We can’t even express how the comments above make us feel. It’s an odd feeling. On the one hand we couldn’t feel more grateful that we’re at a place where CVG is so loved. But on the other hand we lose sleep at night worrying about the disappointed people that miss out. We never want the words “CVG” and “disappointed” to be said together.
With the recent release of the Tropic Like It’s Hot collection it’s become noticeable by everyone that we’re struggling to keep up with demand. We read the comments, the emails, the live chats, the messages. We hear you. We want you to know that we’re sorry that we haven’t been able to do better in this area. The happiness of our community is always our top priority and we understand that selling out of a new release in under 30 minutes creates a lot of unhappy people. It’s unacceptable.
We’ve seen the writing on the wall, it’s not just this recent new release. Just in general, it’s been difficult to keep a lot of things in stock. Every time we add shorts back into stock they’re gone just as quickly. We promise, that’s not done on purpose!
However, as of today, we have started on a new path to correct our supply/demand issues (more on that below).
OUR CURRENT SITUATION
It’s no secret that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. As a small business this is challenging. Actually, even big businesses are struggling. The biggest business in the world (Amazon) can’t even get items out the door without 3+ weeks of wait time. We all understand because it’s not just businesses that have difficulties, every individual feels it in one way or another. Everything in the world has either slowed down or stopped all together.
In our scenario, we’re feeling it in a lot of places. But the one i’m sharing with you today is our challenge to find a new location. Finding warehouse space isn’t easy in a normal world. Sprinkle in a pandemic and things reach a new level of difficult. Wondering how this relates to selling out of shorts in less than 30 mins? This is how it relates….
We’re out of space. Actually, 8 months ago we were out of space. Today, it’s next level.
You may look at the photo above and think it’s our warehouse. That’s a reasonable thing to assume because it looks like a warehouse. However, this space is actually our office space, at least it was. Our actual warehouse looks similar to this except larger and with more boxes. Our offices are now gone to make extra space for inventory. Yes, we gave up our office space for inventory. We had 6 employees that worked in this room, desks, computers, conference table, meetings, samples, all that stuff. Just 2 months ago that’s what this space was.
But now, Craig’s desk is now in his basement, Ben is in his dinning room, Kelsea is in her living room, I (Mark) work out of my bedroom, the list goes on. Now this space has become space for inventory. We sell out in 30 mins because we simply can’t hold more.
To give you an idea of space, here’s what CVG’s space history looks like …
2014 – 100 SQFT bedroom in my home.
2015 – 500 SQFT space in my basement.
2016 – 650 SQFT space. (our first real location, yay!)
2017 – 1250 SQFT space.
2018 – 5000 SQFT space.
2019 – Adjust the 5000 SQFT space to make more space.
2020 – Move out offices, dedicated all 5000 SQFT to inventory.
Today – 😉🎉
A large portion of each day goes towards working with Josh (our warehouse manager) to help figure out a new way to fit 30, 40, or 70 more boxes into our building. Recently, we’ve even started a night shift to assist Josh with these challenges. We’ve made it this far, but to be honest, it’s all just band-aids. And after this last release, it’s obvious the band-aids aren’t holding.
WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT
We’ve been on the hunt for a larger space for over a year. After seeing the amount of disappointed people we have said enough is enough. Today we signed a lease for a 22,000 SQFT space! Move in date is set for August 1st. 🤞
This is a big step. Scratch that, huge step. As an entrepreneur and as a company that employees 15 people, any risk is scary. But it’s time. We’ve been pushed out of our comfort zone, but that’s where we thrive.
It’ll take some time to ramp up, realistically several months. But the plan is there. It won’t be a quick fix, but it’s coming. So hang in there. There will still be several months of things selling out faster than they should but we’re hoping to be much more prepared by the fall.
Thanks for hanging in there! Again, we apologize for the quick sell out. If you missed out on the shorts we will have a restock for you in a few months. We also still have some capri and full length left in this design.
Lastly, we just want to say thank you for all the support. We hear the positive messages too! 🙂
