looked into<\/a>\u00a0operating a factory in Thailand, that turned out to be even more expensive than operating in China. \u201cUntil there\u2019s some finality on these tariffs, it\u2019s too risky to bet on being able to even sell here [in the U.S.],\u201d Hassett told Modern Retail in an interview.<\/p>\nSo, Hassett and his team made a new plan: to bump up the company\u2019s international business. In the last few months, Loftie has increased marketing abroad, especially in Europe. It\u2019s creating a website for Japan, translating its ads into multiple languages and offering shipping to new markets \u201cweek by week,\u201d including Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, Hassett said. The tactic is paying off: In August, 33% of Loftie\u2019s orders were from international markets, up from 5% just 60 days earlier. And, the company is finally profitable for the first time since January.<\/p>\n
Loftie isn\u2019t alone in taking a more global approach. A number of brands that have historically bet on the U.S. market are now deploying resources elsewhere because tariffs are tanking their bottom lines, several told Modern Retail.<\/p>\n
As Pat Mooney, the CEO of Footwear Unlimited, said on Monday on a call with members of the press, \u201cPurse strings are tight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for us to be able to model out what profitability will be, because the cost of our goods is changing so quickly,\u201d said Mooney, whose company oversees Frye, Spyder and Baretraps. \u201cThat affects expansion, that affects going after new markets, that affects everything a little bit, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking to foreign markets<\/p>\n
Wolf, which sells jewelry boxes and watch winders, dates back to 1834. It has offices in the U.S., the U.K. and Hong Kong, and manufactures in Asia. Historically, the U.S. has been its biggest market, accounting for 60% of revenue, through wholesale partnerships and its e-commerce site.<\/p>\n
However, because of increased costs from tariffs, Wolf stopped shipping to the U.S. earlier this year, CEO Simon Wolf, the fifth generation to run the business, told Modern Retail. The company has a finite number of SKUs in the U.S., and it doesn\u2019t plan to replenish the supply, unless \u201csomething is already sold, and I absolutely need it [shipped over],\u201d Wolf said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t opened up to start shipping [to the U.S.] again,\u201d Wolf added. \u201cWe\u2019ve always carried massive amounts of inventory in the country, so we\u2019re kind of insulated for a little longer, \u2026 but we\u2019re shifting resources, whether that\u2019s advertising money or events, out of the country, because, perhaps for the next three-and-a-bit years, I cannot rely on the United States anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wolf said that the U.S. customer is unique and tends to spend more frequently, noting that \u201cconsumers buy here in a way that Europeans don\u2019t.\u201d But the brand is also paying tariffs of up to 55% to import its products into the country, Wolf said. Now, the company is focusing more on other markets \u2014 places like Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and India.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re shifting focus to those markets, instead of, I don\u2019t want to say, wasting our time in the United States, but with that uncertainty, why would you [grow here], if you have the ability to grow a business somewhere else?\u201d Wolf said. \u201cThe beauty of our product is that it\u2019s not driven by fashion or culture. There is nowhere our product doesn\u2019t sell well, because people love watches and jewelry, universally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loftie, for its part, is \u201ccontinuing on the path\u201d to grow its international customer base, Hassett said. The company has started offering free shipping abroad \u2014 in part because advertising costs there are cheaper \u2014 and it\u2019s adding different types of plugs to its products so they can fit into outlets in other countries. \u201cWe\u2019re actually going to have a slight out-of-stock period [for clocks with E.U. plugs], because they\u2019ve sold faster than we anticipated,\u201d Hassett said.<\/p>\n
Today, Loftie\u2019s sales are up in many foreign markets, including the U.K., Canada, Germany, Switzerland and France. \u201cWe\u2019ve already done more international sales in the first half of September than we did in all of August,\u201d Hassett said. The company also hosted happy hours in Paris and London to raise awareness \u2014 and trust \u2014 abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have to fight against the anti-American sentiment,\u201d Hassett said. \u201cI really want to show people in these markets outside the U.S. that we are committed to them and this is a long-term investment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, even as companies look outside of the U.S. for growth, they\u2019re not giving up on the market for good, executives told Modern Retail.<\/p>\n
Wolf, for instance, was careful to stockpile inventory in the U.S. to continue selling to American consumers. It previously sent over 44 containers in the course of one week, when tariffs were paused, and is open to bringing in new shipments to the U.S. if the tariff situation changes. Loftie has two new products that are made in the U.S.: a room spray and a sleep supplement. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep making those here,\u201d Hassett said.<\/p>\n
Loftie is also rolling out new software for its products, because \u201cthat works anywhere in the world,\u201d Hassett explained. The company has an app that includes features like a sleep coach, meditations and app-blocking. In October, Loftie will start selling a physical card called a Focus Card that people can use to lock their phone if they need to hunker down and get something done.<\/p>\n
Hassett wants Loftie\u2019s U.S. customers to know that, even though the company is retreating from the country, it\u2019s doing so \u201cironically, to protect U.S. jobs.\u201d Despite increased costs from tariffs, Loftie hasn\u2019t done any layoffs, Hassett said.\u00a0It did, however, cut ties with some outside consultants, and it\u2019s moving out of its current New York City office.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have the money to pay our team and our cloud bills and maintain our apps, we have to have new sales,\u201d Hassett said. \u201cIf we can\u2019t make sales in the U.S., we need to make them somewhere else. It\u2019s just really us trying to keep in business for our existing customers to continue to serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article has been updated to reflect accurate tariff percentages for Loftie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this summer, Matthew Hassett, the founder of lamp and clock brand Loftie, realized he couldn\u2019t depend on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[79,18,19,17,188,58722],"class_list":{"0":"post-90089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-navigating-economic-instability"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}