Q1 2020 Founder's Update

Q1 2020 Founder's Update

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To our Wool&Prince Community

 

UPDATE 4/8/2020: We are grateful for your support during this time and continue to ship out orders in a timely manner. We are trying to do our part in helping fight the spread of COVID19  and also support small businesses. As a result, we're contributing to local Portland company, North Street Bags, who has converted their operations to help replenish PPE supplies for healthcare professionals.

 

This should go without saying, but we’re doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our customers, vendors, and employees. We are still shipping out orders in a timely manner and will continue to monitor guidelines from the CDC and other public agencies.

 

On the business side of things, it’s humbling to know that apparel is one of the last things on someone’s mind during a time like this and it’s also a reminder that life is so much bigger than the things we consume.

 

We’re hopeful for a speedy return to normalcy and in the meantime, we’re doing our best to hold on. We feel for all the restaurants and tourist-dependent businesses out there! Please do your best to support them.

 

At Wool&Prince, we’re reducing expenses to help weather the drop in sales. So far we’ve decreased inventory purchases for the second half of the year, planned salary reductions, and applied for assistance through Oregon’s Work Share program. We’ll cut back on marketing initiatives and consolidate our office and showroom (like old times).

 

COVID-19 seems to be taking a lot away from us right now. However, the one thing that it has provided is a great deal of perspective.

  • I’m grateful for all the things I get to think about and do when there isn’t a pandemic (thank you modern medicine and our heroic medical professionals!).
  • I’m grateful for our ability to work together, solve problems, live with a sense of humor, and rally around a common foe. I’m curious to hear your stories about people and community coming together. Please use the comment section below. Here’s a pro runner helping out an elderly couple and here’s the Newport, Oregon Police department making a hilarious announcement about toilet paper.
  • I’m grateful for my wife, family, friends, and coworkers. Our bond grows stronger as we work through this tough time.

 

It's difficult to look into the future when the present is so uncertain, but we wanted share some of our new product and restocks arriving over the next few months (take a peek below).

 

Most importantly, do your best to stay healthy! We’ll get through this.

 

—From our respective homes, Mac and the WP Team

 

PS: As the team works from home, we post to our #respite Slack channel to provide “a breathing space for our team during COVID-19 pandemic and to share uplifting things from our days." Based on the pics shared so far (below), it seems that the next few weeks are going to center around two things: food and dogs.

PPS: For those of you who purchased the Gift Card Plus initially offered through this update, the gift cards have been fulfilled on 4/14 and 4/15. Gift cards do not expire.

 

Upcoming New Products

 

 

The benefits of working from home.

 


 

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