Sports-Gear Prices May Rise in Latest Sign of Consumer Inflation

Retailers are poised to boost prices on athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment as they join other industries in passing along rising costs for commodities, foreign labor and freight.

More than 90 percent of sporting-goods manufacturers paid higher input costs in the first quarter, and 41 percent of these companies already increased wholesale prices, according to a quarterly survey of private, independent vendors and retailers conducted by Robert W. Baird & Co.