Taiwan's Textile Firm Weathering Storm of U.S. Tariffs

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan has been a top player in the global functional fabrics market, but with U.S. tariffs now in place, it’s feeling the impact. TaiwanPlus speaks with a local firm, a supplier to major U.S. brands, to see how it's coping with the challenges.

Transcript

00:00Can you tell us how you have been impacted by the tariffs as an upstream supplier,

00:04shipping fabrics to your customers such as North Face, Lululemon and Under Armour's factories in

00:10Southeast Asia? The impact is very obvious. Take a look at the number, the forecast

00:18that we have for this year. I believe that we at least have 15 percent dropped for 2025.

00:27You're going to see what happens if they react from the market. So consumers,

00:33what happens if consumers are not buying? And that will be a huge impact,

00:39eventually going to come back to upstream suppliers like my company.

00:43So I know you have been diversifying your products and market as a way to mitigate risks. Can you tell

00:50us a bit more about that and what other steps you plan to take in response to the tariffs?

00:55Always going to look for, you know, seeking for new source, new raw materials, new ingredients

01:03to add it to our R&D, to create a new product. That is, we've been really proactive what we're doing.

01:10And finding the new markets, also it's going to take time. It's not going to happen open,

01:17it's not going to happen overnight. It could be like three years, could be five years.

01:21And you need to have that patience of doing what you're doing. We're competing for quality,

01:28or better quality. You're going to look at yourself as a fabric supplier here in Taiwan.

01:37You need to understand not only your own market here in Taiwan, but you've got to understand

01:42your competitors. We're located. What are you hearing from other textile companies in Taiwan

01:48regarding the impact of the tariffs and their plans in response?

01:53You need to understand that. You need to understand the impact.

01:57Yes, I think that's a great idea.

02:01You need to understand what you're doing.

02:03You need to understand the impact in Taiwan,

02:04and you need to understand what you're doing.

02:07And that's what I think the impact is that you're going to take as long as possible.

02:12I think the impact is still going to be a long time.

02:17So the impact can be done with how much time it will be.

02:24You can see how much time it will be.

02:28Because the economy is a very realistic, business is a very realistic.

02:32The economy is a very realistic.

02:34The economy is not bad.

02:35From my company, it is mainly in the US market.

02:41The economy is not bad.

02:46The inflation will be on the market.

02:48The consumer will not buy so much money.

02:55The currency is the big issue.

02:58And in an end field to the fire,

03:02devastating, it is going to kill the business.

03:07Not only my business, but all the business,

03:10all the different industries in Taiwan.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended