They are all that remain of what was once a much bigger manufacturing operation, most of which the Teixeira family shut down in 1990, reinventing their business as a largely warehousing and distribution business. Since US President Donald Trump started rolling out sweeping tariffs, the Teixeiras have been fielding more inquiries from companies newly interested in their US-based sewing services. But they have turned down those offers, deterred by the difficulty of hiring in the midst of an immigration crackdown and doubts that the demand will be sustained. It's just one of the many indications that achieving the manufacturing revival promised by the president is likely to be far more difficult than the White House has claimed. "It's just not going to happen," said Frank Teixeira, who joined the family business in the 1970s and oversaw its dismantling and reinvention as Accurate Services Inc. "Tariffs are a bad policy and eventually are going to come home to haunt us."

Trump campaigned for the presidency on the promise of a better economy, engineered in part by tariffs that he said would lower costs and usher in a new golden age. The message proved to resonate with voters, helping the campaign make unexpected inroads in working-class areas long considered Democratic strongholds. That includes the Teixeiras' base of Fall River, a former textile manufacturing hub, where Trump's win marked the first in the city by a Republican presidential candidate in roughly a century. (BBC)