MY TRIP TO CHINA
For over 20 years, I've been visiting China at least twice a year to see our regular partners. During each trip, I always visit the Canton Fair, spend a day at the raw materials market, and often visit a new factory to see if it might be suitable for us or our clients.
China is and remains an overwhelmingly vast country, and travel distances are so great that often a double flight is needed to get somewhere, and a 4-5 hour car ride is quite normal to reach a destination.
I have known our regular manufacturer, J., for many years. He runs the company, first with his sister, and now with his daughter. There are about 50 employees, and they are the producers of our bags. In addition, there are several other contacts with whom we have frequent communication and to whom orders are also placed. But I have been working very intensively with J. for years.
We place orders with manufacturer J. throughout the year, but the holiday rush in the last two quarters of the year always causes difficulties. That's why it's good that I go to China every year to discuss this. Of course, there are always situations outside our production that require extra 'alertness'. Think of the corona restrictions, the huge Ever Given incident in the Suez Canal, now the attacks on container ships in the Red Sea, container prices, and the lack of containers, but also don't forget the Chinese government. We experienced a situation where a part of the splitting in China was ordered to close immediately by the government, only to be allowed to reopen normally a week later. These are the kinds of problems we face.
In my next update, I will provide more detailed information about my trip. I will be going to China again in April/May 2024 and will meet manufacturer J. again. The Canton Fair is on the schedule, but I will also visit a new factory in Wenzhou.
The goal of my trip is to emphasize the quality of our products and to clearly assess everywhere whether we can increase the use of recycled materials in our collections.
Robert Klerk November 2023
