MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
New York Fashion Week just wrapped up - big designers from across the world showing off their latest collections on the runway. Behind the scenes, the industry faced tough questions about how tariffs will shake up their budgets. As the U.S.-China trade war intensifies, fashion designers say they may have no choice but to raise prices again. Monica Miller reports from New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEWING MACHINE)
LANTIE FOSTER: And I like to do, like, little, wavy stitches. And I'm the queen of zigzag.
MONICA MILLER, BYLINE: Lantie Foster has designed garments seen on the red carpet, in retail stores and on the Chinese fast fashion online platform Shein. The latest addition to her brand is pet wear. She's sewing a carry bag for a small dog.
FOSTER: So it's got little baby blue 3D flowers, like, sewn on top and embroidery done in green that looks like the flower stems.
MILLER: Her studio in Yonkers, New York, is filled with colorful fabrics, human and dog mannequins and shelves of buttons and zippers. She says most of them come from China because of the competitive price. One example is a spool of gray felt.
FOSTER: Put it this way. If I buy it from China, I get, like, a whole roll of 50 yards for, like, $18. If I buy it on the street here in New York - the same exact color - it's $80.
MILLER: With tensions between the U.S. and China heating up, she wonders if bargains from China will last. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump imposed an additional 10% tax on all Chinese imports. And this week, he also rolled out new 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel imports. From fabrics to machinery, these taxes will have an impact on a large portion of America's fashion industry, according to Naika Colas from the Parson School of Design.
NAIKA COLAS: Thirty-plus percent of all fashion brands are producing in China currently.
MILLER: That poses a dilemma for President Trump, who says his tariffs will entice manufacturers to produce their goods in the U.S. But Colas argues this is going to be a long shot.
COLAS: Seeing the garment workers predominantly - even here in New York, they're migrants, right? So then, in teaching here at Parsons, most of the students will not go off to be garment workers. They'll go off to open their own brands. They'll be designers at brands and creative directors and things like that. So we don't have the manpower that's even interested in working these jobs.
MILLER: In fact, only 3% of clothes today are made in America. But according to the United States International Trade Commission, America is the largest, single country apparel importer in the world. One in five pieces of clothing in the world are exported to the U.S. The majority of materials come from Asia, mostly China and Vietnam.
In retaliation to U.S. tariffs, China quickly imposed its own levies on specific goods and put the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein on what it calls an unreliable entities list. Experts say this designation could force them to close down shops and manufacturing in one of the world's largest consumer markets.
FOSTER: (Inaudible).
MILLER: Back at Foster's studio in New York, she's moving on to the next phase of assembling her project. She says even though the new tariffs have not yet had a direct impact on her business, she's anxious about what's to come.
FOSTER: They really kind of need to figure it out as soon as possible because I have several proposals I have to submit, and I cannot have any errors - you know what I mean? - of a 10% to 30% that could potentially just, you know, interfere with a huge deal that they agree to, and all of a sudden, I'm going to be out of pocket thousands and thousands of dollars.
MILLER: Foster says the uncertainty has a price tag too. And eventually, she may have no choice but to raise her prices.
For NPR News, I'm Monica Miller, in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIWA SAVAGE SONG, "LOST TIME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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