When childhood friends Mercedes de Maria Genoveva Pedrero Setzer and Daniela Novelo Iñiguez founded the fashion brand “De María” in 2021, their mission was to bring the artisan craftsmanship of Chiapas to the United States — and prove that Mexican goods can be just as luxurious as those manufactured in other parts of the world.
In the nearly four years since De María launched its line of handbags, boots and other accessories, the brand has already begun to make a name for itself within the fashion space, having been featured as an emerging Latina-owned label to watch in such publications as Teen Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and W Magazine. But the threat of a looming trade war waged by President Trump, as well as a pervasive skepticism towards the value of Mexican products in the States, has not made for an easy journey.
Novelo recalled a client who visited their store in New York City’s Lower East Side and tried to argue that the costs of De María’s handbags and shoes were far too high for products manufactured in Mexico. “It should be cheaper because it’s made in Mexico,” Novelo remembered the client saying.
Novelo was shocked and disheartened. “This is the value [of] our products, because it comes [from] so much hard work when it comes to starting a brand. Working with the artisans, having that communication, getting the resources, the skills and the materials, … it takes a lot of time and effort,” she said.
President Trump signed an executive order Feb. 1 applying a 25% tariff on all imported goods from Mexico and Canada, citing an “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs” as the reasoning behind the new policy. Yet after conversations with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Trump agreed to hold off on the new tariff policy for 30 days, under the condition that both countries send more troops to reinforce their respective borders — temporarily halting what could develop into an intense trade war.
But on Monday, President Trump announced his decision to proceed with the tariffs in early March.
“It could potentially ruin us as a small business,” Novelo said.
An increase in production costs as significant as 25% leaves few options for small businesses that import their products from Mexico. If retailers pull production out of Mexico as a result of the tariffs, it could have harmful economic effects on the country, as Mexico’s apparel and textile industry employs more than 524,000 individuals and contributes to 3% of the country’s GDP. The U.S. alone receives 89.4% of Mexico’s textile exports. As Mexico’s largest importer, U.S. support is critical in upholding the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Mexican workers, and the impact of a trade war would be devastating.
A love letter to Mexico
One day in fall 2015, Pedrero took her grandmother to a Neiman Marcus in Chicago, showing her all the beautiful designs from the myriad designers around the store.
As they browsed the store, they came across a striking pair of Valentino boots which caught their attention. They were a pair of black leather heeled booties with a colorful floral pattern of greens, whites, pinks and blues wrapping around each shoe. Pedrero’s grandmother noted that they looked exactly like the boots made by the artisans in their hometown of Chiapas, Mexico — except the Valentino boots cost over a thousand dollars, and the Mexican artisans only get paid a small fraction of that for their work.
That experience led Pedrero to the realization that luxury fashion has historically been viewed through a dominantly Eurocentric lens, with products designed and manufactured in Europe associated with having higher worth and better quality than those made in Mexico and other countries in Latin America.
“That was the first time I was like, ‘Wait, why don’t I value things made in Mexico as much as I’m valuing this product that I don’t really have any connection to?’” Pedrero said.
To Pedrero, close collaboration with Mexican artisans allows her to make sure she’s preserving traditional Mexican design techniques and staying true to her roots. “Everything I do or want to do has to tie back to Mexico,” Pedrero said outside the Tumbao storefront in New York City, which co-hosts De María and provides space for over 50 Latino-owned brands to sell their products on consignment. “Even though I no longer live there, obviously my heart is there and my family is there.”
While Pedrero lives in New York to handle production, shipping and working retail at Tumbao, Novelo resides in Mexico and works from Querétaro as the head of marketing and the liaison with the local artisans based in León. One of their priorities is making sure the Mexican artisans who manufacture their products are being paid fair wages, by allowing them to decide for themselves how much their craftsmanship is worth and not negotiating prices with them. This is also an effort to challenge the misconception that Mexican labor is low value.
“Of the brands that produce in Mexico, we are definitely the ones that pay a higher end to our artisan partners,” Pedrero said.
Feeling stagnant
Existing as a small, Mexican- and woman-owned business in today’s climate, Pedrero said, is a radical act in itself, and constantly trying to convince the world that Mexican goods are worthy of the “luxurious” label is a tiring-enough battle, despite Mexico being a global leader in apparel production.
“In this day and age, it feels like I need to show exactly why I deserve to be here,” Pedrero said.
Pedrero fears De María’s growth as a brand will be stunted as a result of the tariffs, but said the last thing she wants to do is pass the burden of paying that additional fee off to her customers by raising her prices. Instead, she and Novelo would rather cut into their own profit margins so that they can keep production in Mexico, maintain their loyal customer base and stay true to the foundations de María was built upon.
“Luckily, our margins have a little bit of room, which I didn’t want the tariffs to take up. Direct to consumer, we can keep our prices as is, but we probably will not be able to wholesale our products,” Pedrero said. De María only wholesales in Japan at the moment, but Pedrero said she hoped to expand that market this year.
Yet as tensions surrounding a potential global trade war grow, how small businesses like De María continue to develop from here is entirely up in the air.
“ The goal for this year, regardless of [the tariffs], was to grow. As of right now, we’re kind of stagnant,” Pedrero said. “It feels like everyone I talk to, the mentality right now is just: survive.”
Rana Alsoufi is a freelance writer and master’s candidate at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
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