Biggest Shipment EVER!!!

I am not too sure if the logistics of behind the scenes is of any interest to you guys at all, but we are not all coconuts, sunsets and pina colada's.  

Today our biggest shipment EVER arrived in the warehouse, and Lauren sent me this photo!!!

BOY the stress levels have been high this last week, both of us trying not to lose it with each other, but when it comes down to it, HOW LUCKY AM I ???  I love this woman. We have worked together for 10 years now, and she has always been there for me!  Without her, where would we be?

 

Its all my fault its BIG, because when I started designing the 2019 collection, the new goodies just kept coming.... more and more island print designs mysteriously came out of my creative head and landed on cotton.  It must have been because I designed this collection after my first vacation in 8 years (2 heavenly weeks in Bali).  See those pictures here and here.

So off I went to launch the new 2019 collection at Miami Swim Show in July 2018, with a collection that was bigger than BEN HUR.  I just told myself, that I am sure there will be a lot of things people HATE, and I can just cancel those styles and then only proceed into production with ALPHA styles.  Easy.... right? Sadly, there were only about 5 things that no one liked, and we went into our biggest production EVER.

 

To give you an idea of scale, last years "big" shipment was 241 cartons.  Today's shipment was 348 cartons !!!  The lead up to this delivery is a bit of a nightmare. It involves me staying up till midnight on several nights trying to make my calls at the start of the business hours in USA EST, so I don't cause any delays.  Endless emails & phone calls to the freight company to try to get them to understand we need to know a time window for the delivery.   

The freight companies don't understand that we are just a SMALL company, with NO loading dock, and NO lift, and NO team of strong MEN.  Well, actually we are just Lauren & Rachel, and whoever Lauren can bribe into helping for the day.... her son Jack, and her good friend Kate, both of whom are amazing young humans, who always seem to drop everything to help us.

So today's delivery was 8 pallets.  Lauren had them put all of the pallets into a garage that our landlord leant to us for the day, so that they could break down the pallets and put things away neatly in the warehouse, in style / size order, so that Lauren can find things when she starts to pack your orders.  The first photo she sent me at 6.30 this morning looks like 5th Ave!

Adding to this massive day, was that Florida was a balmy 80 degree's winter day today.... and to add "insult to injury", Lauren was supposed to fly out to her boat in the Bahamas YESTERDAY.

 

I just had a flash back to one of our early USA shipments when this happened....

Then there was the season that the BULK shipment was due to arrive at 11am, and as she is on her way to the warehouse to receive the goods, she discovers that there is a gas leak in the neighborhood and the whole warehouse area is in lock-down..... so what does Lauren do?  She has the truck make the delivery into her own garage and then has to move it one by one over to the warehouse over the coming months.  Here is a cute photo of her dog ScooterBoy wagging his tail at the boxes.

WOW, look at that teeny tiny shipment.  What on earth has happened to us?

I sure hope you guys want some island love in your wardrobe this spring!

One love x