* The long version…

To say the last few months has been challenging for our small business is an understatement. We have seen price increases on every single item we produce and manufacture. Like many gift businesses, we rely heavily on imported components and products to produce goods.

The imported tubes for our California made Hand and Foot Creme were hit with a 145% tariff, something that is unsustainable to say the least. Even with a 90 day “reprieve” on heavily tariffed Chinese goods and materials, it leaves very little room (or cash flow) for us to make decisions on how to move forward long-term.

Finding a new source for components and materials is not something that can be done overnight or even within a few months time. In most cases, factories or materials do not even exist in the United States to produce these items. It has forced us to look for new vendors, take on significant sampling costs –something we have already done and hoped to not do again, and altered well-established relationships with factories we have used and loved working with for years.

For clarity sake, here is where and how our goods are produced:

Cards - Envelope and cardstock paper is milled in the US, but the raw pulp comes from the US and Canada. Imports from Canada are now taxed at 25%. Our cards are printed in Irvine, California on vintage printing presses Biodegradable cello sleeves are manufactured in China. Custom Paper Clips are produced in China. There are no custom paper clip manufacturers in the US.

Drinkware - Originally, when I launched our rocks glasses, we used glass made here in the US, but the quality of glass and decal printing took a nose dive during Covid and the cost increased exorbitantly. To ensure we were producing a quality product I was proud of and at a price that was sustainable for wholesale, we worked with one of our existing Chinese manufacturers to bring my vision to life. We had incredibly expensive molds made for our rocks/wine glasses. It took months of back and forth for sampling, glass quality and decal reviews.

Where it stands today, although we’ve made a huge investment in the molds to produce our drinkware, with the tariff increases– we cannot sustain the increased cost of our glassware. All in-house stock is the last of its kind and we will not producing mugs, wine glasses or rocks glasses. If you are wanting any inventory for the rest of the year, please order it now for immediate shipment . We will not be holding stock for future dated orders. First come, first served- literally.

Matches - This has been a component cluster that would make your brain explode. Currently our match sticks and /strikers are produced in India (but ordered through a US company,) the glass bottles and caps are produced in China, our labels are made in Taiwan and the assembly of all of these things happens in California. It is an inventory hellstorm. We are working on a new supplier relationship to combine the production of these components, what tariff will be applied to them is to be determined… fingers crossed.

Journals/Notepads - Our partner is based here in the US, but owns their factories in China. We have been working with our manufacturing partner for journals and notepads for a very long time and love them. We have no plans of changing manufacturing of these as their quality, consistency, pricing and communication is unmatched. We have absorbed the price increases on these… for at least the time being. 

Cocktail Napkins - We work with a German manufacturer and love working with their team. They take immense pride in their product, and we truly stand behind their quality. The cost of getting these here from Germany has increased significantly with the tariff increase, and the Euro to Dollar ratio.

Hand/Foot Crème - Produced in Northern California, however our tubes are made in China. We have tried numerous times to have our tubes produced in the US, but the MOQs start around 50k per design – that’s a shit-ton of hand jobs, and not something we could store or even sell in a timely fashion. Additionally, our caps are not something that can be manufactured in the US. We would have to switch to something generic and not our signature gold.

The components of our hand and foot creme are sourced globally. Most cocoa butter is grown in Africa, while shea butter and marula oil are exclusively grown/produced in Africa. Jojoba Oil is sourced from the southwestern United States - thankfully.

Shower Steamers - Made and assembled in the USA. Our steamer tablets are made of US and globally sourced components. Some essential oils come from outside the US, but mostly they’re sourced from US based raw materials (sodium bicarbonate being the primary ingredient). The shower steamer trays are printed and manufactured in California, but the raw pulp is from US + Canada. Cha-ching.

Tote Bags - Made in India. Our tote bags are made and printed with our manufacturing partner in India. The cotton is produced, dyed and sewn in India.

Tea Towels - The cotton towels are made in India and printed in California by our garment printer.