Fabric Buyers In Stormy Seas | China Sails the Same Waters
Editorial by Eric Schneider, Editor & Publisher
October 24, 2025
Eric Schneider, Editor & Publisher
MIAMI BEACH, FL–The tariffs are wrecking havoc with our international home fabrics industry.
Wholesalers and importers are telling their Chinese suppliers to hold off sending samples of new lines in fear of new tariffs on Chinese goods.
The U.S.A. is the golden goose for the world, accounting for as much as half of the world’s buying power. Where will the Chinese or any supplying country go to make up for the loss of American fabric business?
“We’ll possibly be paying 147% duty and tariff on new Chinese goods. Why subject ourselves to the added expense of new goods at much higher prices,” one importer tells F&FI.
“Each time we add a new product in our line, we have to carry stock for new and reorders for our customers. We just don’t know what the prices will be,” he says.
That particular buyer has currently called a halt to sample making by his Chinese suppliers. “What’s the point if I’m not going to add the new line,?” he says. Luckily for him, he can work off old inventory and keep his customers satisfied for now. Until the smoke clears though, he doesn’t know what he is going to do down the road in terms of what he will buy from the Chinese or from anyone else.
As a result, buyers will have no choice but to look elsewhere for product like Europe and possibly India. I say possibly India because there is now a 50% tariff on Indian fabrics. Indian silks and linens are irreplaceable but buyers may be forced to look to European suppliers–but not Spain!
President Trump has a problem with Spain and it is not yet known how the tariffs will apply to Spain.
Let me know what you think!
Send me an email: eric@sipco.net
Wholesalers and importers are telling their Chinese suppliers to hold off sending samples of new lines in fear of new tariffs on Chinese goods.
The U.S.A. is the golden goose for the world, accounting for as much as half of the world’s buying power. Where will the Chinese or any supplying country go to make up for the loss of American fabric business?
“We’ll possibly be paying 147% duty and tariff on new Chinese goods. Why subject ourselves to the added expense of new goods at much higher prices,” one importer tells F&FI.
“Each time we add a new product in our line, we have to carry stock for new and reorders for our customers. We just don’t know what the prices will be,” he says.
That particular buyer has currently called a halt to sample making by his Chinese suppliers. “What’s the point if I’m not going to add the new line,?” he says. Luckily for him, he can work off old inventory and keep his customers satisfied for now. Until the smoke clears though, he doesn’t know what he is going to do down the road in terms of what he will buy from the Chinese or from anyone else.
As a result, buyers will have no choice but to look elsewhere for product like Europe and possibly India. I say possibly India because there is now a 50% tariff on Indian fabrics. Indian silks and linens are irreplaceable but buyers may be forced to look to European suppliers–but not Spain!
President Trump has a problem with Spain and it is not yet known how the tariffs will apply to Spain.
Let me know what you think!
Send me an email: eric@sipco.net
