$1.5 Million in One Year: How Tariffs Are Reshaping a Women’s Accessories Company

For HOBO Bags, a women’s accessories company designing and selling handbags across the U.S., tariffs are no longer a marginal cost. They are a defining feature of the business.

In 2025 alone, tariffs added $1.5 million in unplanned costs. And the pressure is accelerating — in 2026, the company is already tracking $1.1 million in tariff costs in just the first quarter.

These aren’t abstract projections. They’re real dollars pulled away from operations, inventory planning, product development, and growth.

For companies like HOBO Bags, this kind of volatility makes basic business decisions harder every month:

• How much inventory to order

• Whether to expand product lines

• How to price goods without losing customers

• When — or whether — to invest in the future

Tariffs of this magnitude don’t create certainty or encourage reshoring. Instead, they force companies to operate defensively, planning around sudden cost spikes that can’t be forecasted or absorbed — even by established brands.

HOBO Bags’ experience reflects what many apparel and accessories companies are reporting: when tariffs escalate quickly and unpredictably, they function less like trade policy and more like an unstable tax that compounds year over year.

Their story adds to the growing body of evidence from businesses across the country that tariff policy is reshaping operations in ways policymakers often don’t see — but companies feel immediately.

📢 If your business has been directly affected by tariffs, consider adding your experience with We Pay the Tariffs. Sharing real data helps show the scale and consequences of these policies on U.S. companies.