Vera Bradley has been moving production out of China, with less than half of its goods originating there today, while an estimated $400 million of Michaels product costs would be subject to the tariffs.

(Bloomberg)—Vera Bradley Inc., a maker of purses and backpacks, says President Donald Trump’s next round of tariffs on China could derail its nascent recovery.

It’s been a tough stretch for the Roanoke, Indiana-based retailer, which has posted declining sales and net income in each of the past five years. But business has improved lately, including profit that beat expectations by a wide margin in its most recent quarter.

The potential U.S. levies on another $200 billion of Chinese goods “will have a detrimental effect on our company, costing us jobs and/or burdening our customers with higher prices,” the company’s vice president of global sourcing, Steve Bohman, said in a public comment on Tuesday.

“We will either have to absorb this and jeopardize the financial health of our company or make significant changes to our pricing policy, instituting inordinate price increases in categories that are already highly taxed with import duty, and with tariffs that could exceed 42%,” Bohman said.

advertisement

Vera Bradley, No. 386 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Top 500, has been moving production out of China, with less than half of its goods originating there today. That’s down from about 95% in 2014. Still, about 21% of the company’s products can’t viably be sourced elsewhere, according to the letter.

The duties will also wipe out the benefits of the U.S. tax overhaul that cut corporate rates. Bohman predicted the tariffs coming in at “three times the value of our cost savings from the tax reform bill.”

The company didn’t respond to requests for additional comment.

Crafts and art supplies retailer Michaels Cos. also is warning that its prices could be hit by the Trump administration’s next round of proposed tariffs on Chinese imports.

advertisement

An estimated $400 million of its product costs would be subject to the tariffs, CEO Chuck Rubin says. The potential levies of as much as 25% on $200 billion of goods from China could take effect after a public comment period ends on Thursday.

Michaels has “a lot of levers” it can pull to mitigate the impact, Rubin said Wednesday at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. retail conference in New York. While he said “there is virtually no possibility of moving manufacturing into the U.S.,” the Irving, Texas-based company is looking into shifting manufacturing to other countries.

Michaels joins competitor Joann (No. 363) in bemoaning the tariffs. Joann CEO Jill Soltau said last month that crafting at an affordable cost is “in jeopardy.”

advertisement
Favorite