Submitted by Marine Levine, Greenwich
Greenwich is home to the headquarters of several major footwear companies, including Vince Camuto, HH Brown, and Marc Fisher among others. I am the CEO of Highline United Footwear, a company with headquarters in Massachusetts and a showroom in NYC. We produce shoes for private label, licenses, and our own brand, us.Ash.Com. I can guarantee that if you ever bought a pair of shoes in a mall, department store or major elevated brand, our company may have produced a pair in your closet! The process of producing shoes is so cumbersome that many fashion brands choose to outsource this effort to companies like ours.
I am writing to express my outrage and deep concern over the recent tariffs imposed under the Trump administration’s trade policies. As a business leader in the footwear industry, I can tell you first-hand that these tariffs are nothing short of devastating.
Below is a historical illustration of how these tariffs have nearly wiped out our entire profit margin in just a few short days. For some background, the average factory plus transit cost of our shoes range between $15-$50, which is then wholesaled to retail stores like Nordstrom or directly sold on our website.
Avg $30 Cost and Related Tariffs:
– 10 years ago: 10% tariff = $3
– 2019: 10% + 7.5% = $5.25
– 2025: 10% + 7.5% + 20% = $11.25
– April 2025: 10% + 7.5% + 20% + 34% = $21.45
Now, with the threat of an ADDITIONAL 50% tariff, there is nowhere to turn, nowhere to hide. Our product will be tariffed at over 120%.
There is no price increase, factory negotiation, or production shift that can accommodate the cost increases we need to bare. Every day, we take a gamble on bringing in containers of footwear that could be subject to tariff hikes at the stroke of Trump’s Sharpie. We do not have enough time to interact with buyers and get feedback fast enough to understand if they plan on keeping or cancelling their orders due to price increases.
Before I am critiqued for not producing in the United States, understand that there are no factories in the U.S. that can handle the necessary capacity, pricing, or supply chains required to produce the multitude of components needed to make a shoe. In footwear, factories need other factories! In fact, even if footwear production were brought to the U.S., the least expensive like shoe that could come out of domestic production would retail for $300.
It is tragic to watch business leaders who built their wealth on free trade abandon common-sense business principles for a fleeting moment in the limelight. Ivanka Trump once had a footwear and fashion brand where she was reaping royalty checks from sales exceeding $100 million annually, all with products made in China. While she is not the president, it should not be hard for her to be a voice of reason. This industry has produced incredible wealth for her and her family.
Our company has worked tirelessly for years to build a business that serves our customers and supports American jobs. This policy is not good business; it is cruel. The administration has been very upfront regarding their comfort level with sacrificial lambs in this process, and we are potentially one of them. We were given no advance notice to price or prepare accordingly, and now many incoming shipments, if not canceled, will have to be sold at a loss.
This is what is happening now; importing companies are abandoning containers of product at ports and pivoting into survival model to keep the lights on. This is COVID 2.0- but worse as PPP loans will not appear to save the day.
I expect prompt action, as the situation is dire. American businesses need to thrive, not just survive!
A few calls-to-action: (we need all the help we can get)
1. Sign this letter: https://fdra.org/halt-trump-emergency-tariff-powers/
2. Call your member of Congress to express your frustration with policies that will bankrupt many
3. Follow us on Instagram AshShoes_USA
4. Another Greenwich founder’s company Woolloomooloo
Thank you for your time and attention,
Marina Levine