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.
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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.
Customs Delay Becomes Darn It’s Problem…
“Customs” is practically a 4-letter word in the apparel industry. When Customs holds up your shipment, it can be your worst nightmare. Nagging questions keep you awake at night: Will your shipment arrive in time for the sales promotion? Will the delay impact revenue targets?
Overcoming impossible odds to pick/pack 55,000 coats
In the apparel industry, some items are small and easy to manage. Wallets and wristlets come to mind. Other items – such as bulky winter coats – require significant square footage. Plus, the sheer bulk makes it challenging to process the goods and pack shipments. Thankfully, at Darn It! Distribution, we have plenty of space in our Apparel Warehouse and highly trained employees who provide value-added services.
“!Dios mio! We need tri-lingual labels!”
An online retailer planned to sell 7,000 baseball caps, at $35 each, to residents in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. To comply with international laws, all information on the labels must be in three languages: English, French, and Spanish.
Apparel Inspection and Re-Labeling – If it doesn’t fit, don’t quit!
In the world of apparel, back-to-school shopping isn’t just about kids. Mom will often outfit herself while outfitting her young students. This is a brief, critical selling season that no apparel retailer can afford to miss.
Whoa, snap!
Imagine being the distribution center manager and finding this: Boxes of Navy rain jackets sporting bright-yellow snaps instead of matching Navy snaps. With such an outlandish color scheme, this jacket would NEVER fly off the shelves. In fact, the only place the jacket would sell like hot cakes would be the University of Michigan. Unfortunately, this retailer was based in Seattle.
Don’t Slip into Fall like Jeff Did…It Will hurt!
Our President and Owner, Jeff Glassman, did slip and fall this summer and broke his wrist. After successful surgery, and two months of physical therapy, he should have full use of his arm and wrist. It’s just going to be a painful recovery.
These types of situations are always unfortunate and unexpected. Unexpected issues pop up every day in the retail and wholesale world. Especially during peak inbound season which is upon us. There are ways to minimize the pain and shorten the recovery period. Look below at ways to protect yourself as fall is approaching.
A vital link in the apparel supply chain: Third-party refurbishers help to get first-quality condition garments to market
The apparel industry’s supply chain crisscrosses the globe. In concept, that’s pretty exciting. In reality, it’s fraught with complications. Your supply chain can be interrupted due to all kinds of…
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For apparel e-retailers, a third-party refurbisher is a key member of your virtual team – and a lifesaver when things go wrong
Imagine this scenario: Black Friday is just a few weeks away. A critical shipment of garments you’re promoting has arrived on time, however, the units do not meet specifications. Now…
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Kitting Merchandise: 5 Creative Specialty Packaging Ideas To Spark Your Imagination (And Increase Sales)
Q: How can you perk up sales? A: Specialty promotional packages. Our customers – large general merchandise/apparel distributors and retailers – regularly ask Darn It! to kit specialty promotional packages…
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Busting at the seams! When you can’t stay on top of returns processing, unsold goods take up space – and don’t bring “ka-ching”
Whew! A peak season has passed. But now you walk into your Distribution Center and realize your hardworking team simply can’t catch up. Piles of returned items need to be inspected, refolded, and repackaged.
Disappearing Ink Still on Your Shirts?
Unless an apparel manufacturer is completely automated, the only way to set a pocket or mark for new buttons, or to sew any item onto a specific place on a garment is with a disappearing marking pen or pencil. They have used them for years and years.
Apparel Inspection: Everyone Is Entitled to One Good Scare
Happy Halloween and welcome to crunch time for all manufacturers, importers and retailers. This is the time when your “Just In Time Inventory” planning turns into “I NEED IT NOW” inventory planning.
Apparel Inspection: Bugs In Your Sweater?
We know that it is a very gross subject to write about and to even think about, but weren’t surprised when one of our customers called and asked us to inspect 12,000 sweaters due to some lovely dead insects inside some of the poly bags.