Gas Prices vs Sneaker Sales: Is There a Link?

No measurable link. From November 4, 2024 to September 21, 2026, the US average price of regular gasoline went from $3.07 to $4.48 a gallon. Week to week, its changes were unrelated to changes in sneaker resale on GOAT and StockX, in volume or in price, whether we lined them up in the same week or let gas lead or lag by up to four weeks. The strongest of 18 correlations was r = -0.12 (95% interval -0.34 to +0.11).

The biggest gas moves, and what resale did next

If gas prices squeezed sneaker spending, the sharpest spikes should show it. After the ten largest weekly rises, the same-shoe resale price index moved +0.3 points on average over the next four weeks; after the ten largest falls, -0.6 points.

Week-to-week correlation, with lags

Correlations of weekly log changes, with gas shifted up to four weeks before (positive lag) or after resale. p-values use an effective sample size for autocorrelated weekly data; brackets are 95% intervals; q corrects for all 18 tests (Benjamini–Hochberg), and bars would be solid only where q < 0.05.

How this is measured

Gas: U.S. Energy Information Administration, weekly US regular gasoline retail price (FRED series GASREGW). Resale: all completed GOAT and StockX footwear sales (apparel, cards and collectibles excluded), products with at least 20 sales, weeks starting Monday; the current week is left out. Resale price index: each sale divided by that shoe's median over the whole period, averaged per week, times 100. Resale volume also depends on how many products our data covers, which changes over time; the price index does not. The ten biggest moves are listed as recorded, not tested. Updated daily. Observational analysis; it cannot rule out effects smaller than these intervals, or effects on first-hand retail sales, which this data does not cover.

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