Impact

You all regularly ask us how we decide to introduce new colors and how we decide which colors and styles to stock.  We would love to tell you that we had this all dialed into a science but that’s really not the case.  There’s a lot of reviewing what’s happening in fashion combined with listening to our clients and analyzing what sold or didn’t sell the year before.  And we’d be lying if we said sports teams in key markets didn’t have a bit to do with it! 😊

 Sales data and your feedback both definitely matter!  You, our customers, vote with your purchases and your comments.  Our sales team regularly reports on what you’re asking for.  When the requests start to pile up, we look very seriously at a color, especially if it’s an obvious hole in our collection.  Over the past few years we expanded a lot in earth tones and pastels based on feedback from our customers.  We were strong in jewel tones and neutrals but lacked these other two categories.  So we brought you olive, amber, mustard, sage, rose and lavender.  All of these colors have done really well and helped round out our color palette. 

 National fashion trends also matter!  Some colors are good in certain markets but not necessarily nationwide.  Classic purple for example – it’s a great color if you’re a K-State fan but overall in fashion it’s not a popular color.  So we stock versions that are easier to wear (like berry & lavender) and keep classic purple ink on hand which looks great on heather grey or vintage white.  National trends have brought you colors like neon pink (Barbie-core anyone) and wine.  Both of those colors have been all over fashion the last couple of years.

 As we look at the new colors and styles for 2023, you see style very much influenced by the trends toward neutrals and work wear.  You’ll continue to see henleys and boots paired with denim and trucker hats.  Speaking into this trend, we’re bringing you a heavier weight eco-cotton in black and ivory.  This is not for all of you who love the feel of our triblend.  But for those who love a rougher, heavier weight tee, you’re going to love these!  And they’re super eco-friendly with upcycled and recycled content.  Speaking of the workwear trend, we’re also adding camel fleece to the line this year!  Our best-selling unisex premium fleece hood is coming in a warm camel shade you’ll want to live in!

 Comfort remains key at GOEX as always!  So our super soft bi-blend fleece will also a get a new color this year – teal!  If you didn’t already know, we have an awesome NWSL team in Kansas City, the KC Current.  They made an incredible playoff run last year and are building the first stadium in the country specifically built for a professional women’s soccer team – how cool is that?  You already love our teal triblend so this seemed like a great year to add fleece.  Both will be a new shade, slightly lighter than our current teal.  It pairs really well with red as a recent Vogue cover highlighted!

 One of our 2023 Resolutions is to the listen well.  New product and color is one area where we hope you can see that we’ve been listening but we want to hear more!  Keep sending us those notes telling us what you love and what you’d like to see.  No promises but the more feedback we receive, the better job we can do of getting you the products and colors you want!  Email, call, ping us on social media or check in with your sales rep.  We love hearing from you!  Let us know what you think about spring trend!

JESSICA RAY
Executive Director

I cannot believe that 2022 is coming to a close.  We started this year still struggling with supply chain but hopeful for a year of stabilization and growth for the business and for our team.  And despite all the challenges in Haiti and in the US economy, we saw incredible growth in 2022!  We are SO grateful to our community for your ongoing support!  Below are some thoughts as we reflect on 2022 and look to 2023.

As we started the year, we had four resolutions we shared with you:

 Keep the shelves full!

1. Thankfully, as we moved into 2^nd quarter, supply chain loosened and we started building inventory.  We can share that we’re closing out 2022 with 100,000 more garments on the shelves than when we started!  This means we’re in a better spot than ever to service our clients with excellence!
2. Build deeper connections between clients & makers. 
   We hope you enjoyed the Instagram lives we hosted throughout the year, the stories from our team on Mother’s & Father’s Days and the updates Ariane provided regarding the political & social instability in Haiti and what that means for the team.  To all of you who sent words of encouragement, donated to provide additional food for the holidays or placed an extra order to keep everyone working, THANK YOU!  If you don’t feel connected to our mission, I’d love to hear from you!  Please share your ideas on how we can better engage you and others in our community!
3. Get local! 
   We love designing to support local retailers!  In 2022, we doubled the number of boutiques around the country carrying GOEX graphic tees.  Check out this map that shows you where to find our product near you: https://goexapparel.com/apps/store-locator
4. Build a Best in Class Team.
   We believe in ongoing investment in our team so they can serve you with excellence!  Both in Haiti and the US, we invest in both training and fun so our employees can do their jobs with excellence and enjoy one another in the process.  We hope you see the fruits of those efforts in every garment and print we send you.  And when we don’t live up to your expectations, please let us know so we can both make it right and learn from the mistakes.

So what do we have planned for 2023? 

1. Grow!
   With the shelves full and our capacity expanded, we are ready to service rapid growth in 2023.  The more shirts we sell, the more jobs we sustain.  But we need your help!  Please consider referring new customers to us!  We provide garments to any type of organization – from manufacturers to banks, family reunions to schools, local boutiques to national non-profits – the list of potential clients is endless.  If you know someone who purchases custom apparel, we would like the opportunity to earn their business.  And coming this spring, we’re going to reward you for those referrals – stay tuned!
2. Support and Promote Fair Trade
   We know we cannot fix the apparel industry on our own!  This work requires an army of educators, consumers, businesses, manufacturers and more.  What we can do is our part!  We can link arms with those in our community and help grow the movement.  Watch for even more collaborations, giveaways and co-branded goods in 2023 as we work to be a tailwind to others!  One of our favorite things is customer spotlights – if you purchase from us, please send in pics of your tees so we can share the and celebrate that you’re part of our Fair Trade family!
3. Listen
   We want to hear from you!  What do you want to know?  What do you think about our brand, our product, our partners?  How can we better support you?  What products or services could we provide that would make your life easier or meet your needs?  Send us an email.  Leave a product review.  Give us a call.  Stop by and visit.  Ping us on social media.  We love hearing from you and we want to hear more!
4. Stay Creative
   Watch for new collections from our creative team!  We love creating designs your customers will love.  Many of you get inspiration from our graphics collections and trend reports – watch for more of all of that in 2023.  In addition, we’re pushing our fabric supplier and ink suppliers to stay on top of innovation and sustainable options and we look forward to sharing those things as they become available!

Again, thank you for support and let us know what you think about our goals for 2023! 

Cheers to an incredible 2023 for you and yours!

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we cannot help but give thanks for all of the partners who continue to support us and our employees.  Our mission is to connect you, the customer, with our makers, in order to sustain fair wage jobs and empower families through the dignity of work. 

This year to date, with your support, we've produced more than 250,000 garments and generated 20,622 days, or more than 175,000 hours, of employment in Haiti. 

For our employees, this work means everything.  The team has shown up through unimaginable challenges this fall as Ariane shared with us several weeks ago.  We are so grateful for all of you who have linked arms with us to provide for the team when so many companies are leaving Haiti.

In addition to supporting our teams in Haiti and Kansas City, we were able to award our first ever GOEX Grant in the US to support an organization investing in job training for transition age youth.  We awarded that grant to Look Ma No Hands in September and are excited to see how they use the funds to grow their program and impact even more students.

So, as we celebrate this season, from our family to yours, thank you for caring.  Thank you for trusting us with your business and for making it possible for all of the members of our team to celebrate with their families as well.  We are both humbled and empowered by your support.

Hi GOEX family – I’m on my way back from visiting the factory we’re working with in the Dominican Republic and wanted to take a few minutes to update you on the trip!

Before I dive into info on the factory, I want to share super fun news – the port in Haiti opened this week while I was on the other side of the island!  The container of fabric we’ve had sitting at the port since August was delivered to Life around noon today, just hours after the container we sent to the Dominican Republic was delivered there!  While we have no idea what will happen from here in Haiti but we are hopeful for a season of stability and this was a major step in that direction.  We can now keep our team in Haiti working even while we do some catch up sewing in the DR.  And with the fabric arriving at Life, we’ll be able to deliver the end of our new 2022 styles – remember Funfetti?  We promise, it’s coming and it’s going to be FUN!

So now to more information about the DR.  The factory we’re working with is managed and partially owned by a couple with decades of experience in the industry.  Their investment partner is a sportswear company in the USA.  The atmosphere in the factory was very positive and upbeat.  The employees enjoy one another, celebrate birthdays with singing and dancing and are decorating in preparation for the annual visit from Santa!  We saw the evidence that there was no work for line 5, which will be sewing our garments!  The work we’re providing will keep their income flowing and we feel great about that!  While we did not do a payroll audit, we did talk with the owner about employee wages.  The minimum wage in apparel in the DR is 3200 pesos per week but he said employees earn more, many of them up to twice that along with transportation allowances.  Some light reading on livable wages in the DR says that employees need 4600-4900 pesos per week.  This means a large group of the factory is earning a local livable wage.  If we pursue additional work with this factory, we will dig in deeper.  We had free range of the sewing floor, cutting tables and product development departments – we observed happy employees, about a 50/50 mix of men and women and no children.  We were, overall, super happy and pleased with this visit!

As I said in my earlier update, we are committed to our families in Haiti and will support them through all of the political challenges.  We are grateful for a solution that can bridge the gaps and take some pressure off of them.  And we’re SO grateful for a container delivered today that equals work continuing to flow through Life.

Most of all, thank you to our community for supporting us and our teams.  We appreciate you more than you know!

Happy Holidays,
Jessica

 To our whole GOEX Community –

 Thank you for the outpouring of kind words you’ve sent for our team following the open letter from Ariane a couple of weeks ago.  Thank you for buying Haiti tees and sending prayers. 

 Our employees in Haiti continue to come to work despite the many challenges there and we continue to receive garments in Kansas City every week.  While our team keeps working, that’s not the case in other parts of Port-au-Prince, primarily at the ports.  As news outlets have reported, armed gangs are blocking all access in and out of the port – this has been going on for weeks.  Haiti customs is closed and the ports are completely full of containers waiting to be moved to their final destinations.  In that pile of containers is a load of GOEX fabric that we shipped down in August.  Unless the port opens soon, our team will run out of fabric to sew into garments and we have no way of getting more fabric to them.

 As a result, we’re pulling contingency plans from the shelves.  These plans are not meant to be long term solutions but to bridge the gap so our clients can continue purchasing from GOEX and we can, in turn, keep supporting our team in Haiti through this difficult season.  The first of those contingency plans is to sew some garments in the Dominican Republic.  Last year we sampled with a factory there so we would be able to ship fabric and start sewing if necessary.  We now find ourselves in the place that we feel it’s necessary. 

 While this factory does not have the same social purpose as ours, we are confident that their labor practices are on the up and up and employees are being provided for appropriately and treated well at work.  In addition, factories around the world have faced cancelled orders and layoffs as economies have slowed due to inflation.  This factory is facing lay-offs for the next couple of months which makes us feel even better about sending work to them.  Their team members will have work and be able to provide for their families going into the holidays.  And, I will personally visit the factory and speak with employees there.  We will completely guarantee that garments sewn in the DR will be up to our high standards of quality, will utilize our same USA fabric and will do good for the makers producing them.

 Thank you for your continued support of GOEX and of our team in Haiti.  We will continue to share updates as the situation changes. 

JESSICA RAY
Executive Director, GOEX