Eva St. Clair and Rebecca Melsky—co-founders of the children’s fashion brand Princess Awesome, and participants in Small Businesses Against Tariffs—spoke with Bethesda Magazine about the ongoing impact of tariffs, and the chaotic rollout of the tariff refund process:
While Princess Awesome is on track to get its money back, the timeline is murky and the owners worry the business could be financially drained months before it sees even a partial refund.
“We can limp along at this level for another year, maybe 18 months,” said co-founder Eva St. Clair. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get the full amount back. That seems like more to hope for.” …
St. Clair and co-owner Rebecca Melsky took out loans and cut their salaries multiple times to keep product flowing amid the tariffs. Higher production costs also meant less inventory, limiting the availability of certain sizes and styles, reducing sales.
The company’s average inventory dropped from 30,000 items to around 15,000 once the tariffs kicked in, St. Clair said. Lost sales won’t be factored into refunds.
“The uncertainty of when we’re going to pay tariffs and how much they’re going to cost was nightmarish. We just didn’t know where the money was going to come from or if we had had it,” St. Clair said. “It was hard.”