How tariffs on Chinese imports threaten small business in South Carolina | Opinion

Eleven years ago, we set out to solve a problem so many girls confront: hair barrettes that just won’t stay in place.

What started as a simple mother-daughter science project transformed into an innovative business. We patented the first-ever double-face double-snap barrette and built GaBBY Bows into a flourishing company. To date, we’ve sold more than 1 million GaBBY Bows in all 50 states and 16 countries, mentored over 50 young female entrepreneurs, published a children’s book to inspire young dreamers, and recently secured a dream retail partnership to expand our business.

Unfortunately, our beloved GaBBY Bows — a symbol of the American Dream — is at risk because of blanket tariffs on Chinese imports that prevent small businesses like ours from thriving.

GaBBY Bows is a small, family-owned business based in Columbia. We do not have the resources of large retailers that may be able to absorb costs and move production. Like many small businesses, we rely on global supply chains to keep our prices competitive. We manufacture our barrettes in China because no U.S. manufacturer is able to produce them at an affordable cost. Believe us, we’ve tried.

But producing them domestically would raise our costs and prices to $10 per pack — almost three times what we could charge before tariffs and 10 times the cost of our lower-quality competitors. That’s far beyond what most women and girls will spend for their hair barrettes.

Unfortunately, 145% tariffs on Chinese imports have jeopardized our dream of placing GaBBY Bows in nearly 900 retail stores across the country, including in South Carolina. New tariffs on China have already raised our costs astronomically since they first went into effect in early February. We face a painful choice: either risk a financial loss or walk away from the deal of a lifetime that was going to help us grow our business.

We appreciate President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring back American manufacturing. We look forward to the time when the U.S. does not depend on foreign countries to produce essential goods. We would love to manufacture GaBBY Bows in the U.S.

We have tried, and we continue to try.

But every manufacturer we’ve approached tells us the same thing: It’s not feasible. Plastic manufacturing for low-cost products happens in China, period. If we want to compete, we have to make use of those supply chains. Indiscriminate tariffs make that nearly impossible.

Tariffs have also stopped us from hiring. We would love nothing more than to hire people to help fulfill our retail orders, but with financial pressures from tariffs, we will be lucky to merely break even on our new retail partnership. We simply can’t afford to hire anyone like we had planned. If the tariffs continue, we will never be able to grow and create jobs — small businesses like ours may not survive at all.

Fortunately, our business has grown in part because South Carolina has always been a pro-business state, and we’ve benefited from policies that promote entrepreneurship. We have secured the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s support, along with other private-public support from VentureSouth and the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority, including seed round investments, mentorship, awards and education.

South Carolina agencies and organizations have undoubtedly helped us succeed. But there is nothing they can do to help us overcome the disastrous effects tariffs are already having on our business by preventing us from securing much-needed inventory for our new retail partnership.

It’s time for policymakers to rethink these blanket tariffs. Small businesses like ours are the backbone of South Carolina’s economy. We need policies that support our growth, not ones that threaten to bankrupt us.

We are proud of what we’ve built. We just want the chance to continue growing our business, competing in the marketplace and inspiring young entrepreneurs. With these tariffs, that won’t happen.

This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "How tariffs on Chinese imports threaten small business in South Carolina | Opinion."