China Weighs On Athletic Brands, Hoka Feeling Brave, Kering Doesn't Know Inflation And Steve Madden Brushes Off Private Label Headwinds

Companies: Adidas, Amazon, Columbia, Decker, Kering, Skechers, Steve Madden and VF Corp.

Hoka white sneaker allegedly coming for Nike white sneaker

There were a flood of companies reporting quarterly results last week and because the finance section takes me the longest to write, this update is entirely earnings. There were two prominent themes: China is taking longer than anticipated to recover for athletic brands and the working class and poor U.S. customer is spending less on shoes and apparel as inflation forces her to spend more on food and gas.

That said, a lot of earnings calls included analysts asking executives about costs coming down for the second half of the year. As well, gas prices have been headed downward for seven weeks in a row.