Beat the tennis shoe shortage and skyrocketing prices

Buy once, cry once.

Its May 5,2025 and the last tarrif free container ships are arriving with loads of Nike, Addidas, and New Balance tennis shoes from China. As soon as those shoes get sold, we are going to have a severe shortage. There are thousands of containers of shoes sitting in China that importers cannot afford the tarrifs on so they sit at ports in China. Even assuming the USA and China worked out a trade deal today, it would still take months to get those shoes into American stores. It takes many years to build a shoe factory so no USA made tennis shoes will save the day. Because supply is dropping to near zero and demand continues, the price of tennis shoes will skyrocket.

A cheaper option for footwear, the boot!

Pre-covid, most companies insisted that all employees be in the office 5 days a week. Covid made employers realize that not only could remote work save them money but it made many employees more productive. Sometimes it takes a crisis to make us take a fresh look at what we are doing and find a better way and this shoe shortage might be such an instant. America has become addicted to direct-to-landfill shoes. People dont even bother washing them, if they get dirty then you just toss them out and go to Walmart and buy a new $30 pair. With the tarrif induced tennis shoe shortage, prices will skyrocket and we will be forced to re-think this mindset.

“They dont make things like they used to”

Many go to Walmart, buy a $30 pair of shoes that only last 6 months, and then complain that “they dont make things like they used to”. Actually, they do, people are just unwilling to pay for them. You literally get what you pay for. Even stores like Red Wing have to give consumers what they want so yes, you do have to choose carefully. On the Red Wing website, do a search and check the boxes for “Made in USA” and “resolable” - that will show you their high quality boots that will last a lifetime. For example Model 2233 “Men’s 8-inch safety toe boot” or the Model 608 “Men’s 8-inch soft toe boot” for $280.

“Buy once, cry once”

USA does make footwear, mostly high quality work boots. These boots are very expensive compared to tennis shoes. A pair of good Red Wing resolable boots can cost $300 compared to $50 for a pair of tennis shoes. The difference is that the Red Wing work boots can literally last a lifetime compared to the lifespan of a tennis shoe which is on average barely over a year. When the Vibram 109 soles wear out on your boots, take them back to the store and they will resole them for about $100 and you are good for another 5-10 years.

Act now

Once the tennis shoe shortage hits, people will be forced to all these alternative kinds of footwear and there will be shortages and price increases in them also. My suggestion is to head to your local uniform supply store, Western “boot and saddle” store, or Red Wing store and buy a pair of boots now before the shortages start. When you go in, ask them which boots are resolable and how much they charge to re-sole them. If the sales person gets a blank look on their face or cannot give a convincing answer about the price of resoling, move along to the next store.

My 1978 Red Wing boots still good as new.