LONDON — Sportswear brand Adidas warned on Wednesday that it may have to hike prices in the United States, after reporting U.S. tariffs would add around 200 million euros (US$231 million) to costs in the second half.
Shares in Adidas fell more than 7 per cent, bringing the stock’s losses since the start of this year to 23 per cent.
Highlighting the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s volatile trade policies, Adidas said uncertainty was holding it back from increasing its annual guidance, and it has not yet decided on possible price increases to mitigate the impact.
“We still do not know what the final tariffs in the U.S. will be,” CEO Bjorn Gulden said in a statement. “We also do not know what the indirect impact on consumer demand will be should all these tariffs cause major inflation.”
Adidas will review its pricing and decide which products it could hike prices on in the U.S., once tariffs are finalized, Gulden told journalists on a conference call, declining to say how much prices might increase.
“We will try to keep the prices on known models (stable) as long as we can, and then do new pricing on product that hasn’t existed before,” he said.
Adidas sales grew 2.2 per cent in euro terms to 5.95 billion euros (US$6.9 billion) in the quarter, lower than analysts’ average estimate of 6.2 billion euros, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The shortfall will likely fuel fears that, after a run of very strong sales growth fueled by its trendy three-striped multicolored Samba and Gazelle shoes, Adidas is losing momentum.
“For investors to view this as a temporary setback, the company will need to deliver a reassuring message regarding the outlook for H2 and the early 2026 order book,” UBS analyst Robert Krankowski said in a note to clients.
Footwear tariffs
The U.S. earlier this month announced a 20 per cent levy on many Vietnamese exports and a 19 per cent tariff on goods from Indonesia - Adidas’ two biggest sourcing countries which produce 30 per cent and 23 per cent respectively of Adidas products sold in the U.S.
Footwear imports into the U.S. already faced tariffs before Trump, and the new duties mean tariffs on footwear from Vietnam have gone up to 46 per cent, from 26 per cent, and from Indonesia to 43 per cent from 24 per cent, Gulden said.
Like many other sportswear companies, including Puma, Adidas has been frontloading product shipments into the U.S. ahead of tariffs, driving its inventories up 16 per cent to 5.26 billion euros at the end of June.
Despite the impact of tariffs, Gulden said the U.S., which accounts for around a fifth of Adidas sales, is still a key market.
“We want to grow and we are also willing to over-invest in the U.S. to double the business,” he said on the call.
Higher tariffs already had a “double-digit” million euro impact on Adidas’ second quarter, and Adidas is also contending with a weaker dollar and weaker Chinese yuan taking 300 million euros off quarterly sales.
Quarterly operating profit, however, reached 546 million euros, ahead of analysts’ expectations for 520 million.
Adidas said “lifestyle” revenues - from sneakers and casual clothing - grew 13 per cent, helped by cow print, leopard print and metallic versions of its SL72 and Samba sneakers. A merchandise collaboration with rock group Oasis for its reunion tour has also boosted sales, Gulden said.
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Reporting by Linda Pasquini in Gdansk and Helen Reid in London; Editing by Matt Scuffham, David Holmes and Louise Heavens
