As Trump Plans to Double Tariffs on China, Twisted X Pledges to Not Raise Its Prices
Jennie Bell
Deputy Managing Editor
We just want to do the right thing for the consumers and retailers,” said Prasad Reddy, chief executive officer of Texas-based footwear company Twisted X.
Reddy has declared that his company will not raise prices on its products despite the Trump Administration’s rapidly increasing tariffs on imports.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has implemented widespread new tariff on imports from multiple international trade partners. Early this month, he enacted 10 percent duties on China-made goods — and further yesterday announced that the number could double, to 20 percent, as early as next Tuesday, March 4.
Additionally, the president said that the 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada (which were briefly on hold) are also set to take effect on Tuesday. And the reciprocal tariffs that Trump discussed earlier this month — impacting exports from Europe, Vietnam, India and others — will reportedly be enacted in early April.
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Twisted X manufactures its boots primarily in China, with some limited production in Mexico, El Salvador and Myanmar. At the start of this year, Reddy said, he began working with his factories in China, as well as his freight forwarders and other supply chain partners, to mitigate the new costs. In regard to the previously enacted 10 percent tariffs, Twisted X was able to reduce the impact to 2 to 4 percent. While the company did not provide updated estimates related to the new 20 percent duties, it did confirm its commitment to not passing on the costs to retailers and consumers.
“Yes, it’s going to impact our bottom line a bit, but we can absorb it. We can absorb it better than the end consumer or the retailer,” said Reddy. “With all the inflation going on, the end consumer can’t afford to pay a lot more. So we thought the best thing to do is to take this stance. We want to be true partners to retailers.”
The CEO noted that independent retailers make up a large portion of Twisted X’s wholesale business, and they will be severely impacted should manufacturers increase prices. “The retailers keep telling me, if you raise prices by 10 percent, sales will definitely go down, maybe between 10 and 20 percent, so [the retailers] need our help.”
Twisted X is a private company, which Reddy said gives it the freedom to make such decisions.
But it may prove to be an outlier among the shoe industry, said Matt Priest, president and chief executive officer of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America. He explained that with Trump’s new tariffs, price increases are virtually a foregone conclusion.
“There’s going to be an inevitable push for the consumer to take this on, or companies are just not going to be able to supply goods to retailers, and retailers won’t have the stuff to sell,” he said. “The president is putting a lot of pressure on the supply chain right now, and it’s going to be driving up costs, for sure.”
Priest added that few companies will be able to withstand that amount of pressure. “It’s going to be catastrophic for some companies, [especially] those who are 100 percent in China. If they don’t have a pressure release valve with the consumer or retailer, they can’t absorb that. There’s going to be tons of difficult conversations with retailers and factories and brands over the coming weeks, particularly if this Tuesday threat moves forward, which we anticipate it will,” he said.
Economic concerns are already weighing on Americans. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell by 7 points in February to 98.3 — the largest monthly drop since August 2021. “This is the third consecutive month-on-month decline, bringing the Index to the bottom of the range that has prevailed since 2022,” said Stephanie Guichard, The Conference Board’s senior economist, global indicators.
Furthermore, a report this week from Coresight Research predicted that U.S. retail sales would decelerate slightly in February and March — and that’s before the new tariff impact, which is expected to hit shoppers around the back-to-school season.
