Back To The Office….Or Not? And Other Covid Musings

We had such optimistic plans to head back to our New York headquarters in the New Year full-time. Unfortunately, Covid version 2.0 Omicron contributed to derailing our plans yet again. Fortunately, we are able to fully function with everyone working from home.

Things got bad so fast that just last week we decided to close the office altogether for the rest of the year. It wouldn’t be fair for us to keep having all of our employees travel through the Manhattan madness. This is especially true in light of the holidays and the city being at peak crowdedness. It really isn’t worth the risk and I am sure our employees appreciate that. I know that this guy is happy to not have to commute in for 81 minutes!

With that, I wanted to briefly explore a few things our business might face with Covid this next time around and make a few mild predictions at that.

Yes, it would be awesome if there were a resurgence of mask making, but I am just not sure we are going to see that again. Now, almost everywhere you go, you can find a mask for sale. I just don’t think that the crazy demand that occurred before will manifest itself again. I hope I am wrong on this gander!

Will we return full-time in the New Year? With the way things are going now, I just don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. What’s the rush? Our business ran for so long without us having to be in the office, that I know that we can do that again if needed. We will continue to do what is right to protect our employees. If that means waiting until the numbers decrease or until the weather improves, we will do our best to make a prudent decision with all of our valued employees in mind.

Will there be supply chain issues in 2022? I feel pretty confident that there will be some sort of supply chain issues or otherwise because the world is going to remain upside down for the next few years at a minimum if you ask me. The ship needs to be righted if you know what I mean.

This past year, we endured just about every issue you could imagine from price increases on fabric and supplies, shipping delays, strikes, shortages and the list goes on. It’s all the stuff you have been hearing about on the news. It felt like we were a punching bag and it didn’t feel good. We did hang in there through it all and we managed to pivot along the way as needed to the best of our ability. In addition, our customers were very understanding which helped too. Thanks customers, you guys rock!

Will inflation settle down soon? If you haven’t noticed, just about everything is rising in price lately. Some of those increases are justified and others not so much. With that being said, I think you will continue to see prices rise on fabric in early 2022 and will remain at the new level throughout the year. I am hopeful that our company and our retailers won’t have to raise prices anymore after that. And just to be clear, we don’t like raising prices because we can never raise the price enough to maintain the profit margin that we had before the price increase. That unfortunately is the reality so please don’t think otherwise.

All in all, I would love to bid farewell to Covid, but unfortunately, that is out of my control. My true hope is that next year is more even-keeled. All the ups and downs are very unsettling and stressful.

For you all, I wish you a great end to the year! I also wish you a great 2022! Here’s to things looking up!

Cheers!

Your Friend & Fabric-tainer, Scott Signing off and wishing you PEACE!