If you haven't been hiding under a rock, you'll probably know that there's ongoing changes on tariffs. Here's how it effects us and you as our customer:
Our Products
We ordered our plushie collection from a small Chinese manufacturer the last 2 years. However, we have already been talking to a handful of Filipino plush manufacturers to pivot to a Filipino-owned and -made company! There are only about 3 that we found so far, and unfortunately, the minimums are too high for us currently. (If you have a lead on a plush manufacturer in the Philippines, please let us know!)
Luckily, we currently have a decent stock that should last us long enough to continue searching and testing new manufacturers. If we do sell out before we find a new manufacturer, we have been working on new products to continue sharing out stories.
Which leads us to...
Future Products
We started looking for Filipino artists around the world to sell their mythology-inspired artwork (prints, stickers, etc). We are hoping that the tariffs won't be so high that we will have to abandon this.
Shilyn, one of our co-owners, is also currently in the middle of writing two novels. There is currently no publishing date, but we are hoping to complete at least one by the end of the year.
Alex, our other co-owner, is also working on Dwende houses. These were a hit during our in-person markets! So, he will continue making these for you all around the U.S.
Prices
If you've been following us long, you may have noticed that we have lowered our plushie prices. We really wanted to make sure the plushies were more accessible, so we do not plan on raising them back to the original price or higher.
Currently, we are absorbing the costs. This just means we are taking less profit.
As a small business, we really don't want to push the expenses to you all...and that's what we're hoping to continue doing.