The Eightx DTC Input-Cost Index · Live · updated August 17, 2026
Your product costs are climbing. See how much — and what it's doing to your margin.
As of July 2026, DTC input costs are up +7.2% to +23.1% year over year depending on category, driven mainly by freight and tariffs rather than the goods themselves. Pick your category below to see yours.
Your apparel is roughly flat (+0.4% YoY); the real squeeze is ocean freight (+24.6%) plus tariffs. Lever: Push on freight, diversify sourcing to cut tariff exposure, then reprice — not your factory.
Where the squeeze is — apparel
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical apparel brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight | 15% | +24.6% |
| Truckload | 10% | +17.6% |
| Last-mile parcel | 17% | +10.1% |
| Cartons & polybags | 8% | +6.9% |
| Synthetics & resin | 8% | +2.3% |
| Apparel | 42% | +0.4% |
Run a apparel brand? See how Eightx helps apparel brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — beauty
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical beauty brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight | 8% | +34.2% |
| Last-mile parcel | 17% | +8.6% |
| Plastic bottles & pumps | 14% | +6.8% |
| Truckload | 8% | +8.1% |
| Formulation & fill | 34% | +1.7% |
| Cartons & inserts | 7% | +6.0% |
| Glass packaging | 12% | +3.2% |
Run a beauty brand? See how Eightx helps beauty & personal-care brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — supplements
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical supplements brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Truckload | 12% | +17.6% |
| Ocean freight | 8% | +24.6% |
| Last-mile parcel | 17% | +10.1% |
| Bottles & caps | 15% | +6.0% |
| Cartons & labels | 8% | +6.9% |
| Actives & ingredients | 34% | +1.1% |
| Glass packaging | 6% | +2.9% |
Run a supplements brand? See how Eightx helps supplement & food/bev brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — hard goods
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical hard goods brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Steel & metal | 26% | +27.9% |
| Ocean freight | 18% | +24.6% |
| Truckload | 14% | +17.6% |
| Last-mile parcel | 16% | +10.1% |
| Cartons & packaging | 8% | +6.9% |
| Plastics & resin | 18% | +2.3% |
Run a hard goods brand? See how Eightx helps hard-goods & home brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — footwear
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical footwear brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight | 15% | +24.6% |
| Last-mile parcel | 22% | +10.1% |
| Truckload | 10% | +17.6% |
| Footwear | 45% | +2.9% |
| Boxes & packaging | 8% | +6.9% |
Run a footwear brand? See how Eightx helps apparel & footwear brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — electronics
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical electronics brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Electronics | 40% | +8.0% |
| Ocean freight | 13% | +24.6% |
| Truckload | 10% | +17.6% |
| Last-mile parcel | 17% | +10.1% |
| Cartons & inserts | 8% | +6.9% |
| Plastics & housings | 12% | +2.3% |
Run a electronics brand? See how Eightx helps ecommerce brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — furniture
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical furniture brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Metal frames | 22% | +27.9% |
| Ocean freight | 22% | +24.6% |
| Truckload | 14% | +17.6% |
| Last-mile parcel | 14% | +10.1% |
| Cartons & packaging | 8% | +6.9% |
| Foam & plastics | 20% | +2.3% |
Run a furniture brand? See how Eightx helps home & furniture brands protect margin →
Where the squeeze is — pet
Your cost stack, biggest movers first. "% of cost" is its share in a typical pet brand; "vs last year" is the change in that input's own price (before tariffs).
| Input | % of cost | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Last-mile parcel | 22% | +10.1% |
| Truckload | 12% | +17.6% |
| Ocean freight | 8% | +24.6% |
| Bottles & containers | 14% | +6.0% |
| Cartons & bags | 10% | +6.9% |
| Food & ingredients | 34% | +1.0% |
Run a pet brand? See how Eightx helps pet & consumables brands protect margin →
Questions DTC operators ask
How much have DTC input costs risen in 2026?
As of July 2026, landed input costs for direct-to-consumer brands are up +7.2% to +23.1% year over year depending on category: apparel +11.0%, beauty +7.2%, supplements +9.3%, hard goods +23.1%, footwear +12.2%, electronics +13.3%, furniture +21.9%, pet +8.7%.
What is driving DTC cost-of-goods inflation in 2026?
Mostly freight and the 2025-26 tariffs, not the goods themselves. Imported goods prices before duty are roughly flat, while inbound ocean and truckload freight are up 16-21% and last-mile parcel about 13%, with Section 232 and reciprocal tariffs adding to landed cost.
Which DTC category has the highest input-cost inflation?
Hard goods & home, up +23.1% landed year over year as of July 2026, driven by imported metals (Section 232 tariffs) and freight-heavy shipping.
Where are DTC input costs heading next?
Leading indicators point to continued upward pressure: over the last three months crude oil rose about 58%, retail diesel about 50%, cotton about 24% and aluminum about 19% — moves that typically reach landed cost over the following one to three months.
How we built this & sources
Each category is its own weighted basket. Offshore-sourced goods use BLS import price indexes (the price US importers actually pay at customs, before tariffs) — apparel, chemicals & resin, pharmaceutical/medicine and primary metals. Packaging (glass, plastic, paperboard) uses domestic producer prices, since it is typically sourced or co-packed domestically; beauty formulation stays on the domestic toilet-preparation index because BLS discontinued the cosmetics import index in 2022. Inbound ocean and truckload freight and last-mile parcel complete the stack. Weights approximate the landed-cost mix of a $20–150M DTC brand in that category. Series are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (freight carried via FRED), indexed to January 2020 = 100.
Tariffs. Import price indexes exclude tariffs, so the headline "with tariffs" figure adds an Eightx estimate of the effective incremental US import duty on each category's imported inputs under the 2025–26 reciprocal-tariff and Section 232 regime. Treat it as a scenario, not a measured statistic; the before-tariff index is the underlying data, and the calculator's tariff toggle switches between them.
Where it's heading. The index is monthly and lags by weeks; leading inputs don't. Each category's forward read takes the trailing-3-month move in the indicators that lead its costs — the US dollar, crude oil, natural gas, diesel, cotton and aluminum — weights them by exposure, and sums them into a direction for the coming quarter. It's a directional nowcast from free FRED series, not a backtested forecast.
This is a directional cost-pressure gauge, not a per-brand COGS figure: your real input mix, sourcing countries, contracts and hedges differ. For where these costs actually land company-by-company, see the Public DTC Leaderboard's COGS board, the benchmark report, or the editorial DTC Cost-of-Goods analysis. Need help acting on it? See how we work with DTC brands. Powered by hub.eightx.co.