“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?
“Lost opportunity costs” can be severe, even if ONE deadline is missed.
Here at Darn It! Distribution, our Apparel Warehouse team understands the time-sensitive nature of the apparel business. Thanks to our many value-added services – such as apparel inspection, repair, and packaging/kitting/assembly – we help apparel retailers get first-quality product on the shelves as quickly as possible. In fact, we recently helped a customer successfully resolve an extremely challenging situation.
This was the challenge…
The manufacturer of superior fedora hats needed to meet its delivery deadline to a high-end, fashionable men’s retailer in Manhattan for a big sales promotion. However, if the delivery date was missed (even by a few hours), the retailer would cancel its fedora order, valued at $40,000.
Here’s how our dedicated employees saved the day…
- The Manhattan retailer’s fall promotion was scheduled to begin on Friday morning.
- The shipment of fine fedoras was due to arrive at Darn It’s Apparel Warehouse from the overseas manufacturing facility on Thursday morning (the day before the promotion). Our apparel value-added services included processing/sorting/repackaging. Our team planned to process the units that day and truck them to the store by Thursday afternoon.
- Unfortunately, US Customs held up the shipment, which threw a BIG wrench into the works!
- The shipment finally arrived at Darn It! by special courier on Thursday evening. Remember, the promotion would begin on Friday morning.
- Our Quality Control team carefully sorted and processed the high-quality fedoras into the wee hours. We inspected the hats to ensure they were not crushed or damaged, checked to ensure every label correctly matched every hat, and repackaged the hats, following the retailer’s specific guidelines.
- Meanwhile, our Apparel Warehouse team wrangled a truck for a middle-of-the-night pickup at our Apparel Warehouse. We instructed the carrier to deliver the units to the retailer in Manhattan early Friday morning.
- Success! We delivered the sorted and repackaged fedoras to the retailer, just in time for the big promotion.
There was a lot riding on this deadline – and Darn It! Distribution came through with flying colors.
Our customer commented on our flexibility and dedication to do whatever it took to meet this critical deadline. Our value-added services and unflagging commitment to meet customers’ needs often save the day.
