A Message From Our Founder: COVID, orders, and expectations for the future

Dear Wholesome community, 

I wanted to give you all an update regarding our processes. I’m aware many of you are questioning why your product is taking longer than expected to get delivered. And first off, I want to apologize. I hear you and I’m feeling disappointed at the situation as well. You decided to trust us, and we did not communicate enough about what was happening on our side. I also want you to feel assured that we haven’t forgotten about you, far from it! In no situation have we planned to not send your orders. Every single order placed is either currently in the making, in the process of being printed, or already on the way to our fulfillment center. 

To be fully transparent about our process, here are some of the reasons why we’re experiencing order delays:

• We print-to-order most of our items to avoid unnecessary waste and overstocking (both are major issues in the fashion industry). And with our dedication to minimizing our environmental impact comes the reality that the journey between checkout and delivery takes longer than other brands. However, we do still print three to four weeks of inventory for our top sellers to make sure some of you are able to receive your items faster
  
• Since COVID, the production time has been higher than usual. The reason for this additional slow down is that every single point of contact in the supply chain process is experiencing various delays, that seems a bit unpredictable on their hand as well, and we are all trying to navigate those new changes
• Our garments take longer before getting to our printers
• Our printers don’t have enough staff to meet the increase in demand due to people staying safe at home, which we fully support since we prioritize everyone’s health first
• Some of our screen printing partners are completely closed, so we can only use limited partners
• Our warehouse and screen printing facility had to shut down when the COVID outbreak hit New York so we can no longer use it
• Our fulfillment center is also experiencing significant delays in receiving and shipping
• The shipping providers themselves are overwhelmed, and USPS even more

All that said, we take full ownership of the situation and know we can be clearer in our communication with you on these factors. We understand you trusted us by buying from us, and we are extremely thankful for this.

This is why we’ve taken some actions to make you feel safer and more comfortable with your order:

1. Sending you a weekly update to let you know where we’re at with the shipping process
2. Allowing anyone to cancel their orders if they don’t feel comfortable waiting anymore
3. Updating our expected timeline on the website
4. Ensuring each member of our customer service team is able to process refunds to make the process faster if needed
5. Sending more updates regarding your orders, so you feel confident in your purchase. Please note, those might go into the promotion tab on Gmail, so add us to your safe 

Please note, we are expecting new shipments of inventory in 4 days, 5 days, and 7 days, so before canceling I would invite you to take this into consideration so a lot of orders will go out by the end of next week. This time has been really rough for many businesses and I’m truly grateful that you decided to trust us. But, if you have changed your mind —  I understand. I support your decision and want you to feel like your money was invested in the right place. 

Notes on holiday deadlines:

With all of this information, U.S. customers, if you want to put Wholesome gifts under the Christmas tree, please order by November 22. All other customers, unfortunately, we can’t guarantee your order will arrive in time for the holidays. But we hope you’ll love our mindfully made designs in the new year –and beyond!

We’re constantly working to improve our production processes. We know we have room to improve as a team, but we’re so excited to share our Earth-friendly, positive designs with you. And we’re so grateful for your support in our mission to make the world a more sustainable and mindful place.

Thank you for being here and again, I sincerely apologize for any confusion regarding your orders. 

~Audrey