Athletic footwear sales were down 14% for the month of Feb. to $1.3 billion from $1.5 billion as the three-week delay in issuing tax refunds severely depressed sneaker sales during the early part of the month, according to NPD. While sales did pick up the final week as the funds did hit bank accounts and that has continued into Mar., it remains unclear if the sneaker market will be able to recover all the lost sales from the earlier part of the month, particularly since there was the usual heavy release of signature basketball offerings around the NBA All-Star Game.

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