This plus-size clothing business faced a $90,000 bill because of tariffs. Then the community came together to help

Maya Kern stitched her clothing company together piece by piece, but now she and her partner are at risk of watching it all unravel because of tariffs.

In many ways, Devin Beach and her wife, Kern, are living the American dream. Finding success in their small business, Maya Kern, a unique body-first clothing company in Minneapolis.

"Not in a million years thought that this would ever happen," Beach said. "We're doing our best to put good in the world in every way that we can."

But when the Trump administration implemented new tariffs, they didn't anticipate a cost increase that would nearly put them out of business. Beach and Kern received a bill for $90,000 in tariff fees. What shocked them even more was the time they were told it needed to be paid by.

"We were trying to negotiate a payment plan for many months on these tariff bills that were getting higher and higher and eventually they just said 12 weeks. That's what you got," Beach said.

That amounts to $7,500 every week for three months. Beach and Kern didn't know how they could possibly afford it.

"We took out as many loans as we could to change all these factories and everything and then we get this huge bill. We look at our inventory; we don't have $90,000 in inventory. There's just no way," Beach said.

Kern and Beach had spent years attracting customers and in their time of need, the customers came through, pitching ideas and rallying together through gift card purchases, online sales and donations to help pay the enormous bill. But Kern and Beach are still trying to catch up, focusing now on bills they had to push aside while navigating the tariff bill.

Beach wants people to know that tariffs impact all of us.

"They are a tax. They're a tax that's not coming out of your paycheck. They're a tax that's not coming out of your mortgage. They're a tax that you're not putting on your accounting bills, but they are a tax," she said.

For now, they are feeling grateful for their loyal customers and the community members who stepped up to help.

"I feel so lucky to have curated this very kind community," Beach said.