Brands in search of a plan C
Turkey, Peru and Mauritius are among the alternative manufacturing locations that apparel and footwear companies are considering in the wake of the widespread tariffs the US announced on April 2.
Companies and analysts mentioned these countries to the Wall Street Journal for an article it published on April 7 examining how brands might react. It said tariffs US president, Donald Trump, had put on imports from China during his first term of office (2017-2021) had led brands that were heavily reliant on importing products made in China to search for a plan B. This led to a big increase in imports of clothes and shoes from Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and other Asian countries.
Now that the president has imposed steep tariffs on those countries too, the same companies are now looking for a plan C, the WSJ said.
New York-based men’s clothing brand Untuckit said it would consider moving some of its production to Mauritius and Peru, instead of Vietnam, where it sources 40% of product at the moment.
The newspaper pointed out that Mauritius, with a total population of 1.25 million people, was unlikely to meet the plan C requirements of bigger brands, including Nike. It said Nike makes 95% of its shoes in China, Vietnam and Indonesia. As things stand, products from these three countries will incur tariffs of 54%, 46% and 32% respectively.
It also said that ten years ago, Lululemon was making 20% of its products in China, but that it now makes 86% of its products in Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
