Business Houses Find A Way To Reduce Tariff Impact On Imported Apparel

An industry group says that the ugly sweaters that have been attracting a few eyes for Christmas, are set to face a hike in the tariff price this season. To save Christmas, President Trump made an announcement towards the starting of this month, saying that tariff plans on some Chinese goods would be on a hold till the December 15. Retailers like Abercrombie, American Eagle and Macy’s seemed ecstatic as it meant that the products of these companies would not be taxed before the end of the year.

New data from the Footwear Association and American Apparel suggest that a 15% tariff would be imposed by the September 1 on 91.6% of the apparel imports from China. Stephen Lamar, Executive VP of AAFA, said through an email that that it would be difficult to shift this massive volume of business to other countries. There are numerous issues that have to be kept in mind like the labor and safety regulations of the new country and the fact that all different types of industries are being forced to shift simultaneously.

Retailers like Home Depot, Best Buy and Macy’s said that there are many strategies that are being implemented to cut short the burden of the tariffs. Shifting vendors and factories from China seems to be the most widely accepted move. Ro state an example, there is a tariff in place from Sept 1 that would be imposed on T-shirts that have below 70% silk. To counter this Johnson factories are producing products that are made of pure silk. Other measures include the shipping of products in a time which is much prior to Sept 1. Planning for this had started almost a year back. KPMG says the footwear and apparel industry is used to sudden imposition of taxes. This has been going on much before the election of Trump as the president.