07/08/2025
*Apologies if the below appears to be a rant, it's an extremely frustrating period and I genuinely will miss working with my USA based friends and customers*
After having spent a big chunk of the day trawling through pages of information when I should be in the studio producing pieces, I feel the need to go into a bit of detail about the upcoming changes that will take affect by USA and which will impact all worldwide.
I've seen quite a few posts about the end of De Minimis on the 29th August and how this is tackling the big mass produced giants like Temu and Shein. It appears that a great deal of marketing has been made from this viewpoint to USA consumers and how the aim is to shop local, make the money, spend the money within the USA.
Unfortunately, this isn't quite the actual picture. The cease of De Minimis will affect every country selling to USA and every USA consumer buying virtually anything. It's actually rarer than hen's teeth to find a USA owned company who have the materials, machinery, tools etc all made within the USA. There simply isn't the infrastructure/skills set up to be completely contained within the USA.
What does this really mean to the average USA consumer? Over the last 6 months, there has already been an increase in basic essentials, we here in the UK are experiencing a cost of living crisis. In the US, things have really stepped up a notch. The average US consumer is getting less for their buck and are having to make difficult choices of what they can go without including what was deemed as 'essentials'. Average cost of eggs reaching $8.00 has been well publicised. With these changes coming into force this will affect every single consumer. There have been stories of shop workers removing clothing price tags as the amount on them is less than what the store is now charging (average increase of $2-4 per item)
The planned changes will be in force from 29th Aug for 6 months, then it will revert to Ad Valorem (fees based on the value of the items sold)
I've worked with USA customers for the last 14yrs creating hand stamped pieces to celebrate life's milestones. I'm not mass producing items, my pieces are all vintage and are re-purposed eco friendly. I often work with pieces well over 100yrs old. My average price of pieces range from $15-35, if I were to continue after 29th August, my USA customers would have a flat fee of $80 per item & we've been classed as the lowest amount to be charged (others are $160 & $200!) I'm currently running a thank you sale for my USA customers only until 20th Aug to give enough time to avoid the 29th Aug deadline, I appreciate that it's a challenging period. It's a very sad turn of events for small businesses. I have built up loyal customers who I've created pieces from weddings to pregnancy announcements, births, Christenings, anniversaries as well as working with other USA small business owners. It may have been marketed as a stand against Temu/Shein, but goes well beyond that.
Unless USA wages increase by a huge step and USA owned companies take the hit financially and don't pass on costs, consumers will be left with less product for more money.
Not every element of production from a USA owned company is completely USA made (machinery, materials, specialist tools etc) Tough choices of whether to spend hard earned money on basic items such as food or to splurge on non-essential items like clothing/car parts and whether to replace items like electrical goods.
With Christmas coming up and 1st Sept traditionally being the start of the season, it'll affect more than people currently realise. I support other small businesses based in USA and have done for a number of years, with the changes going into place, I'm not sure if this is something I can financially continue to do. I struggle to see how the average consumer will really benefit from all of the changes being made?
There appears to be an almost aggressive response when questions are asked, but put emotions to one side and look at facts and figures...it's hard to find a positive.
If the real argument of stopping Temu/Shein were the goal, it could have been reached in a number of ways without punishing the US consumer or other businesses (heightened quality control levels, workers basic rights/slave labour, materials & manufacturing regs to meet set standards before being accepted into US would then have a knock on effect on pricing are two examples) This would also have a positive impact on the environment and help reduce landfills of plastic based clothing.
I will miss my USA customers and look forward to some kind of positive solution which will enable the world to remain an open market, rather than the closed off version currently being projected.
For now, it appears that we have a grinch... and he's orange, not green.
