Under tariff threat, social media-savvy N.B. business sees surge on both sides of border
Eclair Lips, based in Moncton, has nearly 400,000 followers on TikTok, YouTube combined, many in U.S.
A Moncton lip balm manufacturer says the tariff threats from the United States have been a roller coaster ride — but it hasn't been all bad.
"Last November, not long after the U.S. election, I started to worry, because it would have a lot of ramifications for us, depending on how it came about," said Sylvie Roy, co-owner of Eclair Lips.
"At the time ... about 60 per cent of our customer base was in the U.S."
That U.S. customer base comes from the company's social media presence — 247,000 YouTube subscribers and 141,000 followers on TikTok.
Roy launched Eclair Lips in 2015 to share her love for making lip balm, but everything changed in 2022 when the videos she posted online, showing how she made them, went viral.
But this year, as the possibility of tariffs on Canadian goods became more certain, Roy said an "uh-oh" moment turned into a surge of support from Canadian buyers who switched from U.S.-made products, along with American supporters, too.
"That's been really touching to see that, and to see that people still have good feelings about Canada despite what's happening with politics," she said.
Most U.S. buyers are still able to purchase her products without worrying about tariffs, she said, because of a duty-free exemption uo to $800.
"As long as a U.S. customer isn't buying $800 worth of lip balm, they are good."
Made by hand
Roy's interest in lip balm started when she was about 10 or 12 years old. After finding out as an adult that she's autistic, it started to make sense why lip balm was always soothing for her — the sensory qualities of the balm helped keep her calm, especially in social situations.
But as she got older, Roy wanted to have a more natural product that still had fun flavours and the right texture, so she started messing around in her kitchen and came up with her product.
The balms include flavours such as banana cream pie and vanilla buttercream, and there's Beaver Butts — a maple-flavoured one that came from a social media comment accusing Roy of using beaver butt in her products. Rolling with the punches, she launched her new, Canadian-inspired flavour.
After starting the business in 2015, Roy said it quickly became a full-time job, even before that was sustainable, because of everything that was involved with getting off the ground. A few years after launching, Roy's husband Mario joined the business, too.
"People will ask me about, 'oh, was it hard to make lip balm?" said Roy. "And there's a lot of stuff involved, but it's harder to sell lip balm."
Around 2016, through a provincial government program, she was able to start doing the business full-time.
And despite the family's newfound social media success, the Eclair Lips warehouse still gives off a small-business vibe.
"It's not any big machines or anything for the time being," said Roy. "It's just all done by hand.
"If we really want to, we can make a couple thousand in a day."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Information Morning Moncton