The Break Is Over. Companies Are Jacking Up Prices Again
Wall Street Journal
Feb-16-2026
Companies from Levi Strauss LEVI & Co. to McCormick MKC & Co., among others, say they are raising prices early this year on items from bluejeans and spices to housewares and industrial products.
After holding the line on prices for several months, companies—big and small—have begun a new round of increases, in some cases by high-single-digit percentage points.
Companies had raised prices last year after tariffs hoisted costs. Yet starting in the fall, many firms held off on increases and sometimes offered discounts to capture holiday shoppers.
The pricing break is over. Many companies typically raise prices at the start of the new year. Yet increases appeared to be stronger than normal for January for electronics, appliances and other durable goods, said UBS economist Alan Detmeister.
Some companies have pointed a finger at tariffs for their increases, while others, especially small businesses, also blame higher wages and hefty health-insurance costs that firms said they can’t absorb or share with suppliers.
Prices on the most affordable imported goods are up by 2.3% since dipping at the end of November, according to data through Feb. 10 collected by Alberto Cavallo, a Harvard Business School professor who tracks daily online prices at major U.S. retailers.
The Adobe Digital Price Index found that online prices posted their largest monthly increase in a dozen years in January, driven by higher prices for electronics, computers, appliances, furniture and bedding.
Columbia Sportswear said it is upping prices of spring and fall merchandise by, on average, a high single-digit percent after mostly avoiding increases for fall and winter goods. The company said it has also renegotiated prices with its factories and taken other steps to reduce costs.
“When combined with our other mitigation tactics, our goal in ’26 is to offset the dollar impact of high tariffs,” Chief Executive Tim Boyle said in an earnings call earlier this month.
Such new price increases follow last year’s wave of tariff-driven price hikes. Retail prices started falling beginning in October, with the biggest drops before Black Friday, Harvard’s Cavallo said. But they then started rising again, particularly after Christmas, in what looks like a postholiday reset.
Levi Strauss raised prices last month in response to tariffs and is rolling out additional price increases this month. Among the items now costing more: ribcage straight ankle women’s jeans, priced $10 more at $108, and original fit men’s jeans that are $5 more at $84.50.
The apparel company said it has more opportunity to raise prices on newer and higher-end products and is increasing prices by more modest amounts on lower-priced, entry-level items.
Structural Systems Repair Group, a Cincinnati-based construction company, is taking a 10% to 15% increase in prices that will show up in new contracts this year.
SSRG typically absorbs increases in materials costs totaling 5% or less, but tariffs pushed steel prices up by 10% last year, said Bryan Erickson, the company’s president. SSRG’s healthcare costs for its 115 employees increased by a similar amount, he said.
“It’s not sustainable for us to tolerate that kind of increase without some sort of concession from our customers,” said Erickson, whose company adapts and maintains parking garages, stadiums and other structures.
Higher costs can be particularly challenging for small businesses, which typically have thinner profit margins than big companies and fewer ways to offset higher expenses.
By raising prices, companies risk turning off buyers, hurting sales.
When tariffs prompted Stanley Black & Decker to raise prices last year by the high single digits on average, sales fell in the U.S., particularly for lower-priced items.
The tool-and-hardware company is now looking at selective discounts, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Hallinan told analysts during an earnings call earlier this month.
Sin, a company that makes housewares and lighting in Brooklyn, N.Y., is archiving items such as a ceramic planter that cost $450 because it doesn’t believe customers will pay more and is upping prices across its entire lineup this year.
“We try to absorb rising costs whenever we can,” said Virginia Sin, the firm’s owner.
Yet the company, which usually raised prices on only a handful of items each January, took the across-the-board price increases because wages, material costs, shipping and other expenses have all climbed. Starting wages for new employees in training rose 20% between 2022 and 2025.
Many businesses have tried to offset tariffs and other inflationary pressures through cost-cutting and by pushing back on suppliers. But some companies said those options alone weren’t enough.
Tariff expenses added $70 million in gross costs last year, and will add another $70 million this year, according to spice maker McCormick & Co.
The company raised some prices in September in response to tariffs, inflation in core commodities and higher packaging costs, and it is increasing some more prices this month.
“Our pricing actions have been surgical,” Chief Executive Brendan Foley told analysts last month.
More than half of small business leaders said they planned to increase prices in the next three months, according to a December survey of 600 entrepreneurs by Vistage Worldwide.
Nearly 70% planned increases of 4% to 10%, while another 10% forecast increases of more than 10%, according to the business coaching and peer-advisory firm.
Atomic Object, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based digital software consultant, raised the hourly rate it charges its customers to $200 this year, after boosting rates to $195 an hour from $180 an hour at the end of 2024.
“We tested the market at $195 and said we would hold here,” said Jeff Williams, a managing partner. “But increases in salaries and benefits are driving expenses higher and higher.”
The company’s health-insurance premiums jumped by 14% this year after climbing by 12% in 2025, and now equal nearly 10% of revenue, up from about 5% three years ago.
Feb-16-2026
Companies from Levi Strauss LEVI & Co. to McCormick MKC & Co., among others, say they are raising prices early this year on items from bluejeans and spices to housewares and industrial products.
After holding the line on prices for several months, companies—big and small—have begun a new round of increases, in some cases by high-single-digit percentage points.
Companies had raised prices last year after tariffs hoisted costs. Yet starting in the fall, many firms held off on increases and sometimes offered discounts to capture holiday shoppers.
The pricing break is over. Many companies typically raise prices at the start of the new year. Yet increases appeared to be stronger than normal for January for electronics, appliances and other durable goods, said UBS economist Alan Detmeister.
Some companies have pointed a finger at tariffs for their increases, while others, especially small businesses, also blame higher wages and hefty health-insurance costs that firms said they can’t absorb or share with suppliers.
Prices on the most affordable imported goods are up by 2.3% since dipping at the end of November, according to data through Feb. 10 collected by Alberto Cavallo, a Harvard Business School professor who tracks daily online prices at major U.S. retailers.
The Adobe Digital Price Index found that online prices posted their largest monthly increase in a dozen years in January, driven by higher prices for electronics, computers, appliances, furniture and bedding.
Columbia Sportswear said it is upping prices of spring and fall merchandise by, on average, a high single-digit percent after mostly avoiding increases for fall and winter goods. The company said it has also renegotiated prices with its factories and taken other steps to reduce costs.
“When combined with our other mitigation tactics, our goal in ’26 is to offset the dollar impact of high tariffs,” Chief Executive Tim Boyle said in an earnings call earlier this month.
Such new price increases follow last year’s wave of tariff-driven price hikes. Retail prices started falling beginning in October, with the biggest drops before Black Friday, Harvard’s Cavallo said. But they then started rising again, particularly after Christmas, in what looks like a postholiday reset.
Levi Strauss raised prices last month in response to tariffs and is rolling out additional price increases this month. Among the items now costing more: ribcage straight ankle women’s jeans, priced $10 more at $108, and original fit men’s jeans that are $5 more at $84.50.
The apparel company said it has more opportunity to raise prices on newer and higher-end products and is increasing prices by more modest amounts on lower-priced, entry-level items.
Structural Systems Repair Group, a Cincinnati-based construction company, is taking a 10% to 15% increase in prices that will show up in new contracts this year.
SSRG typically absorbs increases in materials costs totaling 5% or less, but tariffs pushed steel prices up by 10% last year, said Bryan Erickson, the company’s president. SSRG’s healthcare costs for its 115 employees increased by a similar amount, he said.
“It’s not sustainable for us to tolerate that kind of increase without some sort of concession from our customers,” said Erickson, whose company adapts and maintains parking garages, stadiums and other structures.
Higher costs can be particularly challenging for small businesses, which typically have thinner profit margins than big companies and fewer ways to offset higher expenses.
By raising prices, companies risk turning off buyers, hurting sales.
When tariffs prompted Stanley Black & Decker to raise prices last year by the high single digits on average, sales fell in the U.S., particularly for lower-priced items.
The tool-and-hardware company is now looking at selective discounts, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Hallinan told analysts during an earnings call earlier this month.
Sin, a company that makes housewares and lighting in Brooklyn, N.Y., is archiving items such as a ceramic planter that cost $450 because it doesn’t believe customers will pay more and is upping prices across its entire lineup this year.
“We try to absorb rising costs whenever we can,” said Virginia Sin, the firm’s owner.
Yet the company, which usually raised prices on only a handful of items each January, took the across-the-board price increases because wages, material costs, shipping and other expenses have all climbed. Starting wages for new employees in training rose 20% between 2022 and 2025.
Many businesses have tried to offset tariffs and other inflationary pressures through cost-cutting and by pushing back on suppliers. But some companies said those options alone weren’t enough.
Tariff expenses added $70 million in gross costs last year, and will add another $70 million this year, according to spice maker McCormick & Co.
The company raised some prices in September in response to tariffs, inflation in core commodities and higher packaging costs, and it is increasing some more prices this month.
“Our pricing actions have been surgical,” Chief Executive Brendan Foley told analysts last month.
More than half of small business leaders said they planned to increase prices in the next three months, according to a December survey of 600 entrepreneurs by Vistage Worldwide.
Nearly 70% planned increases of 4% to 10%, while another 10% forecast increases of more than 10%, according to the business coaching and peer-advisory firm.
Atomic Object, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based digital software consultant, raised the hourly rate it charges its customers to $200 this year, after boosting rates to $195 an hour from $180 an hour at the end of 2024.
“We tested the market at $195 and said we would hold here,” said Jeff Williams, a managing partner. “But increases in salaries and benefits are driving expenses higher and higher.”
The company’s health-insurance premiums jumped by 14% this year after climbing by 12% in 2025, and now equal nearly 10% of revenue, up from about 5% three years ago.
