Samples Are Here!

After months and months of emails back and forth with a Chinese manufacturer, I received my sample robes!  I should probably back up for everyone that has no idea what I'm talking about.  Hopefully everyone reading this knows that I own a business called Personalized Brides.  This business has been more successful than I ever could have imagined and we continue to grow everyday with wedding season right around the corner!

Our most popular product line happens to be our bathrobes and unfortunately, I have had more problems than I could ever explain with the wholesalers that I work with in the US.  Our most popular robe and my personal favorite is a short plush robe that we started selling last April and by the end of June, the wholesaler was out of this robe in white - which is a mandatory color in the wedding world.  At that time, I was told that they would be out of stock for 90 days, which at the time, was unacceptable.  I spent countless hours searching online for a comparable robe and unfortunately, they just weren't available.

I started researching overseas options, but with such high minimums and the amount of time that it would take to get them from start to delivery, I decided that I wasn't quite ready for that commitment.  In August, I touched base again with the wholesaler to get an updated ETA and now it was looking like an additional 90 days.  Once again, I thought about ordering overseas, contacted some companies and even got some quotes, but didn't proceed.  In September, they told me they would be available after the start of the year (2013) and the final straw was in early November when they told me that they wouldn't have them until late spring/early summer.  Thankfully, I had already been working with one company and we had exchanged fabric swatches and samples.  I placed the order the next day and wired a 30% deposit to China.

I received a couple sample robes with material that they had on hand prior to placing the order, but I just received the actual robes!  And they are perfect.  And they have my logo on the label.  And it is pretty neat.  I decided not to put "Personalized Brides" on the label, because it is a little too limiting and we are going to be growing and expanding, so the robes are my Personalized Spa line.  All 1000 robes are scheduled to be ready to ship by mid-January and hopefully arrive at Sam's work by mid-February!  This has been such a process, but if the rest turn out as nice as these samples, I will be one happy girl!  And my mom will be one busy embroiderer! ;)