Here’s Where To Shop for Clothes If You Don’t Want To Be Hit With Tariff Price Hikes
Written by
Jordan Rosenfeld
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Even if you only shop for clothes and other apparel occasionally, you might want to do a little pre-shopping in the near future.
With President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on many of the U.S.’s major trading partners, tariffs are likely to affect almost every retail sector. Clothes (apparel) and shoes will be among the hardest hit, since many of these products are manufactured in places like China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
Analysts project that consumers will experience 14% higher apparel prices in the short-run and 16% higher prices in the long-run if tariffs persist.
So where can you shop for clothes if you don’t want to be hit with tariff price hikes? It’s going to be tricky, but it’s not impossible. Here are some possibilities.
TJ Maxx
One of the few retailers to weather tariff increases with the most minimal impact could be TJ Maxx. This retailer’s bread and butter is built on buying unsold merchandise from other retailers, and there’s plenty of surplus.
TJ Maxx also sells some home goods, kitchen supplies, kids’ toys, sporting goods, jewelry and body care, so it’s a great one-stop shop for a number of things in addition to clothes. While things could change, there’s a good chance it can maintain prices without passing price hikes on to consumers.
Burlington Stores
Burlington stores are another retailer who seems poised to ride out the tariff storms. Like TJ Maxx, the New-Jersey based Burlington also resells merchandise from other retailers.
It has a unique strategy that allows it to open new stores at a time when others are cutting back. The company acquires existing leases from other retailers that are in the bankruptcy process. This gives it access to physical locations and malls where it might not otherwise have been able to go.
This has translated into unexpectedly good profits in its fourth quarter in early 2025.
Thrift Stores
The best bet for avoiding high prices on clothes in the post-tariff landscape is thrift stores like Goodwill and Savers, where the main “supply chain” they depend upon is consumers dropping off their lightly-used clothes and other goods. Goodwill has even begun to offer some online shopping options, trying to keep up with other second-hand sites and apps.
Customer-to-Customer Marketplaces
Additionally, shoppers have already been shopping secondhand online for years now at customer-to-customer marketplaces like Mercari, ThredUp and Poshmark. Other sites have simple-to-use apps like eBay, Depop and The RealReal. Shoppers are likely to see an abundance of affordable clothing in some of these places for the time being. Though demand may eventually drive up prices, in the interim, these are great places to go.
Maybe Target
Target is a “maybe” here. The big box store, which has already been struggling with traffic and revenue declines since rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, has been trying to seduce consumers back with a variety of discounts and third-party offerings. They are attempting to negotiate with their vendors and adjust their overseas supply chains to hopefully keep products low, according to NBC News, but it’s not a guarantee.
Maybe Costco
Costco may not be your go-to store for clothing, but they do sell a fair amount of apparel.
The bulk-based warehouse retailer is another “maybe” because, while they have a good track record of low pricing on a lot of items, it is also trying to negotiate discounts and deals with its vendors on tariff-hit products and supply chains.
It will also reportedly be looking at new strategies such as changing how and where it sources some products and pulling “low-performing products” to narrow its sales to what is most popular.
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