6. INVENTORIES

At December 31, 2019 and 2018, inventories consisted of:


	2019		2018
	(Dollars in thousands)
Finished shoes	$	105,340	$	91,276
LIFO reserve		(18,627)		(18,592)
Total inventories	$	86,713	$	72,684

Finished shoes included inventory in-transit of $18.3 million and $24.2 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. At December 31, 2019, approximately 91% of the Company’s inventories were valued by the LIFO method of accounting while approximately 9% were valued by the FIFO method of accounting. At December 31, 2018, approximately 89% of the Company’s inventories were valued by the LIFO method of accounting while approximately 11% were valued by the FIFO method of accounting.

During 2019, there were liquidations of LIFO inventory quantities which resulted in immaterial decreases in cost of sales. During 2018, there were liquidations of LIFO inventory quantities carried at lower costs prevailing in prior years compared to the cost of fiscal 2018 purchases; the effect of the liquidation decreased cost of sales by $87,000 in 2018.