Ugh, vendor had a fire. No backup

[GAC05]

Did they figure out what caused it? A friend of mine changed out his booth filters and had them in a trash can sitting in the middle of his shop. He came in the next morning and they had caught on fire but luckily nothing else burned but did cause a lot of smoke damage. He has told me the story at least 10 times, we put ours in a barrel of water until trash day. Used rags are just as dangerous especially for the furniture guys who use more natural oil based products.
We were painting a cement mixer once and the started randomly started cranking while we were spraying. By the time I grabbed a wrench and started disconnecting the battery, the cable caught on fire, in the paint booth in the middle of painting. That one got my heart going. I burnt my hand disconnecting it but it beat the alternative.

Started in the office, they think it was an adding machine (the ancient corded type with vacuum tubes & tesla coils) that had just been picked up after being repaired. Luckily no one repairs anything anymore - no more fire hazards.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Started in the office, they think it was an adding machine (the ancient corded type with vacuum tubes & tesla coils) that had just been picked up after being repaired. Luckily no one repairs anything anymore - no more fire hazards.

They skip the repair man now and come straight from china as a fire hazard.

 

[binki]

Here is an update. After reaching out to 4 vendors 2 ignored me, 1 said F-off and one said they would prioritize my back orders, send me a swatch book and a sample jacket. We can settle up later on the cost.

Hmmm, who should I go with?

 

[GAC05]

Sounds promising, good luck with it

 

[binki]

Sounds promising, good luck with it

The owner of the company called me tonight. We have had a good relationship for years. He was very empathetic and went beyond I would expect from anyone. I am going to start making the awful calls to my customers tomorrow about the orders, some have waited since February and now we have another 4 weeks at least to wait. If they are seniors they will be out of school before we get their jackets. Not a fun time for me or them.

 

[garyroy]

It's been a while since I used them but the last batch of Letter Man jackets I bought was from
GameSportsWear.com

just sayin'

 

[binki]

Thanks, we did sign up with Game and received some material from them in the mail. Right now we are going through are chenille supplier. They have really stepped up to help us.

 

[binki]

Well the bad news has gone out and our Seniors for this year have all cancelled their orders. I am in the process of sending refunds and sending back any patches they gave us plus all the chenille we did for them without charge. I feel bad for all of them but there is nothing I can do at this point to make it better. This was on top of delays for supply problems and other factors that doubled time from order to delivery. Anyone ordering in February is just getting their jackets now. We were at 3 to 5 weeks just last year.

 

[GAC05]

Not great news, but what can you do? Drive onto the next one.
My youngest son's senior year was completely wiped by covid - no school, almost no sports - drive-by grab-and-go graduation.

 

[mfatty500]

I'm curious Binki, what plant had the fire? Did it affect the whole company or just a portion of it? We use Holloway also, but not for Letterman Jackets.

 

[binki]

I'm curious Binki, what plant had the fire? Did it affect the whole company or just a portion of it? We use Holloway also, but not for Letterman Jackets.

Custom Varsity Jackets, Stock Varsity Jackets and Custom Sublimation Sports Uniforms. It looks like the production facility part is not damaged or as much but I was told all inventory was lost.

Sublimation seems to be less impacted. Wool, not so much.

Here is the latest info. Keep in mind they only have one plant that does this for wool, not more than one. We have been able to offload 80% of our backlogged orders to another vendor or the customers just cancelled. I am working on the rest right now to see what they want to do. Basically, just about any Senior this year isn't getting a jacket from Holloway if they ordered after Christmas. We got a few in but the rest are toast.

Sublimation & Wool Factory Fire Updates

Updates regarding the fire in our wool and subimation factory in Champoton, Mexico.

news.augustasportswear.com

 

[binki]

Not great news, but what can you do? Drive onto the next one.
My youngest son's senior year was completely wiped by covid - no school, almost no sports - drive-by grab-and-go graduation.

Sorry to hear. Our grandkids haven't seen the inside of a school. After we saw what was going on we did the home school and they advanced 1 grade each. Plus they are testing 2 grade levels up from where they are at now. So much for public schools.

Yeah, we did a boat load of yard signs, face masks and other SWAG for The Class of 2020 and almost as much for 2021. We now have a vibrant yard sign biz for graduation where it was just political signs before.