Executive Summary

Founder and CEO of June and January, Amy Richardson began sewing baby clothes as a side project in 2010. She didn’t expect her business to take off like it did: however, 8 months after opening her shop on Etsy, she hired two additional employees to help her handle the workload from the demand of her product.

Unexpected growth left Amy to make some crucial decisions for the overall quality of her baby clothes, as value of her product is her first consideration in production. She quickly found her current vendor could not deliver her desired product in a price range or time frame that was necessary to help facilitate their growth.

In search of a resource that could operate within her budget and deliver on quality, Amy didn’t expect to find Blacksmith International exceeding her expectations. Now overseeing her supply chain from original samples to delivery for distribution, Blacksmith International has saved June and January both time and money to focus on the growth of her business that she loves.

About

Starting at a kitchen table in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, Amy Richardson was looking for a way to keep busy during her pregnancy. She began sewing newborn hats and now has a full product line of colorful baby clothes. Amy believes kids are fun and their clothes should be too! From 2010 to 2015, June and January has grown from a small business to a full-time career. Moving forward, June and January is looking to include new products outside the children/baby space.

Challenges

Originally operating as a small business, June and January was seeking growth. In order to allocate funds to other areas such as marketing, they came to a point where they needed to get their production costs down for their printed fabrics. Because the vendor they were using couldn’t deliver in the timeframe that they needed, they sought out overseas options.

Due to their growth, June and January also needed to hire additional employees to distribute their workload. The holiday season was sure to be a busy time for them. With the budget they were operating on, this would have been a difficult need for them to fill.

How Blacksmith Helped

Blacksmith International was able to deliver the necessary printed fabric for less than 50% of the cost that June and January was paying with their original vendor. In addition to massive financial savings, they also reaped substantial time savings. June and January was also able to hire an additional Social Media Specialist who is now maintaining customer service via their many social media channels.

Results

Blacksmith International now manages June & January’s entire supply chain. From sampling to delivery of the final product, across all product lines, Blacksmith works to save June & January time, money, and effort that can be put back into growing the business.