The start of the peak U.S. import season for winter apparel and sports equipment has been complicated by the phasing in of tariffs on Chinese exports. Suppliers from China accounted for 43.3% of U.S. seaborne imports of sweaters and growth has reached 11.6% year over year in August. Shipments of ski gear meanwhile – where China represented 55.3% of the total – have declined by 8.7%. At the product level imports of ski goggles, including those made by Luxottica’s Oakley, fell 18.0% year over year. At the other end of the scale imports of skis and equipment, such as those supplied by K2 Sp...





