The volatility of the global trading landscape, with U.S. President Donald Trump imposing and pausing tariffs on most nations, has made the ability for retailers and brands to commit to a plan seemingly impossible. However, when it comes to the run specialty channel, one thing is certain: cutting back orders is not an option.

For instance, rather than scale back, Naperville Running Co. owner Kris Hartner told FN that he went into “fire drill mode” with the 46 percent tariff that Trump placed on Vietnam — where a vast majority of the products that he sells are produced — on April 2 and subsequently paused for 90 days a week later. That fire drill included ordering “an extra couple months of inventory” on key models to stock up on.

“We went under the assumption that some prices could increase immediately. We used some of our rainy day money to protect ourselves a bit in case things changed quickly and had the opportunity to get stuff while it was still regularly priced,” Hartner explained.

The storeowner said only “some” of the footwear Naperville Running Co. offers are made in China, which was hit with Trump’s harshest tariff of 145 percent, and he hasn’t heard “a single thing” from vendors about how that’s going to affect pricing.

“There might be a model or two that will go up a lot because of what happens in China, and we’ll just have to work with that as it happens,” Hartner said. “But for some of the brands, if they have a model or two in China and the rest are in other places, they’re going to have to cost balance a little bit.”

Cutting back on footwear orders is also not in the plans for Pacers Running.

“We’re very bullish on running. Traditionally during uncertain times, running has been an outlet that people go to, so we’ve got to be there for those who are looking for our goods and services,” said Pacers Running owner Chris Farley. “What we might do is shift any fringe products. But our core products, our core brands, we are committed to and we think in partnership with them that we’re going to figure this out together.”

As for how much of a price increase consumers are willing to absorb to purchase their favorite models, it all depends on scale.

“We’re fortunate in our channel that in my estimation, we could see a 10 percent price hike in our core footwear and we could withstand that. Much more than that, it’s going to be tough,” Farley said. “There’s been gradual increases, and that’s palatable for our consumer base, but all at once if you go up 25 percent, we’re going to have a hard time selling these shoes.”

Hartner is less certain of what customers are willing to absorb.

“They’ve absorbed the $5 to $10 increases for all the models for the last eight or nine years. I thought we’d at some point reach a peak, but we haven’t,” Hartner said. “Our people are switching, upgrading more now. Our percentage of sales in our higher end cushioned or stability models is the highest it’s been — Glycerins, Nimbus, 1080s. People are transitioning up from Ghosts and Cumulus and 880s.”

He continued, “There has to be a threshold somewhere, and I’d say $10. But $20 would get pretty hard, and if you start pushing the limits of anything above that, we’re pretty certain we’d see some level of decrease.”

Though retailers have their share of concerns, Running Industry Association executive director Terry Schalow told FN that he’s spoken with brands and there’s a dedication to insulating their partners from the downsides that the tariffs may present.

“The brands that I have spoken with have, across the board, reassured me and their customers that they are going to basically cover the margin in the short term. There’s no intention that I have heard from a single brand in our channel that they are raising prices in the immediate future,” he said. “That may be forced on them down the road, but for right now, our brands have let the channel know that they are there to protect them and to try to keep those those prices down for retailers, and then, of course, that means that prices stay static for the consumer.”

Schalow, however, did warn of potential problems if the situation persists and broader economic concerns linger.

“The running specialty channel has always done pretty well in the face of of economic adversity. What happens is in recessions, and we’ve seen this several times, is when things get tight for people they quit their gym memberships and they buy running shoes. This situation is different,” he said. “In the past, when there have been recessions, prices haven’t changed. But if a price of the premium high end running shoe goes from $150 to well over $200, it’s going to affect sales. How much, we don’t know, but is going to have an effect.”