Public Holidays Matter

A quick post today. I’m currently awaiting samples of one garment from a number of manufacturers in different countries: India, Vietnam and Morocco to name a few. I started to notice that for days at a time, my contacts would go completely AWOL. I’m convinced this is partly because I’m most likely to be the absolute bottom of their priority list – unproven startup, ordering sample. However, I discovered another very real reason for the radio silence…public holidays. After many messages (and some panic) my contact in Morocco sent me a list of their public holidays as an explanation for their slow contact. Many of them did indeed fall over the past few weeks. This lightbulb moment reminded me of a lesson I learned when first living abroad in my early twenties: the entire world doesn’t revolve around the UK calendar and way of life. There are different holidays, customs, social norms etc. all over the globe. Once I do finally work out where our garments will be produced I’ll need to take all these cultural sensitivities into account as it’s the best way to ensure the smoothest working relationship possible.

I used an image from the Notting Hill Carnival as today was the last day. I didn’t go because…babies and logistics, but I very much hope to go next year. This Bank Holiday is my favourite, it’s the last in August, falls close to my birthday and reminds me of the anticipation of going back to school – which I loved growing up.