Hey -,
As you’ve likely heard, new U.S. tariffs are creating big challenges for outdoor brands like ours. We’ve always been committed to being open and transparent with our community, so we wanted to fill you in on what’s happening.
As of today, duties (aka tariffs) for our goods have gone from 30% to 159%. While the exact numbers and timelines are still evolving, the TLDR version is that if these stick, manufacturing apparel will get more expensive in the near future, making it harder for smaller businesses like ours to stay competitive and for consumers to access the quality products they love at fair prices.
While we understand these policies are meant to encourage domestic manufacturing, the reality is that America lacks the necessary infrastructure, technology, and skilled labor to support the technical apparel industry at scale. In fact, we initially aimed to manufacture in the U.S. but quickly realized that the domestic supply chain couldn’t support the specialized production we required—nearly sinking our business before we even launched.
We want you to know that our entire team is working tirelessly to navigate the situation. We’ve frozen salary increases, stopped any hiring, cut costs, and are considering product cancellations should these fees stick.
As for pricing — there will be no increases for our current spring & summer line. Everything beyond that is still TBD, but we are working closely with our factories and retail partners to keep any future increases as small as possible.
In Wild Rye’s relatively short existence, we’ve weathered historic market conditions while remaining true to our north star: to empower women in the outdoors and beyond. So thank you for supporting us in these wild, complicated times.
If you want to learn more about our manufacturing and the tariff situation, dig in deeper in our blog.
Cassie + the Wild Rye team
