The Tariff Line
Why this season costs what it costsA tariff is a tax the United States charges when clothing crosses its border. The importer pays it, which in practice means the brand pays it — and eventually you do.
The tariffs that made 2025 expensive are gone. The Supreme Court struck them down on 20 February 2026, and what replaced them is a fraction of the size. Clothing prices did not follow them down. The distance between those two facts is the useful thing on this page.
The average tax on clothing entering the US at its December 2025 peak, up from 14.7% the previous January. It more than doubled in a year — and then it was struck down.
The surcharge on goods from India, after the Supreme Court voided the 2025 tariffs on 20 February 2026 and their replacement took effect on 24 July. Most countries sit at this 10%; Vietnam and Thailand at 12.5%; China at 12.5% on top of an existing 25%.
How much US clothing prices rose in the year to July 2026, against +0.6% across the whole of 2025. Prices are up 4.7% on the December peak alone — so the entire increase landed while the tariffs were coming off.
Share of fashion executives who told BoF and McKinsey they intended to raise prices in 2026, against 52% the year before. That is not a forecast — it is the people who set prices saying what they mean to do.
Tariff rates: Sheng Lu, University of Delaware, and USTR · Prices: BLS CPI, apparel, to July 2026 · Executives: BoF & McKinsey, The State of Fashion 2026 · Checked September 2026
The tariffs came off and the prices did not. Clothing costs 4.7% more than it did at the December peak, on a fraction of the duty that caused the rise. Increases reach the shelf in weeks and leave it in years, if at all. So do not hold out for a rollback: it has already happened, and it did not reach you.
Where a thing is made still moves its price, but the map has changed. European-made goods now carry a 10% surcharge and Chinese-made carry 37.5% — a gap that ran the other way for most of last year. If you are choosing between two versions of the same garment, that spread is real, it is new, and it is the one part of this that is still moving.