New supply chain, new colors, and other updates.
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, Jul 13, 2021 at 06:29:17 PM
Hello Everyone!
It’s been awhile since we last updated you, but we wanted to pass a few key milestones so we could give you a more comprehensive picture of where we are now.
The last two months have been full. We have rebuilt our supply chain; found a new cut and sew facility, found new fabric (made in the US, Bluesign approved and made with recycled materials). We went through sampling with our new cut & sew facility in El Salvador that is well-known in the outdoor industry. Our first samples have been exactly what we’ve been looking for. We are currently working on minor adjustments and final approval of every step that goes into production with our account manager.
We have negotiated HARD to get 3 colors for our new order. Launch color: Midnight Navy Blue plus our new colors: Sagebrush Green, + Moonscape, all Pantone colors. We will have 250 sets in each of our second and third colors- only in regular length. We will be able to put mountain scenes on all of these, allowing us to diversify them even more into small batch, mountain inspired medical workwear.
The process with our new factory has been smooth, professional, and efficient. We love that their focus is on outdoor industry suppliers
What's next?
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Approve our second sample with our minor adjustments
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Do a full “jumpsize sample” (meaning: every other size) to make sure our patterns grade appropriately.
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After we approve our jumpsize run our fabric will be ordered (this will take 40-60 days to be made in N. Carolina)
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Fabric will then be on it’s way to our factory. Cut & sew production will take about 2 weeks, then it will all be sent to us.
We’re optimistic about a November delivery. The fact that this is over a year after our Kickstarter campaign ended is not lost on us. You guys have stuck with us! We are so grateful for your continued support and encouragement.
As with anything it’s important for us to keep our eye on the silver linings: We learned an incredible amount from a very tough hurdle. Covid definitely impacted our journey with our last supplier, but we also missed some red flags. With such a shocking setback we have doubled down on making sure things are done right. This means we are on a much better track with our business, our suppliers, and especially our cut and sew factory. We’ve found the quality we’ve been looking for and the product we were trying to make in the first place. This supply chain checks all the right boxes environmentally and in social responsibility. They are trusted by the biggest names in the outdoor industry and have the ability to scale with us as we grow. We’ve learned a lot and our story is just getting started. It has been very stressful, but we are reenergized.
We have negotiated with our former supplier to recover a partial refund, so we can pay for new scrubs to be made. It was a tough loss, not only financially, but the lost time and momentum have stung. Yes, we did have a contract...but due to covid complications in India we ended up sharing the loss with our sourcing company out of San Francisco.
In the meantime our supporters have SHOWN UP and have kept us afloat by buying Mountains are My Medicine logo gear. We have restocked our hoodies, added t-shirts, and still have water bottles, hats, & coffee mugs (check out our website to see new additions).
Send us your photos and reviews! We truly love seeing them.
In gratitude,
Oriana & Golden
Remaining logo gear will be sent out this week.
about 3 years ago
– Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 11:21:11 AM
Your kind words have been so wonderful to read, thank you all! I wanted to add that if you ordered scrubs AND logo gear, this weekend we have been working on getting all of the logo gear out to you. We will keep you updated as we move forward and work through this huge obstacle.
This week was pretty devastating.
about 3 years ago
– Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 10:24:35 PM
This update is hard to write. Our scrubs arrived Wednesday afternoon to our great excitement, but as we opened the boxes we immediately started to notice issues. Thursday we had a few friends over and we opened every box and examined all the pieces. We are devastated to say that the entire collection of scrubs is not sellable. There were a variety of issues, but each set of scrubs had at least 2 major issues that make them un-sellable.
We are devastated. We have worked thoughtfully, diligently to create the scrubs that Oriana has always dreamed of. We had samples from our manufacturer that we improved until they were what we wanted, and were of high quality. The fact is the scrubs we received were not what we approved. For example, the heat transfer size label was printed on the exterior of every. single. garment. Our logo tags were missing, sewn on upside down or in the wrong location. The waistband was sewn so tightly to the elastic that when you put the pants on for the first time, every stitch popped and the waistband starts to unravel. There is no way we can send you something of such poor quality.
So the long short is your scrubs will not be arriving this week as planned. Our plan is to get our money back from the manufacturer, thankfully we have a contract, and get your scrubs made by someone else. We jumped on getting samples made by a new supply chain, one that is fully vetted by the outdoor industry and widely known for their quality.
We will not quit. This is absolutely a huge setback, to be honest this felt like a huge face plant, but we have spent the last few days processing, and are ready to take on this challenge. We know this is just part of our story and not the end. We will keep you updated as we navigate the biggest hurdle yet.
With Thanks,
Oriana and Golden
The Crazy Scrub Journey!
about 3 years ago
– Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 06:38:55 PM
Good Morning!
We've got another update for you. Our scrubs made it to Seattle where they have been hanging out longer than anticipated due to a backlog that was caused by a chain reaction from that ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal. Our scrubs FINALLY got loaded onto a truck in Seattle, and was headed for Montana Thursday morning- then the truck was stopped at a weigh station and TURNED AROUND because they were over weight. So the truck, with all of our scrubs on it, that we’ve been waiting for over a week, had to ride back to Seattle with the truck.
Now, due to the Easter Weekend we are being told our new projected arrival time is Tuesday or Wednesday (fingers crossed!!!). We will need to examine the scrubs for Quality Control then begin shipping more orders out. The orders that have our minimalist mountain prints on them will take a little longer since they have one more step in the process. Thank you all for being so patient. To us, waiting for our scrubs to arrive feels a bit like waiting for a baby!
While we've been waiting for our scrubs to arrive we've been filling our gear-only orders. It's given us a chance to get in the rhythm of shipping, which has been a plus.
Again, we appreciate you all and are looking forward to seeing all of you in our gear and/or scrubs soon. We've been seeing so many awesome pictures of people in our Logo Gear this past week. I will post another update soon! Please reach out if you have any questions.
Take Care!
Golden & Oriana
Scrubs are on their way to Montana!
about 3 years ago
– Sat, Mar 27, 2021 at 08:14:03 PM
Scrubs are on their way! They are en route to Montana, and hopefully will arrive Monday or Tuesday. Then begins the work of looking over each piece to make sure it all looks good before sending them out to you. We have hit a few minor bumps in the road this last week with our logo gear and are being vigilant in our Quality Control process. Golden flew in last week and Thursday we began filling the "Mountains Are My Medicine" logo gear orders trying to clear some space for when the scrubs arrive via freight truck! We’re laughing at the picture of that truck coming up our rural road here in the Bitterroot Valley and unloading into Oriana’s bedroom. We will keep you posted on timelines but our goal is to be sending scrubs and gear out to you over the next 2 weeks. This has been quite the journey and we are incredibly grateful for all of you, our first customers. You guys have supported and believed in us from the beginning. Thank You!
