Many of you know the statistic that in most cases, 20% of apparel purchased online will be returned by the consumer back to the retailer. We have also heard that some companies have close to a 30% returns rate. That’s a lot of returns!
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Are Your Pants Dragging On The Ground?
Have you ever purchased a pair of pants that was labeled 30 inches in length, and they were actually 33 inches? Years ago, you may have driven to your local tailor shop and had them shortened your pants in a few days and you would be all set. Today, with the instant gratification of online stores and easy returns, you can quickly send the wrong size back the same day and get new ones a few days later.
Don’t Slide Into Fall Without a Good Partner!
The apparel world has seen many ups and downs over the last 18 months. There have been major shutdowns home and abroad. There have also been many supply chain challenges that have affected almost everyone and will continue to do so into the next few quarters.
PRESS IT…Darn It!!
Many of you get really frustrated when a quality or packaging issue pops up and you can’t get your product to market as quickly as you would have liked. Instead of hitting your desk with your fist or throwing something across the room, hit the Darn It! Button instead!!
How Do You Know If Your Pants Are Wet?
Many of our customers have called us over the last few weeks with concerns about strong odors coming from shipments upon receipt in their distribution centers. Some of the concerns stem from the dyeing and finishing process in the factories. Other issues may have been caused by units being packed damp after pressing, packed in an extremely humid factory, or the shipment may have become wet in transit.
Sort and Pre-Pack and Ship, Oh My!!
It can be a very daunting task. It can be very labor intensive. It can also take up lots and lots of space. These issues seem to be many that come about when you are in the Off-Price arena.
Soaked from the Suez Canal
As a service provider to many apparel retailers and wholesalers, we did not know how or if the Suez Canal disaster would affect us and in what way.
Labor And Space Headaches?
As we all are attempting to get back to normal, many of our customers are finding it exceedingly difficult to get their entire staff back into their respective warehouses. Of course, there are many reasons why people may not be coming back so fast. They may still be uncomfortable with the work environment during Covid. They may be home collecting unemployment.
Out Damn Spot!!
We know that everyone gets upset when we are sitting at the dinner table and a drop of mustard lands on our shirt or when someone bumps into you while you are holding a glass of red wine and it get all over your sleeve. What do you do first? Find a stain spray or stain stick and hope that the stain comes out? Exactly! Then throw it in the wash and pray!
That Waistband Is Twisted…Sister!!
Have you ever put on a pair of your favorite sweatpants and notice immediately that something just doesn’t feel right around your waist? Does it ever feel all clumped up in a few spots? You look and feel around and realize that the waistband is twisted inside the layers of fabric. You slide, twist and move the elastic inside the waistband, and after 10 minutes have made it worse.
WOW – I Didn’t Know That Darn It! Did That!!
Over the last 24 years in business, Darn It! has been asked to perform many different tasks to satisfy an array of retailers, wholesalers, jobbers and importers. Some of these tasks are simple and some are very labor intensive. When our customer thinks of Darn It, they may think that we strictly handle quality control issues related to apparel inspections and apparel repair. But did you know that Darn It! also services many shoe retailers, accessory manufacturers and hardgoods retailers?
No Cream, Just Steam for these Wrinkles!
Being on a large cargo ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean must be a scary place. You cannot see any land for days and it is going to take you a full month to reach your destination. Now, picture yourself AS A men’s casual suit travelling for a month with 2,000 other men’s neatly pressed suits inside of a 40-foot container. That is scary.
Returns processing: Does it feel like “Mission Impossible”?
You need a trained team to quickly get first-quality goods back on shelves at full price.
Apparel sorting at supersonic speeds!
Racing the clock to re-sort 9,000 pants in just 3 days! Speed and accuracy. Here at Darn It, we sometimes talk about our apparel sorting projects as if we’re in a car race, hurtling down the track at supersonic speeds. The metaphor isn’t far from the truth. In this business, there’s always a fast-approaching “finish line” – our customer’s deadline.
Our People, Our Pictures, These Crazy Times…
We all spend our days moving at 1,000 miles per hour putting out fires, meeting with customers, talking on the phone, talking to our team, our second family, our work family. We get knocks on our doors. We get interrupted 12 times. We eat at our desks. Before you know it, the workday (in the office) is over and you think back “what did I actually get done today?”
Helping reverse logistics run like clockwork
The supply chain must run like clockwork to get units on shelves. Once the items are on the shelves and start selling, that’s great! But wait … returns are rolling in … customer complaints are skyrocketing. What happened?!
Don’t scratch your coffee table!
There’s an old saying: “Expect the unexpected.” When you sell general merchandise, all types of issues can crop up. You find yourself saying, “Who would have thought…?”
Oh my! Is your lining showing?
Last year’s jacket style had a problem: The lining showed in the back. After numerous customer complaints and returns, the remaining 300 units in stock were pulled. Unfortunately, when our customer received the Spring 2020 line at their Distribution Center, they discovered the lining issue had not been resolved!
NFL jackets are not ready for game day!
When it comes to sales and marketing, branding is everything and the company logo is a critical component. That’s why our client – a national sporting goods company – was immensely disappointed to discover that the manufacturer had left their company logo off thousands of units.
Ozone treatment turns nightmare into sweet dreams!
It’s the DC manager’s worst nightmare: Upon opening 6,400 units of pajama sets – in dry cartons – the DC team is shocked to find damp apparel that’s emitting a strong musty odor.
Have you seen STRANGER quality THINGS?
Over the last 24 years, Darn It has seen its share of strange apparel inspection and repair requests, but have you ever seen any items come in like this?
Darn It! is good for the SOLE
Last November, a customer of a large shoe retailer purchased a new pair of shoes for a holiday party she was attending. She spent $158 for the shoes that looked perfect with her new cocktail dress.
Relief for the overwhelmed DC Manager
Solving the DC Manager’s classic “good news/bad news” dilemma…
These NFL jerseys need speed & agility!
With preseason starting in a week, NFL jerseys needed FAST apparel inspection & repair.
We have a “bias” for finishing!
With apparel finishing, “good enough” is never good enough. Let’s ensure your units are retail ready.
Found a wrench in the works?
You think of everything, and yet…
You strategize and plan. Check the details, big and small. Suddenly a wrench is thrown into the works, and everything grinds to a halt. For one of our customers, this “wrench in the works” was a full-size delivery truck!
Simple label swap reaps $1.1 million
Thanks to apparel relabeling, DC manager’s “light-bulb moment” pays off!
Hole-y Truck, Batman! What Now?”
“Ker-Splash!”
With the next fashion season right around the corner, 18,000 units of specialized apparel arrived at a major retailer’s warehouse with a terrible musty odor. It turns out the shipping container had holes in the roof. Hole-y Truck!
Baseball tees need a triple play to save the day.
A new winning season is nearly here! Excitement mounts to a feverish
pitch. Faithful fans are ready to buy their club’s baseball performance
t-shirts. Retailers know this is RIGHT TIME to sell sports team merchandise. To
meet demand, a large retailer ordered 34,000 baseball performance t-shirts,
which retail at $30 each.
But wait – the “umpire” (AKA,
Quality Control Manager) announces an error.
Darn It’s Warehouse + Refurbishment Department support retailer’s custom orders
When buying men’s pants, you can choose an inseam of 30”, 32”, 34” and so forth. But what if you want a 33” inseam? And what if you want belt loops? Thanks to Darn It’s Apparel Repair Department, our customer – a men’s pant retailer/wholesaler – DOES offer this highly customized service.