Repairing and Restoring Imported Handbag Shipments
May 12, 2021
Repairing and Restoring Imported Handbag Shipments
It is a well know fact that consumers are obsessed with their bags! They are regularly taunted with the season’s latest handbag designs via national advertising campaigns, direct marketing, social media posts, and celebrity influencers. Women covet a well-made handbag, while men envision themselves in a new messenger bag, backpack, or brief bag.
Handbags and other related accessories are important to retailer’s bottom lines. Handbags and accessories can complement the retailer’s sales of apparel and footwear, representing lucrative add-ons at the sales register.
Every season, retailers import a high percentage of their handbags and accessories inventory from overseas as part of their merchandising strategies. Retail marketing teams also position their advertising campaigns in the queue long before their seasonal goods reach American ports and distribution centers.
As companies rely on sourcing these types of products from overseas each season, inevitably some unforeseen challenges can arise impacting merchandise availability upon arrival in the U.S. For example:
- Handbags may arrive with slight imperfections such as missed seams, sewing imperfections, incorrect labels (country of origin or care content labels), or finish issues.
- Hardware such as D-rings, rivets, snaps, or feet may have issues requiring replacement or correction.
- Poor packaging methods or materials may have distorted the handbags in shipment which could impact visual merchandising of the product.
- Shipments can often arrive wet, moldy, or may have odors that require remediation.
These are just a few examples of the quality challenges that can be faced by retailers as they import goods from overseas. Fortunately, the team at Quality Corrections & Inspections (QCI) is no stranger to confidentially customizing a rework and recovery solution for numerous types of handbag and accessory repairs.
QCI’s Experience in Reworking Imported Handbags, Backpacks, and Other Similar Accessories
For over 35 years, the experienced team at QCI has provided a variety of solutions and services to retailers and overseas factories in the handbags and accessories business. The team has worked with a wide variety of materials and has completed rework projects ranging from a few hundred units to thousands of units. We understand that time is of the essence and that merchandise availability is critical to your success. Some of our representative services include:
- Repairs or corrections of straps and handles
- Hardware Replacement (D-rings, rivets, snaps, feet, zippers and more)
- Floor Ready Services (ticketing, tagging, repackaging)
- Spot Cleaning
- Mold and Odor Remediation
- Sewing Alterations and Corrections
- Leather Goods Rework (handbags, wallets, coin purses, cell phone holsters and more)
Representative Case Studies in Handbag and Accessories Product Rework
With U.S. facilities on the east and west coast, QCI is well equipped with the capacity and coverage to undertake high-quantity handbag and accessory rework projects. While there are numerous case studies on the QCI website, a few representative projects are highlighted below that the team has performed in recent years:
Poorly Finished Hardware
Problem: A women’s luxury retailer received an imported shipment of handbags with corroded hardware that felt rough to the touch and was unsightly.
Solution: QCI worked directly with the supply chain team of the vendor to have new hardware shipped directly to our facility from Asia. All the faulty hardware was removed and replaced on nearly 100,000 units rendering the handbags to first quality.
Missing Seams
Problem: The quality assurance team in the retailer’s distribution center discovered that a beautiful satchel was missing an entire seam on the interior pocket of a handbag that was ready to debut in their next advertised collection.
Solution: The technical team at QCI with their arsenal of sewing equipment was able to gain entry to the unsewn seam without disturbing the integrity of the finished leather. The team corrected the defect and quickly returned thousands of units back into distribution centers in time for the product’s launch.
Mold
Problem: It is inevitable at some point that importers may encounter a shipment that has been damaged to some degree by moisture, mold, or odors. Mold can affect many imported products, and leather products such as handbags, wallets, belts, and similar accessories can be particularly vulnerable to organic growth.
Solution: When we receive a call from retailers regarding mold on handbags, we mitigate the organic growth with our proprietary process involving cleaning visible mold, sanitizing your products, and implementing best practices in repackaging.
Distorted Handbags
Problem: A company decided to use a new overseas factory to produce their handbags. The bags were haphazardly packaged into master cartons and loaded onto a shipping container. Due to the improper packaging methods used and the duration of time on the ship, the bags arrived very mis-shaped, and some units appeared to be damaged upon arrival and inspection in the U.S. distribution center.
Solution: QCI performed a full 100% inspection and sortation on the handbag inventory. Our team performed visual inspections of the units for defects and corrected minor issues such as adding and adjusting packing tissue, performing minor thread trimming, and fixing dents or indentations. Units that could not meet first-quality standards were set-aside and repacked separately from first-quality units.
Seam Reinforcements
Problem: Handbags that are designed with a drawstring or pull cord at point of entry, often need to have a seam reinforced at junctions of the leathers to withstand the longevity of pulling.
Solution: The technicians at QCI can program our sewing machines to match the factory’s stitching and by using specific threads, we were able to reinforce over 100,000 bags for a luxury retailer to make their advertising campaign.
Faulty Snap Closure Replacement
Problem: An importer received a shipment of handbags with faulty snap closures that were not functioning to their quality and performance standards.
Solution: QCI removed and replaced snap closures on thousands of units. The new snap closures performed very well, and the inventory was returned to the importer’s inventory.
Free Project Analysis
Quality Corrections & Inspections is a valuable supply chain resource partner that helps retailers and overseas factories overcome supply chain disruptions when they arise.
When the unexpected happens to one of your handbag and accessories shipments that requires immediate attention, contact QCI for a no-cost project analysis. Allow QCI to assess, repair and return your imported handbags to first quality rather than return to vendor or overseas manufacturer.
