There’s a particular kind of silence that settles when factory gates don’t open. In Lesotho, a country once known as the Denim Capital of Africa , that silence is growing louder. Every morning, crowds of women—many of them single mothers—wait at the entrance of shuttered garment factories in the hopes that someone, anyone , will call their name for a shift. But the gates don’t open. And the jobs… they’re disappearing. Professionally, I’m still catching up on the full impact of what’s unfolding. But here’s what we know: According to a July 20, 2025 NPR report , back in April, the U.S. announced a 50% tariff on goods imported from Lesotho, citing trade imbalances. While those tariffs have been technically “paused,” the damage has already begun. Orders have dried up. Production has stopped. And factories that once supplied brands like Levi’s and Walmart are folding—fast. The story hits hard. Not just because of the scale of job loss (over 12,000 garment workers , with ripple effects for t...
The 2025 escalation in U.S. tariffs—combined with changes like the de minimis rule —have significantly disrupted fashion e‑commerce, squeezing margins and reshaping sourcing strategies for small apparel brands. According to a Reuter’s article, as of June 2025, U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports have risen to 55%. The end of the $800 de minimis parcel exemption in May has dismantled the duty‑free route that ultra‑fast fashion platforms relied on—Temu and Shein’s U.S. daily active users dropped sharply, by 52% and 25% respectively ( cnbc ). Tariffs on apparel from traditional outsourcing countries like Vietnam (currently at 20% with a 40% penalty on goods suspected of transhipment), Bangladesh (currently 9-10%, but has a proposed increase to 37% on the table that has not yet been implemented), Cambodia (49% imposed early 2025) and Indonesia (32% set to take effect July 8, 2025) now double import duties, pushing landed costs up by 10–25% in recent months. --- What It Means for...