A pullback in the sneaker market

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**Kimberly Adams** (0:31)
A pullback in the sneaker market. And what happens if robots eat our taxes?
From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. The retailer Dick's Sporting Goods said on its quarterly earnings call this week that it's revising its outlook downward for the year. That includes lowering its expectations for sales at Foot Locker, which Dick's acquired last September. The company blamed, quote, challenging conditions in the athletic footwear marketplace. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes has more.

**Stephanie Hughes** (1:01)
You've got sneakers you wear to actually be athletic in, run, lift weights, play tennis. Then there are lifestyle sneakers, those you wear to watch other people play tennis.
That's the kind of shoe consumers are cutting back on right now.

**Brian Eshelman** (1:15)
Buying yet another color or version of a shoe that they already have in their closet is not something that they're willing to add to the basket these days.

**Stephanie Hughes** (1:24)
Brian Eshelman is with Alex Partners. He says people stocked up on these athleisure brands during the pandemic. They even got fancy office-ready sneakers when they returned to work.
And now, with footwear and pretty much everything rising in price, consumers are hitting pause.

**Brian Eshelman** (1:39)
There's no real kind of big picture trend that's driving people toward purchasing more of the same.

**Stephanie Hughes** (1:48)
Instead, people are buying fewer pairs, maybe opting for a neutral pair of white sneakers that go with a lot of outfits. This is true even for high-income consumers, says Katie Thomas, who studies consumer behavior at the consulting firm Carney.

**Katie Thomas** (2:01)
No matter who you are, there eventually does hit a point where you have enough stuff, physical goods in particular.

**Stephanie Hughes** (2:10)
This lull won't last forever. Brian Eschelman of Alex Partners says there is constantly innovation in footwear and eventually a new kind of sneaker will come around that will make people want to buy a few new pairs for their closet.
I'm Stephanie Hughes from Marketplace.

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**Kimberly Adams** (4:21)
Even if the AI revolution, from an optimistic lens, leads to wealth and happiness in the long run, experts expect a lot of workplace disruption along the way.
And if robots eat our jobs, robots also eat our taxes. AI doesn't fork over payroll tax, nor do out-of-work humans. Experts are warning it's a problem that needs work now, before AI disrupts federal, state, and local budgets. Marketplace's senior correspondent for Future Effects, David Brancaccio, reports from Akron, Ohio.

**David Brancaccio** (4:55)
I'm looking at what resembles the granite cornerstone of a building, a slab that was once the cornerstone of the economy here in Akron. It feels like a prehistoric seat cushion.

**Dave Lieberth** (5:06)