The ongoing vicious trade war is turning knitting from a relaxing hobby enjoyed by tens of millions into a high-cost source of stress for crafters and their beloved local yarn stores. American craft stores are struggling to keep up with ever-changing trade policies, which are making the foreign-made products they stock more expensive and difficult to access while also driving up the cost of American made goods. There are over 85 million “active creatives” in the US and Canada, representing $35 billion in annual sales. Sky high tariffs on imported yarns and the end of the de-minimis exemption that allowed small wholesale and retail orders valued at under $800 to enter the U.S. tariff-free have caused prices and uncertainty to skyrocket for both casual crafters and successful local shops.
Read more about rising costs for knitters and crafters:
HEADLINES
- Washington Post: Knitters snagged by tariffs, as yarn brands pause shipments to U.S.
- Albany Times Union: Trump’s tariffs are tying knots in New York’s yarn industry
- Reason: ‘Tariffs will simply put us all out of business’: Trump’s trade war is crushing American crafters
- Slate: Knitting Is the Coziest, Most Wholesome Tragedy of Trump’s Trade War
- The Middletown Press: Tariffs on yarn and fiber hobbies leave CT residents in dismay: ‘Don’t know what I’m going to do’
Knitters Love Their Local Stores – But Tariffs Are Driving Them Out Of Business
- 30 percent of knitters buy their yarn from local independent yarn stores and another 35 percent prefer to buy online directly from yarn makers. (Craft Industry Alliance)
- The vast majority of businesses in America’s crafts industry are small businesses and most relied on the de minimis exemption to place small wholesale orders to afford the component parts that go into craft kits and handmade products. (Reason)
- Chattanooga Yarn Company (TN) owner Dana Chadwell said over 90 percent of her stock has been affected by tariffs: “Every supplier I have, minus one, from major to minor, has had a price increase. Because the tariff situation has been so unpredictable…it has made long term planning impossible. […] There is a point at which tariffs will simply put us all out of business no matter how well we manage our shops.”
- Stilly River Yarns (WA) owner Lindsey Spoor: “The introduction of unpredictable, retaliatory tariffs has introduced unprecedented volatility into my shop’s finances and strain on my customers’ budgets. Every single company I work with has raised prices this year.”
- Brooklyn General Store (NY) owner Catherine Clark: “I’m really into buying American-made. I always have been. But I couldn’t just have an American-made yarn shop. It wouldn’t be sustainable. There isn’t enough. I’ve been in business for 23 years. I’ve never been this nervous about staying open. I made it through covid.”
- Country Stitches (MI) owner Ann Drane said of Trump’s tariffs: “It’s really just gonna increase prices. Those will be passed down to us, and then we’ll have to pass those down to our consumers.”
- Woolyn (NY) owner Rachel Maurer has been forced to raise prices on her products: “A yarn I’m selling for $30 now, if I have to charge $45, they’re not going to want that. “If the next order I get, I get hit with a 20 or 25 percent tariff bill, yes, the yarns are going to go up 20 or 25 percent.”
Arbitrary And Fluctuating Tariffs Make American-Made Yarn More Expensive Too
- Fibre Space (VA): “These tariffs impact American-made yarns as well! […] American-made goods still rely on materials made in other countries. When the costs of everything a business needs to operate are increasing daily, the costs of the goods they produce will also increase.”
-
- The United States does not have enough mills capable of producing the volume of yarn needed for regular commercial distribution. According to Stilly River Yarns (WA) owner Lindsey Spoor: “We have a lot of micro-mills starting up in the United States, and even a few larger mills coming online that are able to do the full process from washing to yarn. Very few of these are producing yarns that local shops can access for routine restocks on a quick turnaround. Plus, most fully domestic yarns are going to be stuck at a price point that makes them more of a luxury item than a workhorse until we see larger mills and more wool production that meet the handcrafting market’s demand.”
- Dropped Stitch (IL) owner Hannah Wilson: “Figuring out what I want to stock and when to order it has suddenly become a lot more stressful. I can’t switch to U.S.-based suppliers even if I wanted to, because they simply don’t exist for the type and quantity of products my customers are looking for.”