A Heads Up

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A Heads Up

06 November 2020

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Just to give all of our customers a heads-up as to what is happening to workwear and PPE supplies.

 

As we write this message we appear to have a perfect storm brewing. You don’t need to be reminded of Covid but it is having an effect on the supply chain. A significant amount is made in the far east and at a time when Covid first peaked it had two specific side effects. 


Factories shut down in the far east (raw material and garment / product factories) 


Brands that would normally place orders for the late winter period were very cautious and placed lower volumes for when these factories opened. (orders generally need to be placed by April for a November availability). 


As a business, we have seen very large growth in demand over the last 10 months and we are aware that we are not alone! To cope with this higher demand and decreased availability we have added to our already high stock levels to support our customers where we can. But we are not going to be 100% successful in predicting demand. 


The other elephant in the room is Brexit. Whatever the outcome of the trade talks with Europe, we will see significant delays in clearing shipments at UK ports. As non-essential / non-biodegradable consignments these will be way down in the queue of priorities.  


Vessels are already being diverted to other ports as they are unable to off-load due to too many empty containers waiting to be shipped back to the far east, resulting in clogging up the ports here. 


So we are going into a significant period of uncertainty and we would urge all of our customers to place orders as early as possible to cover the next 4 months. PPE is one of those items that you need to work – in all senses of the phrase. 


Lastly, to add icing to the cake. If there is a ‘no-deal’ then we have to add approx.. 10% to 12% duty to ALL products that are supplied / imported from Europe – This means…. 


Blaklader, Carhartt, Dassy, Fristads, Mullion, SioenFladenFlexothaneTractel, Tranemo to name but a few, possibly even Goliath footwear as these are manufactured in Turkey. 


Please treat us as being the bearer of useful if not good news and get ahead of the curve. We wish all of our customers a healthy and peaceful winter / holiday season. Spring is only 18 weeks away and that light is only going to get brighter the closer we get.