With the pandemic rocking society, it’s safe to say that there have been a lot of issues with the supply chain. These issues have put dents in numerous industries since the pandemic upended global trade. As these supply shortages have hit grocery stores, restaurants, retail shops, and more, the custom printing business has also struggled with supplying some products.

These shortages have hit the garment supply chain hard as a whole. To get to the root of the problem, we need to start from the beginning with the cotton. Cotton has become a global trade concentrated in China, India, the United States, and Brazil with China having the largest share. In 2020, cotton production was lower than 2019 however, the forecasted supply of cotton was the highest in 6 years due to Chinese government policies. This means the supply of cotton is not the problem at hand. 

Like cotton, the global textile industry is concentrated in China with over half of the world’s textile output originating there. The factories, tools, laborers, and knowledge necessary to execute garment manufacturing at a large scale primarily resides in China meaning many large scale orders are coming from there. The majority of customers live in Europe and the United states making up $98B of textile imports each year. The trade issues mid-pandemic definitely did not help this export. 

Now onto shipping. All of the shipping containers that get shipped around the world need to be shipped back. For months, United States ports were not sending the empty shipping containers back. For every 100 containers received, they would return around 40. This caused a shortage of shipping containers and thus backing everything else up. Not only that but shipping containers cost more. The price of a shipping container has risen to almost 350% more than it was a year ago! While the price skyrocketed, the demand for shipping containers has never been higher. Supply and demand is hard to pinpoint and always changing but the current demand for shipping containers is setting everything back. 

Overall, there is an ongoing issue with the supply chain. While we are hopeful we will be able to restock certain products soon, it’s still possible that this disruption will last longer than anticipated. Luckily, if you can’t find a product you want in stock, our sales team is ready to help you find solutions and similar products that meet your needs!