Latest news with #BusyBaby
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This 28-year-old from Miami started selling sweatshirts 2 years ago — and they've already achieved cult status
If you've noticed your daughter wearing an oversized sweatshirt with 'PARKE' stamped across the chest, you're not alone. Launched in 2022 by 28-year-old Chelsea Kramer, the brand has quickly become a Gen Z wardrobe staple. Kramer started out focusing on upcycled vintage denim, but it was the simple, cozy and limited-edition sweatshirts that created a viral following. In just under three years, the Miami-based entrepreneur (whose middle name is Parke) has amassed 150,000 followers on TikTok and 80,000 on Instagram. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) Last year alone, the business net $16 million in revenue, as Kramer told The Cut. This past weekend, close to 1,000 shoppers lined up for a three-day pop-up in New York City's SoHo. One 27-year-old grad student drove in from New Jersey and waited nearly six hours to buy her eighth sweatshirt. Still, not everyone is walking away with the goods. 'Stuff should not be selling out in a minute,' one frustrated fan posted on TikTok. 'I get it gives you clout … but make your customers happy.' The real question is can Parke keep delivering or will the hype wear thin? 'We went through a shift where we were like, 'Okay, we shouldn't be so conservative,'' her sister-in-law and co-founder Kira Kramer said. 'It's so easy to get caught up in the success, and we've always been mindful about trying not to get ahead of ourselves.' Read more: This is how American car dealers use the '4-square method' to make big profits off you — and how you can ensure you pay a fair price for all your vehicle costs They're increasing inventory to keep up with demand, but reducing the number of Parke collections they release this year, a cautious move in an unpredictable economy. Like many U.S. brands that manufacture overseas, Parke got caught in the crossfire of President Trump's imposition of 145% tariffs on imports from China. While the Trump administration has since [paused] that penalty and reduced the tariff on Chinese imports to 30%, many small business owners say the damage is done. For one thing, as Beth Fynko Beniko, owner of Busy Baby observes, 30% is still a steep duty, and she started paying it in May. 'That sucks for any small business owner,' Beniko said on TikTok. 'It's still going to cost me $48,000 more than this shipment would've cost me two months ago.' As rising tariffs drive up production costs for companies like Busy Baby and Parke, small business owners are raising their prices, or considering doing so in the coming months. That means consumers are becoming more cautious. 'Recent events have people confused about how they can effectively budget because they do not know how the prices of things are going to change in the coming months,' Lawrence Sprung, a certified financial planner based in Long Island, New York told CNBC. Now's the time to be proactive with your finances. While you can't control what tariffs will do to prices, you can control how and where you spend your money. If you've been eyeing a purchase — like a viral sweater — it might be worth hitting pause. Prices could rise, and even if they don't, it's worth asking: Do you really need another sweater? Consider looking for alternatives with similar quality at a more affordable price. It's not just fashion. Things that have always been big-ticket items like refrigerators, dishwashers and car parts have even bigger price tags now. Even 'Made in America' products may rely on imported materials. Tariffs on steel and aluminum are expected to increase the cost of appliances by 20%. That could turn a $2,500 range into a $3,000 expense. Protect your wallet by prioritizing on your needs over wants. That doesn't mean cutting out every treat — just make sure essentials like rent, food and bills are covered before splurging on impulse buys. At the same time, build or replenish your emergency fund with regular savings. Experts recommend setting aside three to six months' worth of expenses, but even small, consistent contributions can go a long way. A solid cushion can help you manage unexpected costs without racking up credit-card debt or pulling from long-term savings. This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs make running operations ‘less feasible': Small business owner
(NewsNation) — As tariffs continue to impact major shopping giants like Target and Walmart, small businesses across the U.S. are feeling the effects as well. Busy Baby CEO Beth Benike joined 'NewsNation Now' to talk about how it's becoming harder to run her operations. 'The problem is, we are too small,' said Benike. 'Manufacturing in the U.S. is very expensive, and in order for the business model to work for the U.S. manufacturers, they need to manufacture things in large volumes. As a startup and very small company, we don't make enough units to make it worth their time to work with us.' Benike, an Army veteran, started Busy Baby to give parents products that are within reach and off the ground for their children. All those products were being made in China because no one in the U.S. would make them for her. But things changed for Benike quickly once President Trump took office and implemented tariffs on dozens of countries earlier this month. Home Depot says it doesn't expect to boost prices because of tariffs 'So we never expected 145 tariffs, and it's been out there for a long time,' she said. 'We started a GoFundMe to try and raise money, and unfortunately, we didn't get anywhere near the goal. The goal was $230,000, I would have had to pay. I've never paid a tariff prior to this in the five years of importing products.' Benike added that her business did raise enough money to support to bring in the products that were being kept in China, but there is still the challenge of getting the products on a ship and getting them to the United States. And with the demand high, her costs have doubled. 'So I need to get this product here, because if I don't have it, I can't sell it,' acknowledged Benike. 'I can't pay my bills or my employees.' With the current tariffs in place, Benike says she is parallel planning, building out an international distribution strategy and selling products in bundles. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
19-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
China tariffs are no longer 145%, but for small businesses in the crossfire, ‘it's still awful'
President Donald Trump's decision to impose a steep tax on most goods that come into America has tested the mettle of small business owners whose companies are reliant on global trade. And the fits and starts that have come along with Trump's tariff program are not just testing these business owners' patience, they're also threatening their very operations. The latest, and perhaps biggest, curveball came last week when the US and China agreed to sharply lower their respective tariff rates for 90 days. The de-escalation brought the US tariffs on Chinese goods down to 30% from 145%. Markets cheered the news, and recession forecasts lessened in intensity. And that surely meant that small business owners who faced steep tariff bills — including Busy Baby founder Beth Fynbo Benike, whose next shipment of baby products was going to come with an additional $230,000 price tag — should be super grateful, right? Fynbo Benike answered that question with some seething sarcasm and a dose of realism. 'The tariffs came down. 30%. Yay!' Fynbo Benike said on a TikTok video posted last week. 'That still sucks, by the way. That sucks for any small business owner … It's still going to cost me $48,000 more than this shipment would've cost me two months ago.' 'It's still awful,' she said. Tariff update - down to 30%! We can ship our products!!!! It still sucks though! #tarifftalk Fynbo Benike has become an archetype for small business owners caught in the crossfire of a tumultuous trade regime. The erratic nature of President Donald Trump's trade policies and the severity of newly imposed tariffs have wreaked havoc on small businesses in the US, causing costs to quickly skyrocket, unsettling longstanding supply chains, swiftly stifling growth and expansion plans — and threatening to kill American-bred businesses. A 30% tariff for Chinese imports 'is still a step up, and that's not the only tariff we're looking at. We're looking at tariffs around the globe,' Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet, told CNN in an interview. 'That relief was necessary, but let's not kid ourselves. The impact of this trade war is going to be significant, and I think it's going to hit smaller businesses potentially the worst.' To understand the plight of small businesses one needs to only look at the largest corporation of them all. The chief executive officer of Walmart late last week said that tariffs were 'too high' for the world's largest retailer to absorb, and that it would raise prices in the coming weeks. 'Walmart is the best equipped to handle increased costs; they have probably some of the most complex supply chains, and they're going to multiple suppliers for all of their products,' Renter said. 'If some place like Walmart is signaling that they're going to be increasing prices, we know that the stress on smaller corporations and smaller businesses is going to be significant.' Francine Farkas Sears, who 50 years ago was the first American businesswoman invited to China after President Richard Nixon opened trade relations, told CNN that the tariffs are threatening the viability of her business, which makes professional bags for women as well as accessories for the Girl Scouts of America and the Red Cross. 'Well, we might as well just make a lunch date, because I won't have a business; it's that serious,' she said. The steep and shifting tariffs are threatening to unwind decades-forged relationships and make her business unsustainable, she said. 'It's an industry that we don't produce today here,' she said, noting that the costs to produce bags, as well as caps and the roller 'cookie carts' for scouts would skyrocket if they weren't made overseas. 'These families are scraping by to join the Girl Scouts for their daughters, and they can buy that cart now for $39,' she said. 'If I made it in this country, it would be $200.' 'These are areas where we have to realize that we have to shake hands,' she added, noting the volatility could be too much for her and other businesses to withstand. 'Whether you like him or not, it doesn't matter, [Trump is] one of the smartest negotiators ever: He basically throws everyone off balance, and then he brings them back.' 'It's a slap and a kiss,' she said. Fynbo Benike, a US Army veteran, has long made efforts to manufacture the tethered baby place mats and other accessories on domestic soil; however, the US infrastructure remains costly, limited, or in some cases nonexistent. So, she and others have had to rely on imported goods and materials to grow their businesses. And Busy Baby was indeed growing: The company got its products into several hundred Walmart and Target stores, and Fynbo Benike had just paid for her largest-ever order to help backfill inventory for her website and for Amazon. In recent weeks, Busy Baby was busy pivoting. The company was formulating an international distribution plan, in which the vast majority of the sales would occur outside of the US. The de-escalation of tariff rates with China means that Fynbo Benike can pull the trigger on shipping the order to the US. However, it will come at a steep cost to her and others — most of the funds to pay for the expected $48,000 import tax are coming from a GoFundMe. 'Now that the tariff has come down, it's enough to bridge the gap; so, we're going to ship the product as soon as possible,' Fynbo Benike told CNN in an interview last week. 'And then — this is where it's very, very risky — we're going to start production for our next line. I'm going to be hopeful that it's not going to get worse.' In case it does, she said, she's modifying production of the baby mats to meet European Union standards. And despite the détente with China, the outlook for companies like Busy Baby has only become increasingly volatile. 'I would say it's more and more (uncertain) and different and stronger,' Fynbo Benike said. 'Last time, the tariff was going up and up and up; and now, the tariff all of a sudden dropped significantly. And they say it's for 90 days, but is it for 90 days?' 'Because our administration is known to make sudden and drastic changes out of nowhere, and now that is happening in both directions,' she added. Last month was meant to serve as a milestone for Katharine Burke's Purryfuls business, a startup that made self-care purring plushies for stressed-out Millennials and Gen Zers. After two years in development, the first Purryfuls line was meant to go into production. The month of April, put lightly, 'was not fun,' Burke told CNN last week. 'My (company's) survival was in question all of April,' she said via email. 'I had my first-, second-, and third-ever panic attacks. I was trying to come up with backup plans as [the tariffs] dramatically changed my outlook for the year.' By the first week of May, the Purryfuls products were being manufactured and scheduled to ship from China at the end of the month. At that time, the tariffs were still 145%, and Burke didn't know if she'd be in a tight spot, or if she'd be OK. A week later, the tariffs dropped to 30%, a levy that's significant for small businesses like hers to absorb. But 'it's survivable,' she said. That's not to say it has been smooth. For one, her customs broker is still poring through the hundreds and thousands of tariff codes to tabulate the exact import duty Purryfuls will have to pay. And then there are new risks of not only higher shipping costs, but also potential delays for her order. 'Now that the tariffs have eased, all of the shipments are going out at once which could backup ocean freight and drive up pricing,' she wrote. 'I'm hearing from my manufacturer that canceled orders are being revived, which is great for them, but the backlog may mean that there is no space for me to place another order as everyone rushes to get ready for Christmas.'
CNN
19-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
China tariffs are no longer 145%, but for small businesses in the crossfire, ‘it's still awful'
President Donald Trump's decision to impose a steep tax on most goods that come into America has tested the mettle of small business owners whose companies are reliant on global trade. And the fits and starts that have come along with Trump's tariff program are not just testing these business owners' patience, they're also threatening their very operations. The latest, and perhaps biggest, curveball came last week when the US and China agreed to sharply lower their respective tariff rates for 90 days. The de-escalation brought the US tariffs on Chinese goods down to 30% from 145%. Markets cheered the news, and recession forecasts lessened in intensity. And that surely meant that small business owners who faced steep tariff bills — including Busy Baby founder Beth Fynbo Benike, whose next shipment of baby products was going to come with an additional $230,000 price tag — should be super grateful, right? Fynbo Benike answered that question with some seething sarcasm and a dose of realism. 'The tariffs came down. 30%. Yay!' Fynbo Benike said on a TikTok video posted last week. 'That still sucks, by the way. That sucks for any small business owner … It's still going to cost me $48,000 more than this shipment would've cost me two months ago.' 'It's still awful,' she said. Tariff update - down to 30%! We can ship our products!!!! It still sucks though! #tarifftalk Fynbo Benike has become an archetype for small business owners caught in the crossfire of a tumultuous trade regime. The erratic nature of President Donald Trump's trade policies and the severity of newly imposed tariffs have wreaked havoc on small businesses in the US, causing costs to quickly skyrocket, unsettling longstanding supply chains, swiftly stifling growth and expansion plans — and threatening to kill American-bred businesses. A 30% tariff for Chinese imports 'is still a step up, and that's not the only tariff we're looking at. We're looking at tariffs around the globe,' Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet, told CNN in an interview. 'That relief was necessary, but let's not kid ourselves. The impact of this trade war is going to be significant, and I think it's going to hit smaller businesses potentially the worst.' To understand the plight of small businesses one needs to only look at the largest corporation of them all. The chief executive officer of Walmart late last week said that tariffs were 'too high' for the world's largest retailer to absorb, and that it would raise prices in the coming weeks. 'Walmart is the best equipped to handle increased costs; they have probably some of the most complex supply chains, and they're going to multiple suppliers for all of their products,' Renter said. 'If some place like Walmart is signaling that they're going to be increasing prices, we know that the stress on smaller corporations and smaller businesses is going to be significant.' Francine Farkas Sears, who 50 years ago was the first American businesswoman invited to China after President Richard Nixon opened trade relations, told CNN that the tariffs are threatening the viability of her business, which makes professional bags for women as well as accessories for the Girl Scouts of America and the Red Cross. 'Well, we might as well just make a lunch date, because I won't have a business; it's that serious,' she said. The steep and shifting tariffs are threatening to unwind decades-forged relationships and make her business unsustainable, she said. 'It's an industry that we don't produce today here,' she said, noting that the costs to produce bags, as well as caps and the roller 'cookie carts' for scouts would skyrocket if they weren't made overseas. 'These families are scraping by to join the Girl Scouts for their daughters, and they can buy that cart now for $39,' she said. 'If I made it in this country, it would be $200.' 'These are areas where we have to realize that we have to shake hands,' she added, noting the volatility could be too much for her and other businesses to withstand. 'Whether you like him or not, it doesn't matter, [Trump is] one of the smartest negotiators ever: He basically throws everyone off balance, and then he brings them back.' 'It's a slap and a kiss,' she said. Fynbo Benike, a US Army veteran, has long made efforts to manufacture the tethered baby place mats and other accessories on domestic soil; however, the US infrastructure remains costly, limited, or in some cases nonexistent. So, she and others have had to rely on imported goods and materials to grow their businesses. And Busy Baby was indeed growing: The company got its products into several hundred Walmart and Target stores, and Fynbo Benike had just paid for her largest-ever order to help backfill inventory for her website and for Amazon. In recent weeks, Busy Baby was busy pivoting. The company was formulating an international distribution plan, in which the vast majority of the sales would occur outside of the US. The de-escalation of tariff rates with China means that Fynbo Benike can pull the trigger on shipping the order to the US. However, it will come at a steep cost to her and others — most of the funds to pay for the expected $48,000 import tax are coming from a GoFundMe. 'Now that the tariff has come down, it's enough to bridge the gap; so, we're going to ship the product as soon as possible,' Fynbo Benike told CNN in an interview last week. 'And then — this is where it's very, very risky — we're going to start production for our next line. I'm going to be hopeful that it's not going to get worse.' In case it does, she said, she's modifying production of the baby mats to meet European Union standards. And despite the détente with China, the outlook for companies like Busy Baby has only become increasingly volatile. 'I would say it's more and more (uncertain) and different and stronger,' Fynbo Benike said. 'Last time, the tariff was going up and up and up; and now, the tariff all of a sudden dropped significantly. And they say it's for 90 days, but is it for 90 days?' 'Because our administration is known to make sudden and drastic changes out of nowhere, and now that is happening in both directions,' she added. Last month was meant to serve as a milestone for Katharine Burke's Purryfuls business, a startup that made self-care purring plushies for stressed-out Millennials and Gen Zers. After two years in development, the first Purryfuls line was meant to go into production. The month of April, put lightly, 'was not fun,' Burke told CNN last week. 'My (company's) survival was in question all of April,' she said via email. 'I had my first-, second-, and third-ever panic attacks. I was trying to come up with backup plans as [the tariffs] dramatically changed my outlook for the year.' By the first week of May, the Purryfuls products were being manufactured and scheduled to ship from China at the end of the month. At that time, the tariffs were still 145%, and Burke didn't know if she'd be in a tight spot, or if she'd be OK. A week later, the tariffs dropped to 30%, a levy that's significant for small businesses like hers to absorb. But 'it's survivable,' she said. That's not to say it has been smooth. For one, her customs broker is still poring through the hundreds and thousands of tariff codes to tabulate the exact import duty Purryfuls will have to pay. And then there are new risks of not only higher shipping costs, but also potential delays for her order. 'Now that the tariffs have eased, all of the shipments are going out at once which could backup ocean freight and drive up pricing,' she wrote. 'I'm hearing from my manufacturer that canceled orders are being revived, which is great for them, but the backlog may mean that there is no space for me to place another order as everyone rushes to get ready for Christmas.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Why Is That Okay?' – Kevin O'Leary Blasts U.S. Legal System As Chinese Companies Sue Americans After Stealing Ideas
Kevin O'Leary, entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor, is asking a question many American small business owners are starting to echo: "Why is that okay?" His remarks come amid growing concern that U.S. businesses are being squeezed by two forces—intellectual property disputes with overseas factories and steep import tariffs that threaten to sink startups before they can grow. O'Leary shared his frustrations during an April appearance on "The Megyn Kelly Show," where he reflected on the experience of Beth Benike, founder of Busy Baby. Her story, he said, represents a growing number of entrepreneurs caught in the crosshairs of trade and legal systems they can't control. Don't Miss: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Benike, a U.S. Army veteran, designs silicone placemats to help parents keep their babies' items off the floor. Her product gained popularity after a "Shark Tank" appearance. However, the decision to manufacture her products in China became problematic when tariffs increased dramatically. In an interview with NewsNation on April13, Benike said that she budgeted for tariffs in the 20%-30% range. But after the Trump administration increased duties on Chinese imports, her costs jumped by 145%, stranding her shipment overseas. She launched a GoFundMe campaign in April to raise $229,000 just to get her products released. O'Leary confirmed to Kelly he was familiar with the deal and Benike's dilemma. "This is certain death for some businesses," he said. "It's insane." Trending: How do billionaires pay less in income tax than you?. But that wasn't the only issue on his radar. O'Leary also criticized the growing number of cases where Chinese companies allegedly copy American inventions—and then sue the original creators in U.S. courts. "The crazy thing is Chinese companies use the American legal system to sue American companies after they've knocked them off," he said. Benike took to LinkedIn on April 10 to argue that products with American patents should be exempt from the tariffs. "Tariffs and IP theft should be two different conversations," she wrote. O'Leary, meanwhile, supports tariffs as a way to hold China accountable for what he described as widespread disregard for intellectual property to the FBI, approximately 80% of U.S. economic espionage cases in recent years have involved conduct benefiting China. The U.S. Trade Representative's 2025 National Trade Estimate Report also urged China to expand civil liability for misappropriation and increase criminal penalties for IP violations. Meanwhile, small businesses remain caught in the middle. The American Action Forum estimated that nearly 40% of Chinese imports are purchased by small businesses, many of which don't have the capital to weather a 100%+ tariff spike. A Budget Lab study from Yale in March found that tariffs have driven up consumer prices by 2.3%, equaling a $3,800 hit to the average U.S. household. For small firms, that's the difference between growth and closure. Read Next: Nancy Pelosi Invested $5 Million In An AI Company Last Year — Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'Why Is That Okay?' – Kevin O'Leary Blasts U.S. Legal System As Chinese Companies Sue Americans After Stealing Ideas originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
