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Important update on Summer Boaters and Felt Hat orders
13 April 2022
Dear Customer
Regrettably, despite our best efforts to control the production planning for the 2022 season for the above products, we are writing to confirm that all orders will be delivered late this year.
As customers are aware, back in September 2021, we published three order deadline dates as follows:
20th October 2021 – for delivery end March 2022
10th December 2021 – for delivery end May 2022
20th March 2022 – for delivery end July 2022
The above dates were agreed with our factory (based in Sri Lanka) taking into account their quoted lead time for raw materials, production and then transit times to hit the delivery dates required in the UK. It was also agreed with the factory that we could place orders for any quality of hat (polyester pylene, liachlow straw or wool felt) on any container as long as we placed the orders by the required cut-off dates.
All orders received were processed with the factory on this basis and we, in turn, confirmed delivery dates to you as per the dates we published.
Unfortunately, the factory has suffered several set-backs which has severely impacted the production of all our orders and we are writing to update you as best we can with the information we have available at this stage.
Firstly, the factory is still suffering from the wider effects of Covid in Sri Lanka and, in fact, lost one of their key managers around our ‘back to school’ which is still impacting on the communication we are receiving from the factory.
They have suffered long delays on the delivery of the raw materials of the pylene and liachlow braids (used for the summer boaters), together with the delivery of the felt. All the raw materials are sourced from China who have been operating on 3 day working weeks in many regions due to their own energy crisis, compounded by all the same shipping delays we (and a lot of our fellow schoolwear suppliers) are experiencing in general across the supply chain.
Our hat factory’s biggest market is the Australian schoolwear market and their ‘back to school’ is January. Due to the lateness of the raw materials for the summer hats, this delayed their Australian orders which they did have to prioritise when the stock finally arrived, thus pushing our UK production back even further. The raw material for the felt hats was only received last week and has yet to be put into production.
To make matters worse, you may have seen in various news articles recently (some detailed below) just how volatile the situation in Sri Lanka is at the moment with protests against the lack of food, medicines, fuel and the daily power cuts. Our factory is suffering daily power cuts, some lasting 8 hours, which is what is making it very difficult to receive any concrete production/despatch updates from them, and any dates they do confirm have all moved back several times.
BBC News - Sri Lanka: Protest at president Rajapaksa's home turns violent
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60950266
BBC News - Sri Lanka imposes curfew amid food, fuel and power shortage protests
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60962185
BBC News - Why Sri Lanka cabinet resignations won't appease angry protesters
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60979177
BBC News - Sri Lanka medical authorities declare health emergency as crisis worsens
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60978795
So what does this mean for your orders?
Essentially, all originally confirmed dates are obsolete (we are obviously aware that we are already late on all orders confirmed for end March delivery).
We can confirm that one shipment containing summer hat orders only did leave Sri Lanka on 20th March with an original ETA into London Gateway of 16th April. This ETA has since moved to 29th April into London Gateway, so realistically we are now looking at w/c 9th May for delivery to you at the earliest. If your order is on this first container, you will have received an email from us confirming that.
A second shipment of summer hats did leave on 12th April with an ETA into London Gateway of 6th May.
Please note the 6th May into the UK is only an estimate – chances are that this will move back as has been the case with the first container. The container will then need to clear customs and be delivered to us, so we are looking at mid-end May for delivery to you.
The factory was due to close at the end of last week for their festival holiday (similar to Chinese New Year) but delayed this to get as many of the summer hat orders made and despatched this week as possible. This should include the vast majority of orders placed by the end of last year.
We will contact all customers directly to confirm if your order has been included in this 2nd shipment. If not included, we will advise an expected arrival date when we receive an updated status report of all outstanding orders when the factory returns from holiday around 20th April.
We do know now that production will commence on all felt hat orders (starting with those placed in 2021) when the factory returns from holiday, and the aim is to despatch these at the end of May (although this cannot be guaranteed). Any outstanding summer hat orders (placed in 2021) will also be prioritised to meet this shipment. End May shipment should be mid-July delivery to you.
Any orders placed in 2022 (cut off originally published as 20th March for end July delivery), I’m afraid we can’t guarantee that these will be made and shipped to meet that delivery, nor can we quote any definite lead time for any future orders placed for this season.
We are sorry that we are only making you aware of the situation now, but it is extremely challenging at the moment to receive any communication from the factory as to exactly what is leaving and when. We will of course try to keep you updated as much as possible on progress and will know more once the factory return from their holiday, and hopefully confirm the status of all outstanding orders.
We would also like to confirm that we have tried to find other factories who can supply these products but all want minimums far in excess of what most customers want. This is the only school focussed factory who will make this very niche product in the volumes required for the UK market.
We apologise for any inconvenience and just hope that your schools and parents are understanding of the current situation and the fact that this is outside of our, and most importantly, your control.
Kind regards.
Team Turner
DELIVERY UPDATE - SUMMER BOATERS AND FELT HAT ORDERS FOR 2022 SEASON
Regrettably, despite our best efforts to control the production planning for the 2022 season for the above products, we are writing to confirm that all orders will be delivered late this year.
As customers are aware, back in September 2021, we published three order deadline dates as follows:
20th October 2021 – for delivery end March 2022
10th December 2021 – for delivery end May 2022
20th March 2022 – for delivery end July 2022
The above dates were agreed with our factory (based in Sri Lanka) taking into account their quoted lead time for raw materials, production and then transit times to hit the delivery dates required in the UK. It was also agreed with the factory that we could place orders for any quality of hat (polyester pylene, liachlow straw or wool felt) on any container as long as we placed the orders by the required cut-off dates.
All orders received were processed with the factory on this basis and we, in turn, confirmed delivery dates to you as per the dates we published.
Unfortunately, the factory has suffered several set-backs which has severely impacted the production of all our orders and we are writing to update you as best we can with the information we have available at this stage.
Firstly, the factory is still suffering from the wider effects of Covid in Sri Lanka and, in fact, lost one of their key managers around our ‘back to school’ which is still impacting on the communication we are receiving from the factory.
They have suffered long delays on the delivery of the raw materials of the pylene and liachlow braids (used for the summer boaters), together with the delivery of the felt. All the raw materials are sourced from China who have been operating on 3 day working weeks in many regions due to their own energy crisis, compounded by all the same shipping delays we (and a lot of our fellow schoolwear suppliers) are experiencing in general across the supply chain.
Our hat factory’s biggest market is the Australian schoolwear market and their ‘back to school’ is January. Due to the lateness of the raw materials for the summer hats, this delayed their Australian orders which they did have to prioritise when the stock finally arrived, thus pushing our UK production back even further. The raw material for the felt hats was only received last week and has yet to be put into production.
To make matters worse, you may have seen in various news articles recently (some detailed below) just how volatile the situation in Sri Lanka is at the moment with protests against the lack of food, medicines, fuel and the daily power cuts. Our factory is suffering daily power cuts, some lasting 8 hours, which is what is making it very difficult to receive any concrete production/despatch updates from them, and any dates they do confirm have all moved back several times.
BBC News - Sri Lanka: Protest at president Rajapaksa's home turns violent
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60950266
BBC News - Sri Lanka imposes curfew amid food, fuel and power shortage protests
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60962185
BBC News - Why Sri Lanka cabinet resignations won't appease angry protesters
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60979177
BBC News - Sri Lanka medical authorities declare health emergency as crisis worsens
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60978795
So what does this mean for your orders?
Essentially, all originally confirmed dates are obsolete (we are obviously aware that we are already late on all orders confirmed for end March delivery).
We can confirm that one shipment containing summer hat orders only did leave Sri Lanka on 20th March with an original ETA into London Gateway of 16th April. This ETA has since moved to 29th April into London Gateway, so realistically we are now looking at w/c 9th May for delivery to you at the earliest. If your order is on this first container, you will have received an email from us confirming that.
A second shipment of summer hats did leave on 12th April with an ETA into London Gateway of 6th May.
Please note the 6th May into the UK is only an estimate – chances are that this will move back as has been the case with the first container. The container will then need to clear customs and be delivered to us, so we are looking at mid-end May for delivery to you.
The factory was due to close at the end of last week for their festival holiday (similar to Chinese New Year) but delayed this to get as many of the summer hat orders made and despatched this week as possible. This should include the vast majority of orders placed by the end of last year.
We will contact all customers directly to confirm if your order has been included in this 2nd shipment. If not included, we will advise an expected arrival date when we receive an updated status report of all outstanding orders when the factory returns from holiday around 20th April.
We do know now that production will commence on all felt hat orders (starting with those placed in 2021) when the factory returns from holiday, and the aim is to despatch these at the end of May (although this cannot be guaranteed). Any outstanding summer hat orders (placed in 2021) will also be prioritised to meet this shipment. End May shipment should be mid-July delivery to you.
Any orders placed in 2022 (cut off originally published as 20th March for end July delivery), I’m afraid we can’t guarantee that these will be made and shipped to meet that delivery, nor can we quote any definite lead time for any future orders placed for this season.
We are sorry that we are only making you aware of the situation now, but it is extremely challenging at the moment to receive any communication from the factory as to exactly what is leaving and when. We will of course try to keep you updated as much as possible on progress and will know more once the factory return from their holiday, and hopefully confirm the status of all outstanding orders.
We would also like to confirm that we have tried to find other factories who can supply these products but all want minimums far in excess of what most customers want. This is the only school focussed factory who will make this very niche product in the volumes required for the UK market.
We apologise for any inconvenience and just hope that your schools and parents are understanding of the current situation and the fact that this is outside of our, and most importantly, your control.
Kind regards.
Team Turner
