CPI Apparel.
Apparel CPI tracks clothing and footwear — about 2.5% of CPI-U, the smallest of the eight major categories. Despite the small weight, apparel is an interesting bellwether of global trade dynamics because so much U.S. clothing is imported.
Apparel inflation, year-over-year
FRED:FPCPITOTLZGUSA · U.S. CPI YoY (use widget to switch to category series)
MonthlyWhat CPI apparel measures
Apparel covers men's and boys' clothing, women's and girls' clothing, infants' and toddlers' clothing, footwear, and jewelry and watches. BLS prices roughly 200 representative items each month across these subgroups.
Apparel has been one of the most disinflationary categories of the past 30 years. Globalization of textile and garment manufacturing — first to China, then to Vietnam, Bangladesh, and other emerging markets — pushed apparel prices flat or down for nearly two decades. From 1995 to 2020, apparel CPI rose only about 5% in total, versus about 70% for headline CPI.
Sub-component breakdown
| Sub-component | Approx. weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Men's and boys' apparel | ~0.6% | Suits, shirts, pants, outerwear |
| Women's and girls' apparel | ~1.1% | Largest apparel sub-category |
| Infants' and toddlers' apparel | ~0.1% | Children under 2 |
| Footwear | ~0.6% | Men's, women's, children's, athletic |
| Jewelry and watches | ~0.1% | Captured under apparel for historical reasons |
Weights are shares of CPI-U, rounded. Exact values vary annually. Source: BLS Relative Importance tables.
What moves apparel inflation
Import prices are the dominant driver. Roughly 95% of clothing sold in the U.S. is imported. Apparel CPI is therefore extremely sensitive to dollar strength, import tariffs, and shipping costs.
Cotton, polyester, and other input prices matter at the margin. Cotton, in particular, can produce visible CPI moves when global supplies tighten.
Seasonality is unusually strong. The not-seasonally-adjusted apparel index swings sharply with back-to-school in August, holiday discounting in November–December, and clearance in January. Seasonally adjusted figures smooth this out.
Tariff policy can move apparel CPI quickly. The 2018–2019 round of tariffs on Chinese goods showed up in apparel prices within a quarter of implementation, partially offset by retailer margin compression.
How apparel inflation has behaved
From the mid-1990s through 2020, apparel CPI was a structural drag on headline inflation — averaging close to zero year-over-year for two decades. The post-COVID period broke that pattern: supply chain disruptions, shipping cost spikes, and dollar volatility produced apparel CPI prints above 5% year-over-year for the first time since the early 1990s. Whether the structural disinflation will resume as supply chains normalize is one of the more interesting open questions in goods CPI.
Frequently asked questions
Why is apparel CPI so small in the basket?
Apparel is only about 2.5% of consumer spending. Households spend much more on housing, transportation, and food than on clothing.
Why was apparel inflation near zero for two decades?
Globalization of garment manufacturing dramatically reduced production costs. Most U.S. clothing is now imported from low-cost producers, and competitive retail dynamics passed those savings to consumers.
How does the dollar affect apparel prices?
A stronger dollar reduces import costs and tends to lower apparel CPI; a weaker dollar does the opposite. With ~95% of clothing imported, the pass-through is significant.
Is footwear in apparel CPI?
Yes. Footwear is a sub-category within apparel and includes men's, women's, children's, and athletic shoes.
Does CPI catch fashion trends in pricing?
BLS rotates items annually and uses hedonic methods for some categories, but rapid fashion-cycle pricing can be hard to capture exactly. The methodology focuses on representative items rather than every individual SKU.
How big are apparel tariff effects in CPI?
The 2018–19 tariff round produced visible 2–4 percentage-point boosts to apparel CPI in subsequent months, though some of the impact was absorbed by retailer margins.