Clothing Prices Jumped 3.6% in a Year After Two Flat Ones: The Tariff Trail Behind the Tag

For most of the 2020s, clothing was the part of the household budget that inflation seemed to skip. Between August 2019 and August 2025, the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for apparel rose about 5.8%, while the index for all items climbed about 26%, by our calculation from FRED data. That changed in 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on September 11, 2026 that apparel prices in August were 3.6% higher than a year earlier.

This Price Trail follows that number from the CPI tables back through the 2026 tariff changes. The short version: the increase is real, it sits mostly in adult clothing and shoes, and it stopped building over the summer.

Trend Signal

55/100 Steady momentum

1. Emerging
2. Rising
3. Mainstream
4. Peaking
5. Cooling

Up 3.6% on the year, flat since the spring peak

BLS data show apparel prices 3.6% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, after a combined rise of about 0.4% over the two years before; the seasonally adjusted index peaked in May 2026 and was unchanged from July to August.

Our editorial reading of the cited data, not a forecast. How it is scored

By the numbers

• +3.6%US apparel CPI, August 2025 to August 2026, not seasonally adjustedBLS
• +5.7%US men’s footwear CPI over the same 12 monthsBLS
• +0.2%Apparel CPI change, Aug 2024 to Aug 2025, seasonally adjusted (our calculation)FRED, BLS data
• 11.0%Average US statutory tariff rate, Budget Lab estimate as of August 24, 2026Yale Budget Lab

What the August 2026 CPI shows

The August 2026 CPI release put the all-items index 3.4% above its level a year earlier. Apparel, which carries a relative importance of about 2.4% of the whole index, rose 3.6% over the same twelve months. On a seasonally adjusted basis the apparel index was unchanged from July to August, which tells you the annual gain was built earlier in the year rather than in the latest month.

The gains were not spread evenly. Men’s and boys’ apparel rose 3.7% and women’s and girls’ apparel 3.5%. Footwear rose 3.6% overall, but men’s footwear was up 5.7% and women’s footwear 4.3%. Infants’ and toddlers’ apparel went the other way, falling 3.4%. Jewelry and watches, which BLS tracks in the same apparel group, rose 8.2%.

By our calculation from the seasonally adjusted FRED series, the year to August 2026 is the first August-to-August stretch since at least 2019 in which apparel outpaced the all-items index. Clothing had trailed general inflation in each of the six years before.

CPI category	Change, Aug 2025 to Aug 2026	Weight in CPI, July 2026
All items	+3.4%	100.000
Apparel	+3.6%	2.406
Men’s and boys’ apparel	+3.7%	0.598
Women’s and girls’ apparel	+3.5%	0.941
Footwear	+3.6%	0.590
Men’s footwear	+5.7%	0.194
Women’s footwear	+4.3%	0.273
Infants’ and toddlers’ apparel	−3.4%	0.096

Adult clothing and shoes, most of the index by weight, carried the increase; baby clothes got cheaper.

Two flat years, then a spring jump

The longer series explains why 3.6% felt sudden. The seasonally adjusted apparel index, charted in the St. Louis Fed’s FRED database, fell 6.1% in the year to August 2020 by our calculation, rebounded over the next two years, then flattened: up 2.9% in the year to August 2023 and just 0.2% in each of the two years after that.

Then came 2026. The index stood at 132.7 in January and reached 137.1 in May, by our math a rise of about 3.3% in four months. It slipped to 136.3 in June and sat at 136.5 in August. Over the full seven years from August 2019, our math puts apparel up about 9.6% and the all-items index up about 30.5%, so even after the jump, clothing has risen far less than prices overall.

August of	Apparel index (SA)	Change from prior August
2019	124.5	—
2020	116.9	−6.1%
2021	121.5	+3.9%
2022	127.4	+4.9%
2023	131.2	+2.9%
2024	131.4	+0.2%
2025	131.7	+0.2%
2026	136.5	+3.6%

The tariff timeline behind the tag

Tariff rules changed three times in 2026, and each change touched clothing differently. On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs, ending the IEEPA-based duties of 2025. A temporary import surcharge under Section 122 took effect on February 24 for up to 150 days, according to a Covington & Burling client alert. It started at 10%; the President said on February 21 that he planned to raise it to 15%, but Covington noted on February 27 that no formal action had been taken to do so.

Clothing had a specific carve-out: textile and apparel goods entering duty-free under the CAFTA-DR trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic were exempt from the surcharge, Global Trade Alert noted. In its February 21 analysis, the Budget Lab wrote that apparel, leather products and textiles would be largely unaffected by tariffs once the surcharge expired, because the Section 232 tariffs that remained do not apply to them. Its April 8 update still listed clothing, with motor vehicles and furnishings, among the spending categories most affected by tariffs.

The surcharge expired on July 24, but it did not simply disappear. The Budget Lab’s August 24 update says it was replaced with new tariffs under Section 301 and puts the average statutory tariff rate at 11.0%, with scheduled increases taking it to 11.8% by the end of December 2026 under current law. It estimates the eventual consumer price impact of current-law tariffs at about 0.7%, or roughly $1,100 per household a year.

The tariff rules shifted three times in 2026; the apparel index rose in the spring and has held roughly steady since.

Refunds are flowing to importers, not shoppers

Because the Supreme Court voided the IEEPA duties, importers that paid them expect money back. Nike said in its June 30, 2026 results that it booked an expected $986 million recovery of IEEPA tariffs, which added about 900 basis points to its fourth-quarter gross margin. It had received about $0.3 billion of that in cash by May 31, 2026.

Other footwear companies are keeping refunds out of their forecasts. Deckers, which owns Hoka and UGG, said its July 23, 2026 outlook does not assume the collection of refunds for tariffs previously paid, and On said its full-year 2026 guidance excludes anticipated tariff refunds. Nike’s release presents its expected refund as a boost to gross margin and cash, and none of the three releases says refunds will go into lower prices.

We read that as a reason not to expect clothing prices to slide back to 2025 levels just because the 2025 tariffs were struck down; any relief is more likely to come as promotions.

When to buy, and when waiting pays

The data points to a few practical moves. Infants’ and toddlers’ clothing is the one category in the table above that got cheaper, down 3.4% over the year, so there is no price reason to delay those purchases; boys’ and girls’ apparel, by contrast, rose 3.9% and 6.1%. Men’s shoes rose fastest of the categories in that table, and the Budget Lab’s current-law path has the average tariff rate rising slightly, not falling, through December 2026, which argues for replacing worn shoes when you need to rather than waiting for a reversal.

Secondhand is now part of the official price picture too. A May 2026 Monthly Labor Review article says BLS began including secondhand apparel in its CPI pricing sample in early 2025; donation-based thrift stores and resale stores are in scope, while yard sales and private sales are excluded. For basics, multipacks and care that makes clothes last longer are the levers you control. More on used clothing is in our fashion and apparel coverage.

What to watch next

• The September 2026 CPI, due October 14, 2026: a second flat month for apparel would support the view that the spring increase has run its course
• The Budget Lab’s State of U.S. Tariffs tracker, which models the scheduled increases that take the average statutory rate to 11.8% by December 2026
• Holiday 2026 promotions from footwear and apparel companies that booked IEEPA tariff refunds, such as Nike’s expected $986 million recovery

Where to start

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More: Fashion and Apparel trends and how the Trend Signal is scored.

Questions readers ask

How much have clothing prices gone up in 2026?

The BLS apparel index was 3.6% higher in August 2026 than in August 2025, slightly above the 3.4% rise for all items. Most of that increase came between January and May 2026; the seasonally adjusted index was unchanged from July to August.

Which clothing prices rose the most?

Among the main BLS categories, men’s footwear rose 5.7% and women’s footwear 4.3% in the year to August 2026. Men’s and boys’ apparel rose 3.7% and women’s and girls’ apparel 3.5%, while infants’ and toddlers’ apparel fell 3.4%.

Did the Supreme Court tariff ruling lower clothing prices?

Not so far. The court struck down the IEEPA tariffs on February 20, 2026, but a temporary Section 122 surcharge took effect four days later; it expired on July 24 and was replaced with new Section 301 tariffs, according to Yale’s Budget Lab. The apparel index rose from February to May.

Are tariff refunds being passed on to shoppers?

The company releases treat them as margin or cash gains. Nike booked an expected $986 million IEEPA recovery in its fiscal fourth quarter, while Deckers and On left expected refunds out of their outlooks.