Associated Press
Urban Outfitters said President Donald Trump’s closing of the de minimis loophole will not hurt the company.
The retail giant’s chief executives said in an earnings call on Wednesday that the de minimis loophole, which until now allowed small parcels under $800 to enter the US duty-free, would hit competitors like Shein.
Trump is set to close the de minimis exemption for goods coming from all countries on Friday.
Francis Conforti, Urban Outfitters’ operating chief, said the exemption had “really immaterial impact” on the company and that he was not worried that its absence would impact the business.
CEO Richard Hayne added that the closure of the loophole would “only help” Urban Outfitters.
“Some of the folks who were big into this, Shein, and some others, are obviously having a little bit harder time coping with some of the new regulations,” Hayne said to investors. “So to the degree that they’re shipping less, it should help us.”
Urban Outfitters, a Philadelphia-based corporation, owns several retailers under its brand umbrella, such as Anthropologie, Free People, and Nuuly.
The company reported total sales of $1.5 billion in the latest quarter, an 11.3% increase compared to last year. Its stock price is up about 42% since the start of the year.
Shein, a budget fast-fashion retailer from China, was one of the first to be affected by Trump’s closing of the de minimis exemption for goods coming from China in May. The US is Shein’s biggest market.
In April, it announced that it would be increasing its prices, as its operating expenses had gone up because of the changes in trade rules.
According to an October report by US Customs and Border Protection, de minimis shipments accounted for 92% of all cargo entering the US. The report added that at that point, the agency processed about 4 million de minimis shipments a day, up from 2.8 million in 2023.
Urban Outfitters, while unharmed from the de minimis closure, has not escaped Trump’s trade changes unscathed. In an earnings call in May, the company said it would be bringing fall inventory in sooner, anticipating supply chain issues from Trump’s tariffs.
Representatives for Urban Outfitters and Shein did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
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