Local construction helmet manufacturer Studson Inc. is navigating fast-changing tariffs that are deeply impacting costs for its made-in-China products.

The Trump administration’s tariffs struck amid the company’s expansion. Studson celebrated a grand opening Thursday at Sherwood Commerce Center, a newly built industrial warehouse space owned by Schnitzer Properties.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have directly impacted Studson’s shipments from China, said Ryan Barnes, the company’s CEO and founder.

Tariff rates on products imported from China — a primary target of Trump’s trade war — briefly hit 145 percent before declining to 30 percent. Trump announced the reduced but still historically high rate as part of a 90-day pause, and it’s unclear what will happen next.

Studson recently resumed shipping helmets from China after halting shipments for more than a month, Barnes said.

“It’s been terrible,” he said. “We had put a pause for the last five weeks.”

The tariffs, if again raised, would threaten Studson’s business, Barnes said.

“Essentially, we can’t operate — we can only operate for a short amount of time at 145 percent (tariffs),” Barnes said.  “We would be paying so much in tariffs, it would just drain our cash and we would be out of business.”

Barnes started Studson in 2019 after a conversation with Bremik Construction co-founder Mike Greenslade about the need for innovation in construction helmets. Barnes had worked at Poc, a cycling helmet company.

Traditional hard hats are meant to protect workers from falling objects. Modern Type II helmets, like those made by Studson and its competitors, also protect from the front, sides and rear, and more easily accommodate accessories like face shields. Barnes calls it “360-degree protection.”

Barnes developed his first construction helmets in his own basement and later shipped them from his in-laws’ garage. Sharp growth soon followed, with sales jumping 706 percent from 2022 to 2024. Studson helmets are now a common sight at job sites, including the Portland International Airport main terminal project.

“Studson” is a portmanteau of Barnes’ children’s names, Stella and Hudson. Ryan Barnes’ wife, Kim, has served in a variety of company roles in Studson’s early years and now manages operations and recruitment.

Studson moved into the Sherwood space earlier this year, inking a five-year lease. It offers 37,000 square feet of warehouse space and 4,200 square feet of office space with conference rooms and collaborative space, and ample room to grow. The company has 26 employees.

“In the first two spaces we were at, they were old buildings, and they did a little bit of improvements on the office, but they were still old,” Barnes said. “We’re a very premium-positioned brand, and it just doesn’t fit the culture to be in a 20-, 30-year-old office.”

Schnitzer Properties has plenty of space: The first phase of Sherwood Commerce Center was completed in 2024 and comprises 445,000 square feet in three buildings. The second and third phases, now under construction, will add a total of 549,600 square feet in four additional structures. Perlo Construction is building all phases of the project.

The first phase is approximately 72 percent leased, said Jordan Schnitzer, CEO of Schnitzer Properties.

“Oregon’s not a place that’s known for manufacturing,” Schnitzer said. “So, to have a place like (Studson), a bright shining light that’s never given up — this is exactly the kind of tenant you want to have. They’re locally owned, they’ll work hard and they’re saving lives.”

Studson sells its helmets for about $150 each at retail. It sells directly through its website, through distributors and via Amazon.

Studson is weighing whether to diversify its manufacturing by moving some work to Vietnam, Europe and potentially the United States.

“We still hold onto the hope that we could produce in the U.S.,” Barnes said. “It’s been a goal of ours. I’m sure our customers would love it.

“Will our customers pay extra for it? No, but they would love it, and we’d be proud of that if we could pull it off,” he added.

Studson is also considering the possibility of opening a distribution center in the Eastern U.S., Barnes said.

For Sherwood, whose residents typically commute to Hillsboro and other Westside suburbs or Portland, Studson provides local jobs, Mayor Tim Rosener said.

“We really want to give people the opportunity to live and work in Sherwood,” he said.

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By Dan Heilman
91��Ƶ Newswires

Rule changes proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor would seek to clarify the personal protective equipment (PPE) standard for the construction industry. The proposed change would clarify that PPE must fit each employee properly to protect them from occupational hazards.

As it now stands, the standard does not state clearly that PPE must fit each affected employee properly — as general industry and maritime standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) do.

The proposed rule clarifies the existing requirement, which states that protective equipment “shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary.”

Local observers applauded the proposed changes with some reservations. While the Labor Department says that OSHA does not expect the change to increase employers’ costs or compliance burdens, Polly Friendshuh, academic dean of construction sciences and business with Dunwoody Institute, wonders how that’s possible.

“As a woman who has worked in the field, I can say that having better-fitting equipment would be huge,” she said. “But looking at the flip side, I can see the economics of it. For owners, there’s an added cost, including manufacturing. You can’t eliminate those things. There are some unintended consequences to the proposal.”

OSHA’s cost analysis of the proposal said that the one-time cost of it to the construction industry, attributable to potential changes in employer behavior, would be around $545,000.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the approximately 7.7 million people employed in the U.S. construction industry, about 14% are female. An announcement of the proposed revisions noted that failure of standard-sized PPE to protect physically smaller workers properly, as well as problems with access to properly fitting PPE, have long been a source of safety and health concerns.

“The choice of PPE is as important as how the PPE fits,” said Matt Semerad, director of safety services and education at Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. “Much of the equipment that we bring to the job site for personal protection, if it doesn’t fit correctly, it doesn’t protect the employee.”

One potential hang-up pointed to by Semerad is enforcement of any new rules. The Construction Industry Safety Coalition has noted in the past that in many cases, whether PPE properly fits would be hard for employers to assess.

“[T]he subjective nature of this standard would greatly increase the potential for enforcement actions without giving employers fair notice of what is required,” CISC wrote to OSHA in 2017.

“As I read the proposal, I think of not only gloves, but also respiratory protection, hearing protection, hard hats and safety vests,” said Semerad. “There are different degrees of severity among violations, and I don’t know how they’ll be punished.”

Semerad said he couldn’t cite figures reflecting how often poorly fitting equipment leads to injuries but could anecdotally recall such instances from his days on the job.

Likewise, Friendshuh said that at least once her ears were rubbed raw by an ill-fitting hard hat, to the point where one employer special-ordered a hat that would fit her.

“I know that when I would show up at a shop, they would have mainly medium, large and XL,” she said. “People come in so many different shapes and sizes. You’re less apt to wear equipment that doesn’t fit right.”

Despite misgivings about the details, Semerad said he supports the proposed changes.

“It’s important that we look at this thing,” he said. “I’ve seen video of people with loose safety vests getting caught in machinery, which is terrifying. It should be acknowledged that safety equipment that doesn’t fit properly can create a hazard. I’m on board with it; I’m just not sure exactly how it’s going to pan out.”

Those concerned have until Sept. 18 to submit comments and hearing requests via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, and are asked to refer to Docket No. OSHA-2019-0003 l. The entire proposal can be seen at .

“We look forward to hearing from stakeholders on this issue as we ensure that construction workers of all genders and sizes are fitted properly with safety gear,” stated Doug Parker, assistant secretary for occupational safety and health at the Labor Department.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers big and small are using 3-D printers to produce different kinds of plastic-based personal protective equipment (PPE).

Now the architecture community is joining the effort.

“If you have a 3-D printer right now you’re probably expected to be producing something,” SERA Architects associate Brian Stevens said. “There are a lot of resources out there, and I think people are learning as they go with this.”

Stevens and co-worker Becky Epstein are spearheading an effort by SERA employees to use the firm’s lone printer to manufacture protective face shields for first responders and other health care professionals.

“We use it for a lot of models that are tougher to build by hand,” Stevens said. “It’s a normal tool in the model shop.”

However, he added, anything that can be modeled on a computer can also be printed. And a face shield is fairly simple, particularly because the design is already available online. Using readily available printing templates for the adjustable plastic headband, Stevens printed several prototypes before settling on a final design that includes a protective visor. For the transparent face shield the team is using film originally intended for overhead projector use.

“The elastic is hard to come by, and clear plastics are getting snatched up,” he said. “You have to go where the available materials are.”

A single printer running full time in Stevens’ dining room now is producing roughly eight complete face shield units per day. At one point earlier this month, around 50 face shields had been completed, with materials on hand for over 200 more. Now, additional materials, printers and end users are being sought.

“The first group we thought of was the Blanchet House, which is near our office in Old Town Chinatown,” Epstein said. “We’ve been working with them many years, and they’re still serving food to the local homeless population, and we thought of their servers and how they interact with people.”

Other recipients so far include Central City Concern and Clackamas County’s Behavioral Health Division.

“We have a stockpile, and we’re reaching out to our county partners and health care partners and seeing if they have a need,” Stevens said. “It’s not hospital grade, but they do help when we’re so low on all this PPE. We just felt like we had to do something; we just wanted to help.”

Central City Concern appreciates the additional resources, according to its president and CEO, Rachel Solotaroff.

“We’re really fortunate to be able to have partners and the sort of creative genius that can help us create the personal protective equipment so we can use it for, really, all of our client- and resident-facing staff,” she said. “I don’t think our street cleaners are wearing them, but they could. All of our client-facing staff are now fully equipped with PPE.”

Central City Concern employs a range of such personnel – physicians, case managers, receptionists and others.

“Other donors are making gowns for us that are impermeable and can be washed,” Solotaroff added. “That’s been another thing that’s been in really short supply for our providers who have close contact in health care and at the Hooper Center.”

Other local entities are mounting similar campaigns. The Portland State University Center for Entrepreneurship, for example, recently handed 1,000 new face shields to Legacy Health for use at its seven hospitals in the Portland-metro area.

“Anything that can be thought of and printed, it’s happening,” Stevens said. “It’s really up to people’s imagination how it happens.”

SERA is reaching out to other firms with 3-D printing capability to see if they are interested in joining the effort.

“The weak link right now is in 3-D printers – that’s the big need,” Stevens said.

Taking action to help others in a time of need is energizing, Epstein added.

“I don’t even have words for it actually,” she said. “When Brian sent out his first mask, it was a sense of relief, almost, that we could provide something that could be helpful to the first responders who are out there working so hard.”

People interested in learning more about donating PPE or medical supplies to Multnomah County are encouraged to email esf15.volunteerdonations@multco.us.

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