As many of you will have been aware, our fourth shipment of stock has been very problematic. It's meant we have been out of stock longer than we anticipated and its meant many of our customers have been waiting anxiously for their amazing Bshirts to arrive in the post.
When we began the business a year and a half ago, we decided early on that we wanted to order small amounts of stock. This was not just because we had limited cash to invest in stock, but also it was because we knew that the top would evolve over time. After all, we're trying to fit our product onto new mums with new babies (and new boobs). Unlike other vest tops, we've used dress sizes to try and give a more fitted fit. But that's meant we've had 6 patterns to tweak, adjust, alter and sometimes redesign completely.
It's been a labour of love and we feel that the fit is now perfect for around 95% of our customers, which makes our product pretty special. We still have grand plans to offer bigger sizes (and smaller sizes too) but for now we are pretty happy with this. Getting the fit right has allowed us to focus on the next level of our product - quality. With our 4th order, we decided to roll out several new features:
- a new stitch to make the flap stretchier
- better quality lace
- a complete re-design of the white top so that no matter what bra you are wearing you won't see anything through the flap
- and we launched a new grey colour
It was quite ambitious and inevitably there were some delays, problems and even catastrophes! But there were also innovations and breakthroughs. We managed to improve the stretchiness of the flap by 40%! We have found a fantastic UK lace supplier are also dying the lace in the UK to our strict specifications. And we worked out that if the white flap were lined in a neutral colour that the transparency issue was resolved. Bingo.
Our production was back on track and our tops were ready to be shipped. We knew how many of you were waiting desperately for our tops, so we air freighted them (sorry planet earth!) to get them here as soon as possible. But we didn't count on the customs agent! Unlike our previous orders, this one got held up, then held up, and then held up some more. It was like torture knowing that our product was here, in the UK, but there was nothing we could do about it. And our customers did let us know what they thought of us:
One customer wrote:
And then some others were waiting so long for their order that they were no longer even breastfeeding:
"Can I please cancel this order as I no longer need these as unable to carry on breastfeeding thank you"
We were so distraught! Every time we had to cancel an order it felt like we were letting our customers down. We had done all we could but ultimately we were unable to support these women on their breastfeeding journey, and that was so disheartening for us.
But we also got some great messages of positivity from our customers. Some wrote:
"So good to know where the tops are coming from and your transparency in reason for delay is fantastic. Looking forward to receiving them soon..."
As always, we've been blown away by the compassion and understanding of our customers. We would not have a successful business without your support, feedback and faith. We really do have the best customers!
So now we are THRILLED to tell you that we are BACK IN STOCK and are fulfilling over 700 back orders like mad. We will get them all posted as soon as is humanly possible. And we've re ordered the next batch so that hopefully we won't be hideously out of stock again.
Thank you all for your patience xoxox lots of love from the Bshirt team (which, as you know, is just us crazy mums, ha!)