Plush Delay Update - August 2024
The following notice applies to existing pre-orders for the Axel Plush, Dave Plush, William Plush, & Lyall Plush as of August 2024.
Please also read the previous announcement we posted in April 2024.
This does not apply to any orders of the Volga Plush. International orders shipping from China are being sent out, with other orders to follow before the end of August.
Hello everyone,
As many of you are already aware, our recent situation has caused a significant interruption to our plush production. While we are making some (difficult) progress, we want to provide an update on what we're doing and what you can expect for the delayed plushes.
We have the bodies of Axel and Dave ready for production, with William and Lyall catching up very soon. In our previous announcement, we mentioned that we began working with a backup factory. However, shortly after that announcement, we secured a second candidate to allow them to compete with each other. Getting them to the current production-ready stage wasn't easy, as we made extensive modifications to the ordinary workflow of both factories. We briefly discussed this in a backstage article in June.
The reason Axel and Dave are "ready for production" rather than "in production" is that there are still some minor issues with the details that could cause an obvious visual discrepancy. We are sending personnel to both factories to train the production line to prevent any systemic errors during production. It's more time-efficient to secure everything before production rather than having to reject 80% of the products afterward.
Regarding the plush outfits, we're sending them to the garment maker who produces our T-shirts and kigurumis so they can be made to human clothing standards. We anticipate fewer difficulties with the outfits than with the plush bodies.
For those who have already read the backstage article, you know that we're building our workshop to manufacture our future plushes in-house. We've just assembled the team, and they will be establishing a facility near our key suppliers in September. The same team recently spent a full week at the factory to ensure that all Volga Plushes meet our standards, and they will be the ones to train the production line. We expect another six months of ramp-up time before our workshop can begin production, and until then, we still need our partnered factories to get things right.
We always allow full refunds on all pre-orders, regardless of delays. Since the initial delay announcement, only a few customers have chosen to cancel their orders, so we deeply appreciate those of you who are willing to wait. However, for those who wish to cancel, we'd like to remind you:
- The easiest way is to click the "View Order" button in either your order confirmation email or your account dashboard. You will then find a "Cancel Order" button on the order detail page. Your money will be automatically refunded to your original payment method.
- If you find difficulty in cancelling your order, please feel free to contact us.
Again, we know it's time to provide an estimated shipping date, but we truly cannot. There have been many unexpected challenges, and there may be more that could interrupt production. All we can say is that, by contract, the factory is required to deliver the products within 30 working days, starting from the day we authorize production. We are working extremely hard to get everything on track, so please stay tuned and stand with us.
Best Regards,
Pawprint Press