Svaha Story Part 4

It's so amazing to hear from some of you. I am always happy to hear from Svaha customers, so thank you. 

I am often asked about how we source our clothes, so today, I will tell you more about this process. We have been working with the same factory that we started with in 2015. The factory was really new at the time, and it has slowly grown with us. Since we have such a long-standing relationship with the factory, when we want something to be made on short notice, they always help us out. This is how we can react to making garments when something big happens, like with the Dare Mighty Things parachute design or the yellow sunflower design for the Ukraine fundraiser. 

When we first started buying from them, we decided on using air shipments, meaning our products would be shipped in the cargo of a commercial airline. When they landed at the airport, we had a customs agent pay customs duties for us, and then we'd go to the cargo unit and get the boxes. Initially, the number of boxes was small enough that we could fit them in the trunk of our car and carry them to the warehouse. But, as the business grew, we started renting U-hauls for pickups. At this point, we are getting such large shipments that we've started using a trucking company to help us. This is definitely more convenient, and while it does increase our overhead costs, we had to save our backs. :-) 

Now, what about swapping to sea shipping to reduce shipping costs? We did consider this and have even tried it a few times. First of all, our shipment size is not big enough to fill a whole cargo container (those giant containers you see on ships), so we never know what our boxes will share the container with. On one occasion, with a new manufacturer we were trialing for certain garments, some of the boxes arrived damaged, and some of the garment bags had dryer sheets stuffed in and around them. Not only did we have to go through every garment to make sure they weren't damaged too, but we also had to remove the questionable dryer sheets and warn everyone in case of skin sensitivities to perfumes. It was rough, but it did teach us a lesson. We decided that until we were big enough to fill a whole cargo container, we would continue getting the shipments by air. Hopefully that dream will come true soon.

A Svaha fun fact: Our glow-in-the-dark Constellations Katherine dress was launched as a stretch goal for our Kickstarter campaign. It is the only design that we still sell and continues to be our best seller even today, almost 7 years later! Since then, we have launched multiple products in this print. We have many dress options, lounge pants, tops, cardigans, and leggings. They continue to sell out and also appeal to people who want to try our clothes for the first time.

If you want to hear more about some other topics, please feel free to write to me. Meanwhile, I will continue telling you all the Svaha stories! 

Have a wonderful day!