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How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

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689 points taubek | 4 comments | 09 Apr 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.336s | source
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aimor ◴[09 Apr 25 16:21 UTC] No.43633841[source]▶
Trying to summarize the summary for myself

From a $100 shoe that sells for $76:

- $24 goes overseas (22 cost, 2 freight)

- $8 goes to the US gov't (3 import, 2 Nike tax, 3 Footlocker tax)

- $33 goes to US employees or businesses (5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses)

- $5 goes to Nike (11% return)

- $6 goes to Footlocker (8% return)

But now with 100% tariffs, it's a $100 shoe that sells for $100 (or a $132 shoe that sells for $100) and:

- $24 goes overseas (22 cost, 2 freight)

- $29 goes to the US gov't (22 import, 3 Nike tax, 4 Footlocker tax)

- $33 goes to US employees or businesses (5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses)

- $7 goes to Nike (11% return, 7.15 exactly)

- $7 goes to Footlocker (8% return, 7.45 exactly)

And if a US shoemaker wanted to undercut the import, a Made in USA shoe that sells for $100:

- $7+ goes to the US gov't (? shoemaker tax, 3 Nike tax, 4 Footlocker tax)

- $79 goes to US employees or businesses (46 to shoemaker, 5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses)

- $7 goes to Nike (11% return, 7.15 exactly)

- $7 goes to Footlocker (8% return, 7.45 exactly)

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1. SV_BubbleTime ◴[09 Apr 25 17:34 UTC] No.43634868[source]▶
Is there a reason, be-it special buildings, tools, skills that shoes can not be made in the US to avoid the tariffs?

If Nike shoes exceed the cost of domestically produced shoes, isn’t that… like… kind of the point?

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2. rsoto2 ◴[09 Apr 25 21:18 UTC] No.43638109[source]▶
Every country has optimized their own economy so it's incredibly cheap for us to import shoes, or it was. Now it is not, so sure we could try to make some cheap shoes here. But now we have to make cheap shoes, grow cheap citrus veggies, make cheap computer chips, make cheap needles etc etc.

How much capacity do you think the US has to manufacture these things? and what about the supplies?

3. gnopgnip ◴[10 Apr 25 04:53 UTC] No.43640735[source]▶
You can buy made in USA sneakers like New Balance 990 series. Generally all the materials except the sole are US sourced. Retails for $200 a pair. What kind of sneakers do you buy?

Running a manufacturing business in the US is more expensive. Consumers largely won't pay more, it's a limited market. The machinery for molding soles only makes economical sense at a large scale.

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4. SV_BubbleTime ◴[10 Apr 25 20:17 UTC] No.43647664[source]▶
They’ll pay more if the imported shoe costs the same or more.

The US does massive amounts of injection molding. I just signed off on my molds to be cut and run this month, how much experience do you actually have with this I wonder?