The Spring 2026 shows this September marked the first New York Fashion Week since the Trump administration implemented tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. and, more recently, halted the “de minimis” exemption on packages worth less than $800. Inevitably, this has impacted the fashion industry, which is (like many industries) largely reliant on global supply chains.

The owners of small, independent and emerging fashion labels — who ultimately make NYFW what it is — are hit especially hard when suddenly faced with rising shipping fees and higher prices for an array of materials that can’t be sourced locally, even if some of them might assemble their garments in the U.S.

Backstage at the shows, designers like Edvin Thompson, Tyler McGillivary and Grace Ling opened up about the impact that recent trade policies have had on their production processes and overall operations, leading up to NYFW. It’s been challenging, but few people are better at finding creative solutions to problems than young designers. Brandon Maxwell said it well: “Every day in our industry is a challenge in 2025, and also a great joy.”

From raising prices to planning (way, way) ahead, read on to see how they’re navigating this tricky time.

Stephanie Suberville of Heirlome

“I didn’t change anything about the creation of the collection. The prices have gone up, unfortunately. We import a lot of our fabrics from Italy into New York and so, with the tariff increase, some of our core fabrics that we’ve used from the beginning are now getting higher. But I didn’t want to change how I’m designing or change the quality of our fabrics because I feel like our core customer responds to the really beautiful hand and that’s how we get her keep coming for more. We have a really nice repeat business, so I didn’t want to all of a sudden cheapen the fabric. We did have to adjust the prices a little bit.”

Jane Wade

“It’s impacted me in some ways, but probably less than others, mostly because I manufacture here in New York. […] Also, I have a very fine eye for detail when it comes to the sewing and the finishings, which I find hard to communicate overseas. And the back and forth with shipping, the import duties, it really can get quite expensive to produce garments overseas, especially when you’re missing details and then another sample has to be made.

“In terms of the impact for us, it really lands in places like fabric, trims, some of our metal components and snaps and hardware that we get overseas. All we really can do is think ahead and plan ahead. When they raised the tariffs earlier this year, we basically placed all of our fabric orders. The ones that were coming in from overseas, we had them pause on shipping and when they lifted it just momentarily, we were like, ‘OK, press go on the shipping.’ All we can do is work together as a team, be more communicative with our vendors overseas and see what’s possible. But it’s definitely going to make it challenging to import more goods like wools; we just don’t have a sustainable infrastructure in the States to support wool mills… whereas labor we can do here, some cotton sourcing we can do here. So I just try to do my best to source locally wherever I can.”

Tinka Weener of Songs of Siren

“I’m already selling my pieces honestly for too-low prices, I feel, because so much work goes behind it, but I had to raise my prices just a slight bit. But I still want it to be accessible for everyone, so we have to figure out how it’s going to go along the way.”

Tyler McGillivary

“We are definitely in the throes of dealing with tariffs. We’re lucky to work with partners that try to help combat the tariff increases by working with us on pricing, but it’s a very serious issue and it’s a really ridiculous thing that our government is doing and so stupid and not important. It’s important in some ways but it’s so unnecessary and so performative and so dumb, I hope it just goes away soon, to be honest.

“It’s impacting artists everyday. People are closing down. Ssense basically closed down because of tariffs and that impacts our wider community in a huge way because that was one of the only sites supporting interesting young designers. So, it’s tough and I really hope it goes away soon. I also hope that the next four years go by pretty quickly.”

Edvin Thompson of Theophilio

“I’ve been 100% domestic. I’ve been speaking about sustainability since the start of my business. My carbon footprint is minimized, so I’ve been doing the thing before the thing showed up. There still have been challenges, but I’m so lucky that I work with the people who are right next to me in my community. This collection was created in the Garment District up the street.”

Patricio Campillo of Campillo

“I think one of my accounts did have to pay more taxes, but they stood up to the situation and they raised the prices, and the collection has had the same sell-through as other collections. At the end of the day, I think I’m still standing where I was standing six months ago when this started happening. If the product is differentiated enough and it’s original enough, the elasticity of the price won’t be compromised as much for tariffs because it’s not like it’s replaceable. I think by being unique and creating my own universe and a universe for the brand, which no one else has, makes the collection and the products irreplaceable.

“Also, I did market week during Paris Fashion Week for Men’s in June. From June to September… it was very liberating not having to think about sales that much because the collection had already sold. I don’t have to think about if I’m going to be able to produce it or not.”

Kate Barton

“It is definitely a topic of conversation throughout all brands. We were lucky that it didn’t affect us too terribly this season and we really worked with our partners and did not have much impact on that. I do think moving forward, everyone is hoping for a better resolution to the situation.”

Taylor Thompson of 5000

“As a small design house, we’re not insulated from the turbulence tariffs create. While they haven’t touched the creative process itself, they’ve certainly added complexity to production and sourcing. There’s a lot of uncertainty and volatility within the tariffs, so it feels best to weather the storm before making any huge changes to how we do things.

“All of our tailoring and artisanal collections are produced in the U.S., so tariffs haven’t affected our made-to-measure business. We have, however, shifted some of our fabric sourcing locally, which has actually helped keep our production mapping more focused.”

Grace Ling

“It’s definitely tricky running a brand, creating a collection. Collaborating with people and partners is tricky by itself. With the tariff slapped on, I’m not going to lie and act like there’s no hurdles; there is, definitely. We are 1758655006 more mindful about what we create, which I actually think is good… you think about what your customer really wants. When you look at a design before just making it, you’re like, ‘Do people really want to buy this? Do people really want to wear this? Do people really feel something when they see it?’ And if it’s ‘yes, yes, yes,’ then it’s a go.”

Brandon Maxwell

“Every day in our industry is a challenge in 2025, and also a great joy. I don’t want to speak too specifically to anything, but every day is a challenge for sure.”

Note: Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.

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