Sitting on our hands. Clenching our teeth. Tariffs.
For someone with an American small business these times are very unsettling. To be waiting daily (even hourly) for news that might affect your entire livelihood and the people you love and the life you've built is profoundly disheartening.
You might wonder how my business with a focus on Made in USA products fits into this picture. For nine years now I’ve inched-wormed the growth of Nicky Ovitt Gifts + Goods to sell mostly at the wholesale level to other hard-working, risk-taking, hopeful entrepreneurs like myself. I love the shops I sell to. I connect with my tribe, we’re a special club of self-employed, independent thinkers, out-front, exposed-to-the shifting-winds-group-of-DIYers.
The age of great American industry was built on the dreams of immigrants and we were once the worlds leading producer of high-quality goods. NAFTA, globalization, economic reform, political tariffs, weaker Unions and a move toward information jobs started chipping away at American manufacturing over the last four decades.
But with my Made in USA goods, all of this is not my flag to fly, right?… Wrong.
This is everyone’s cause. Undoubtedly you know someone who is a member of the American small business club. Someone who has put their heart, money, future into growing a dream to support their family and take advantage of the freedom of opportunities the rest of the world has admired since it's founding.
In my decade of working for a manufacturer of apparel accessories that were made in China and other overseas factories I saw much that informed my decision to focus my domestic production. As a value of MY business, I aimed to support other American businesses by making my products in the USA. This has been but a small drop of water in a very big pool but I felt and still do feel strongly that when possible, I will source locally.
My products are not for everyone. American-made usually carries a higher price tag and there are so many design limitations due to the lack of factories and raw materials in the United States now. I did think many more people would want to buy American-made when I began this company 9 years ago but we’re a society lured by price and convenience. Buying stuff is the American religion, ahem: hobby, and desire for volume often exceeds need or merit.
About the recent tariffs and Chinese manufacturing, a friend asked me: “This happened because Chinese labor is cheap and they’re able to take advantage of poor people, right?” Again, wrong. This happened because America let it happen. We gave China and other countries the opportunity to make goods and they excelled! On the whole, these are not peasant, slave labor operations. Factories are vetted, human rights and ecological standards are proven.
In American business the strategy is often: build to exit. The idea or product that an owner might not even be passionate about but are looking to grow fast to sell off the business which is then the evidence that they were "successful." This is one model.
If that’s not your purpose or formula, you’re likely working to have a quality of life you love by developing your abilities. As artists, we basically HAVE to “do art.” It’s an ingrained human need. Really. Making things with a practiced and honed talent is one way to build a life. Making things to build a life you can afford can be a precarious stepping stone path of careful decisions and precarious jumps. Often it’s necessary to grow financially by way of trying something new.
My retail partners are always looking for new products. I’m grateful that they continue to order from my strong staple of paper and textile goods but I'm also keen to the fact that they need to offer their customers new things to keep them coming back.
On March 25, 2025 I received my first round of samples from China. I’ve been working on this collection for over a year and am finally ready to invest and launch. The samples are absolutely beautiful.
In planning this new collection I had wanted to make MY IDEAL bandanna. Almost as if, if I ever have to close up shop, I will have made the bandannas of my dreams. The PERFECT version that had every feature I wanted; low MOQ, a bigger size, a lighter weight fabric, flat hem, multi color, silk component, print on both sides, soft hand feel, more hi-end fashion.
My latest samples are those scarves! All these qualities and details I would not be able to get at any current factory in the US.
To answer my friend’s question further, I have to report that not only were the goods well-priced, they are fabricated with innovative technology, inventive processes, and a real desire to please the customer. China and other countries have invested in their futures by focusing on manufacturing. How can we be angry at them for the role we played in hollowing out our own middle class and not shoring up or even improving our own industrial systems? And how many Americans now WANT factory work?
American politics are playing a game of chicken with other countries and all at the cost of the American small business owner. It wasn’t about fentanyl, it wasn’t about child care, the soul of the country, or any other crap. Follow the money.
Small businesses don’t have the cash on hand to suddenly pay over twice the cost for their planned shipment of goods nor the funds to pay for an order that was promised to a retailer over 6 months ago at a set price. Our businesses were not built on, nor can operate on chaos math. For more news from the front, please check out my friend Lindsey’s Tariff Diary in her stories. Her business is Last Chance Textiles—she is someone I really look up to in this bandanna biz.
With a 145% tariff, I would not be able to offer my scarves wholesale. Maybe not even retail.
If you have 30 minutes, please listen to this important podcast to learn more. There are solid numbers here. Busy Baby is a US Veteran, woman-owned business that uses overseas production because the factories she would need just do not exist here. This is a great explanation of the perilous situation so many people who have payed into the system and played the game to the best of their abilities are now facing.
I’ve been angry by so many decisions over the past 3+ months. Hell, even Covid had a better plan for helping small business in a crisis than this! To be super clear, these tariffs do not punish the Chinese or other countries of origin. It’s a tax on American businesses and will be the end of so many them. We represent 40% of the economy!
If we’re able to stay afloat, then yes— you the consumer may be paying that passed down cost. The media has mostly focused on the effect to big business like Apple and Tesla, the eventual cost to consumers, and the stock market. The ramifications are many and cascading, but trail begins with the goods a small business has invested in to bring to you! Let’s not forget that.
On Wednesday, I’ll be showing my three scarf samples to two of my best accounts. What will that conversation be like? A wait and see, no doubt. The line sheet has an asterisk after every number. I’d like nothing more than to bring these designs to market and see customers enjoying my latest IDEAL bandanna/scarf. I’d also love to see manufacturing and good jobs in America. But this is not the way. A plan, more time, and some principle are essential.
Please write to your congress person and check on your friends who have small businesses.
In the meantime, please share the information you’ve learned about tariffs and American manufacturing to help support the businesses you love.
Cartoon by @kaltoons1
Credit where it's due. Thanks for these resources to help me express my thoughts.
wikipedia.org
@joyannreid
@thegeneralstrikeus
@vintageclothingnearme
@thelesserbear
apnews.com
@emilyonlife
@paperandpencilchicago
@last_chance_textiles
NYT The Daily Podcast
@busybabymat
@eeboopieceandlove