Important update on supply and delivery delays The continued impact of COVID-19 is being felt globally across supply chains affecting raw materials, textile production, CMT manufacturing and shipping networks, delivery in ways that are becoming increasingly difficult to model and assess. Consequently, our supply chain capacity and agility has been severely impacted at a time of increasing demand across the globe. Often, hard information is lacking with real-time situations continually evolving on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis, making inventory planning challenging and ETA lead times harder to predict. Due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in China and rolling lockdowns across major cities we are now experiencing further delays in production and shipping. This is an evolving situation, and we are doing all we can to mitigate this disruption. Recently several ports across China closed suddenly as a result of the zero-tolerance policy that the government is taking to COVID-19. On average NE Asia/NZ loops have an additional 12 to 14-day transit time added to their rotation and the lockdowns across China may further impact lead times. Coupled with this, the costs from Tier 1 regions across Asia are increasing, stemming from raw materials shortages, lockdowns or worker restrictions, wage increases, increased sea-freight demand, or paying premiums to secure supply and hold capacity. Considering these issues and delays, we are currently working through several short and long-term challenges to minimise disruption to our customers and maintain reliable supply service wherever possible. How we are responding Our planning and production teams are working tirelessly and taking several actions to improve lead-times and mitigate Covid-19 impacted supply issues, including: •
Longer view forward buying to procure inventory and raw materials on high demand or ‘at risk’ items that are currently in short supply.
•
Actively procuring additional manufacturing partners to minimize production bottlenecks and slowly close the demand vs supply gap.
•
Closely managing our key supply chain stakeholders on supply volumes and demand changes to influence order priority, plan production and protect against more lucrative demands from larger markets such as USA/Europe.
•
Securing advance shipping container space as capacity becomes available or optioning limited airfreight (when viable) to shorten prolonged lead times.
•
Improving our communications and information transparency regarding supply delays with system visibility improvements on our webstore and electronic updates.
•
Working closely with courier partners to increase the ‘on time’ delivery service levels.
April 2022
Fashion Biz Team Commitment Our Fashion Biz team continues to do its utmost to safeguard our stock service commitments and to assist our customers in whatever way possible. We appreciate your understanding and patience through these challenging times. If you have any questions or require support with an existing order, please reach out to your Fashion Biz sales account manager or contact our customer service team.
April 2022