Helped by a spike in children’s shoe prices, footwear enjoyed its eighth straight month of year-over-year price increases in February, rising by 2.2%, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The drop in the combined apparel and footwear price index was the smallest in three months, hurt by a 1.6% drop in apparel prices.
Overall unadjusted inflation in the U.S. actually was flat in the month compared to February 2014, but edged up by 1 percent compared to January. Excluding food, whose prices increased, and energy, which plunged due to another drop in crude oil prices, inflation rose by 1.7% on goods and services.
The men’s footwear price index had the smallest increase in the month, at 1.1%, while women’s prices rose by an only slightly higher 1.2%.
February’s increase in children’s footwear prices represents the tenth consecutive monthly rise in the index.
