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Fast Company

These companies invested in being American-made. Tariffs are hurting them, too

Johann Pauwen and Michaele Simmering founded their furniture design business, Kalon, in Los Angeles in 2007. At the time, the U.S. was entering a major recession with many industries headed for total implosion. Pauwen and Simmering, committed themselves to finding local manufacturing relationships and logged countless hours looking for factories that could deliver on their solid wood designs within the United States. It wasn't an easy process, and the founders had to write their own playbook as they went. 'We really had to beat the streets and find these places on our own,' says Simmering. 'Sometimes literally you'd drive past an open roller door, see certain machines or materials, and say, 'Oh my God, they're making X, Y, or Z and that's how we'd find them.' Now, nearly 20 years in, all of Kalon's products, except for its baby crib, are made in the U.S. The profitable business supports their family as well as those of their five employees. From the outside, it might appear that Kalon is entirely insulated from the roller-coaster tariff storyline unfolding every day here in the U.S. And to some degree they are: Simmering and Pauwen say their supply chain is strong and reliable and they have few doubts about their ability to deliver their product to customers as expected. Still, the pair is pretty stressed. They've noticed that many of their peers in the industry are losing business and, in some cases, carrying out layoffs. Kalon itself marked its worst sales month in history in April, on the heels of Trump tariff news. 'I canʻt believe we built this healthy business out of nothing in a really inhospitable industry: two collapses, a pandemic, and multiple wars,' says Pauwen. 'And, a move to domestic manufacturing freaks out the consumer so much, no one will spend money. Maybe that will kill us, even though we're U.S.-produced.' The final deadline for Fast Company's Brands That Matter Awards is Friday, May 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.