The Difficulty of Staying Trew
By Rocky Thompson on December 23rd, 2011
The small outdoor manufacturers TREW missed the holiday selling season. With orders placed well in advance, one of the company founders had to hop on the plane to try to find someone new overseas who could meet their production needs. TREW first made their gear in Vancouver, then moved to China but ran into quality control issues, and settled on a place in Nepal. As small fry for gear makers, their orders for additional jackets and ski pants aren’t exactly given priority. The company is on their third year of making gear, and last was their first time selling on Backcountry.com. They say they’re not too worried about the production hiccups, when people see the gear, they find it worth the wait. Powder Mag has a great write up on the small shop.
Tags: Gear, Skiing, Snowboarding
sounds like they had a good thing going, then they outsourced their labour and got what they deserved. I bet missing the holiday season, and seriously disappointing their best customers (those who made preorders) turned out to not be worth it
So whats wrong with making things in China if you can ensure the quality is up to par and the labor force is not being exploited? Guess everyone needs something to protest these days.
what’s wrong is your production orders get swept away and there is nothing you can do about it, and you miss the holiday season, alienating your best customers, all for sactimoniously trying to squeeze a few extra dollars out of your products at the expense of your community
actions have consequences… they made a business decision, and it came back to bite them on the ass… sometimes paying a little more to eliminate risks and variables is smarter than going with the lowest bid
I think it is funny they sent all their jobs to China thinking they will make a quality product. Truth is China is notorious for making horrible products; then they sent the jobs to Nepal. Here is my question though. Is Canada so over abundant in the job market right now? So you took all your jobs away from what I am sure were exceptional employees and sent them to Nepal. I am sure the Nepalese will make exceptional products but now you don’t have to pay top dollar and you just hurt the Canadians who were doing a great job for you. My only question is this, “Are they going to lower the price of their product?” I ask because if you are paying a Nepalese person a lower income to do the same job it does not seem fair to keep the prices of your product the same. They should be lowered.