US' Reflective Apparel boosts inventory for global supply chain demand

Reflective Apparel reports that custom orders can now take upwards of five months instead of the standard 90 days. While consumer products are often the focus of current supply chain news reporting, a delay in high visibility apparel is a worker safety issue. While proper care prolongs the life of a reflective garment, reflective materials lose effectiveness over time. What might appear fine to a worker may, in fact, not be reflecting properly. This may cause decreased visibility, particularly in poor weather conditions. Without proper safety gear, workers in multiple industries are at-risk including firefighters, police officers, railroad workers, Department of transportation employees, construction workers, and airport baggage handlers, among others, the company said in a press release.

“Reflective Apparel has been watching supply chain issues very closely. Our demand planners are working to ensure that we continue to have stock come in so that both public and private organisations can keep workers safe with proper high visibility apparel. We want our customers to know that we have inventory in stock to keep their workers safe, but we are urging customers to plan ahead, especially when it comes to custom orders,” said Scott A Corrao, president of Reflective Apparel.

“It is critical for organisations that require workers to wear reflective apparel to evaluate replacement timelines and make adjustments as needed to ensure there is not a gap in availability for replacing reflective gear before it becomes a safety risk. The key is to be flexible. If you need winter coats now for your employees, you may have to skip a custom order that may not arrive in time for cold weather in favour of an in-stock item that can ship today. Some customers who are waiting on custom designed apparel have purchased vests to be worn over their existing winter wear until their product is received,” Corrao said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)