long Reads

NEWS

No Result
View All Result
Home Business

What Trump tariffs mean to Nike’s Air Jordan 1s

April 5, 2025
in Business
9 min read
247 5
0
491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Annabelle Liang

Business reporter

Alamy A Vietnam-made Air Jordan 1Alamy

The Nike Air Jordan 1 is, in some ways, the iconic US shoe. It’s a popular sneaker line by a large American brand, created four decades ago for homegrown basketball legend Michael Jordan.

But although Nike sells most of its products in the US, almost all of its shoes are made in Asia – a region targeted by President Donald Trump’s tariffs salvo against foreign countries he accuses of “ripping off” Americans.

Nike’s shares fell 14% the day after the tariffs announcement, on fears over the impact they could have on the company’s supply chain.

Follow live updates

So what will all this mean for the price of Nike’s shoe?

It depends on how much of the cost increase Nike decides to pass on to customers, if any, and how long they think the tariffs will actually be in place for.

‘Competitive industry’

Goods from Vietnam, Indonesia and China face some of the heaviest US import taxes – between 32% to 54%.

Hopes remain that Trump might be willing to negotiate those rates lower. On Friday, he said he had had a “very productive” call with the leader of Vietnam, helping Nike shares to recover some ground after their steep Thursday falls.

But most analysts think the firm’s prices will have to go up.

Swiss bank UBS estimates that there will be a 10% to 12% increase in the prices of goods that come from Vietnam – where Nike produces half of its shoes.

Meanwhile, Indonesia and China account for almost all of the balance of its shoe production.

“Our view is that, given how extensive the list of tariffs is, the industry will realize there are few ways to mitigate the impact in the medium term other than by raising prices,” UBS analyst Jay Sole said in a note.

David Swartz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, agrees that price rises are likely but says any large price increase would reduce demand.

“This is a very competitive industry. My guess is that it would be difficult for Nike to raise prices by much more than 10-15%. I don’t think it could offset most of the tariff,” he says.

Graphic shows how a new 46% tariff could affect the cost of Nike trainers imported to the US from Vietnam. Using figures from several industry reports which have examined how the price of a pair of Nike trainers breaks down across the supply chain, we have estimated how the new tariffs could affect the cost of a pair of trainers – depending on how much of the cost is passed on to the consumer

Using figures from several industry reports which have examined how the price of a pair of Nike trainers breaks down across the supply chain, we have estimated how the new tariffs could, hypothetically, affect the cost of a pair of trainers – depending on how much of the cost is passed on to the consumer

Many other western brands such as H&M, Adidas, Gap and Lululemon will be facing the same predicament.

Nike is already facing a tight bottom line.

It had around $51bn (£39.6bn) in sales in its most recent fiscal year. The cost of making products, including shipping, third-party profits and warehouse fees, consumed only about 55% of revenue, giving it a healthy gross profit margin of more than 40%.

But that profit gets whittled away once you add in the cost of other business operations. A third of its revenue, for example, is consumed by selling and administrative expense.

By the time you factor in interest and taxes, Nike’s profit margin has shrunk to roughly 11%.

That’s across all its products, as they don’t break down costs separately for its different items.

Rahul Cee, who set up the running shoe review website Sole Review, says there are other ways Nike could keep retail prices low.

Mr Cee, who trained as a footwear designer and worked for Nike and Vans in India, says one way could be to downgrade the level of tech in the shoe.

“So instead of using high-performance midsole foams and construction, stick to injection moulded EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate),” he says.

Another option would be instead of bringing out a new design every one to two years, to refresh the design cycle every three to four years.

Reuters Shoppers walk past a Nike store in the King of Prussia Mall, in King of Prussia, PennsylvaniaReuters

Nike relies heavily on US consumers

Things could change fast

Simeon Siegel, managing director at BMO Capital Markets, says most companies were looking at Wednesday’s announcement as “still far from the final conclusion”.

“I don’t think that many people believe that those numbers are etched in stone just yet,” he says.

Theoretically, Nike is such a big brand that it should be able to put up prices without it hitting their sales, he says, but adds: “Do they have it right now is the question and do they have it across their product offering is another?”

Even before the announcement, Nike was facing a slump in sales that had curbed its ability to command full price for its shoes.

Finance chief Matthew Friend has also cited tariffs as an example of developments that were affecting consumer confidence.

And Nike relies heavily on US consumers, with the market contributing to roughly $21.5bn of its sales – almost everything it sells in its largest market of North America.

Sentiment in the US is a “significant concern” for Nike as it directly affects demand for its footwear, says Sheng Lu, a professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware.

But ultimately he says firms may be forced to pass the cost of the levies on to consumers.

“Nike is very likely to raise prices if the tariff war persists. There is no way for brands to absorb a 30% to 50% increase in sourcing costs.”

He adds: “How US trading partners react against the reciprocal tariff policy will also have a major impact.”

China has already hit back with a 34% tariff of its own.

Part of the rationale behind Trump’s tariff policy is because he wants more companies to manufacture their goods in the US.

However, Prof Lu does not see Nike, or other companies, significantly reshaping its supply chain any time soon “due to the complexity involved in footwear manufacturing”.

That includes the time needed to “consider a long list of factors when deciding where to source their products – quality, costs, speed to market and various social and environmental compliance risks”.

Matt Powers from the Powers Advisory Group says the lack of American textile mills will make it “difficult and expensive [for Nike] to pivot production back to the US”.

Mr Powers added: “This transition, if pursued, would take years and require significant investment.”

Nike did not respond to BBC requests for comment for this article.

We also contacted 30 suppliers in Asia but none responded.

Additional reporting by Natalie Sherman in New York



Source link

Tags: airJordanNikestariffsTrump

Related Posts

Virgin’s Richard Branson: Flight price rises due to ‘foolish leaders’ starting wars

September 5, 2026
0

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson has blamed flight price rises on "foolish leaders" starting wars, in a thinly...

Why are European countries moving their gold out of North America?

September 5, 2026
0

When the central bank of the Netherlands confirmed this week that it had moved tonnes of the country's gold...

Watch: How much can Canada fight back in its trade war with the US?

September 5, 2026
0

The US may be the bigger trading partner, but Canada shouldn't be counted out quite yet in the escalating...

  • Australia helicopter collision: Mid-air clash wreckage covers Gold Coast

    525 shares
    Share 210 Tweet 131
  • UK inflation: Supermarkets say price rises will ease soon

    517 shares
    Share 207 Tweet 129
  • Ballyjamesduff: Man dies after hit-and-run in County Cavan

    512 shares
    Share 205 Tweet 128
  • Google faces new multi-billion advertising lawsuit

    509 shares
    Share 204 Tweet 127
  • Somalia: Rare access to its US-funded 'lightning commando brigade

    509 shares
    Share 204 Tweet 127
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

Australia helicopter collision: Mid-air clash wreckage covers Gold Coast

January 10, 2023

UK inflation: Supermarkets say price rises will ease soon

April 19, 2023

Ballyjamesduff: Man dies after hit-and-run in County Cavan

August 19, 2022

Stranger Things actor Jamie Campbell Bower praised for addiction post

0

NHS to close Tavistock child gender identity clinic

0

Cold sores traced back to kissing in Bronze Age by Cambridge research

0

Diamond League results: Amy Hunt continues strong season with third in Diamond League final

September 5, 2026

Virgin’s Richard Branson: Flight price rises due to ‘foolish leaders’ starting wars

September 5, 2026

Why are European countries moving their gold out of North America?

September 5, 2026

Categories

England

Diamond League results: Amy Hunt continues strong season with third in Diamond League final

September 5, 2026
0

Amy Hunt's strong late-season form showed no signs of letting up as she clocked a season's best 22.16 seconds,...

Read more

Virgin’s Richard Branson: Flight price rises due to ‘foolish leaders’ starting wars

September 5, 2026
News

Copyright © 2020 JBC News Powered by JOOJ.us

Explore the JBC

  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • Reel
  • Future
  • More

Follow Us

  • Home Main
  • Video
  • World
  • Top News
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Tech
  • UK
  • In Pictures
  • Health
  • Reality Check
  • Science
  • Entertainment & Arts
  • Login

Copyright © 2020 JBC News Powered by JOOJ.us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
News
More Sites

    MORE

  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • Reel
  • Future
  • More
  • News

    JBC News