PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) – Portland is a powerhouse in the footwear industry, serving as home to production giants like Nike and Adidas.
However, a growing trade war between the U.S. and China is raising concerns about the cost and supply of imported goods — including sneakers.
According to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, 99% of all shoes sold in the U.S. are imported — the majority from Asia.
Although President Donald Trump announced a 90-day halt on most country-specific reciprocal tariffs last week, China is in the hot seat, facing a steep 145% tariff rate — something experts say could shake up the sneaker supply chain.
“The biggest impact that tariffs have is sourcing materials — that’s anything that’s being shipped and traded into another country — as well as the manufacturing, assembly, and the actual work that goes into producing the shoe itself.
And that even falls down to packaging,” said Herbert Beauclere, co-founder of Sneaker Week PDX.
Founded in 2017, Sneaker Week PDX is a yearly festival with the goal of connecting the global sneaker community and showcasing Portland’s thriving footwear industry.
Beauclere, who formerly worked on the marketing team at Pensole Footwear Design Academy, remembers the impact of tariffs during the first Trump administration.
He said the company had to delay the release of a specific sneaker, which cost them extra funds in extended inventory storage.
“We had some projects in collaboration with Portugal Footwear.
We were getting material supplies from different vendors,” Beauclere said.
“When murmurs of a tariff came about, it was really like, ‘Hey! We have this partnership, we want to work together, but now the regulations that are in place make it basically impossible to get our products abroad.’”
Beauclere said the tariffs can affect not only product quality but also jobs.
“There are budgets that get cut because they’re trying to accommodate for different losses,” he said.
It’s a burden that Beauclere said ultimately lands on the consumer.
“There are opportunities for brands to mitigate some of that cost, but that typically happens very, very early on in the design phase,” he said.
“So when things get adjusted immediately, there’s no real room for the designer to make those design changes or to source cheaper, more affordable materials.”
Footwear manufacturer HILOS is taking a different approach — producing shoes with 3D printers in Portland’s Old Town.
“We’re seeing new technologies like 3D printing allow us to rethink how we make shoes so we can make them in the U.S.,” said Elias Stahl, founder and CEO of HILOS.
HILOS is a major focus of a revitalization project called “Made in Old Town,” which aims to bring manufacturing back to the area and fill vacant spaces.
While President Trump has said his goal for the tariffs is to encourage citizens to buy American and boost national manufacturing, HILOS may already be a step ahead.
Matthew Claudel, director of urban design and partnerships at Made in Old Town, said that during this time of tariff uncertainty, businesses have shown increased interest in manufacturing locally.
“Brands are interested, factories are interested — because they know they need to have a footprint in the United States,” Claudel said.
“They need to have a footprint beyond the one country where their factory is based.
image source from：https://www.kptv.com/2025/04/16/tariff-talk-portlands-sneaker-industry-what-it-could-mean-future-production/
