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complete transparency
our journey of learning and growth
while more than 10,000+ people around the world have a pair of slø jeans, it's no secret we had our fair share of problems getting started, let us explain the solutions we've created to ensure a better customer experience.
problem #1: timelines
manufacturing, fulfillment, and exchange timelines
manufacturing
our first two collections were manufactured by a manufacturer in Napoli, Italy. we were ensured that due to their background as tailors, they understood the complexity of our orders and could handle them with a capacity of up to 5,000 units per week.
in reality, it took us almost 4 months to make the first 5,000 units, and the expectations, timelines, and quality took a hit as a result. it was a disasterours first attempt at trying to build the world's largest size set, and with over 3000 unique variants available for purchase, something the manufacturer could not handle, regardless of their initial confidence.
fulfillment
shipping out of Italy was incredibly expensive, slow, and there was a lack of service providers that had coverage for some of our most popular markets (the US, Australia, and Canada for example). we found a fulfillment partner in the Netherlands through a connection we had worked with previously who took us on as a client. The expectations were set, the capacity was contracted at 5000-10,000 units per month, and the jeans were sent to the facility to be dispatched around the world. In reality, the company was not prepared for our amount of SKUs, was overconfident in their ability to meet timelines, and even after almost a dozen meetings with ideas to optimize and improve the system, were unable to do so.
exchanges
as a result of using an external manufacturer, all exchanges, or remakes needed to be submitted to them. After underestimating the complexity of our project they refused to make single units, and would only take orders in batches of 25 or more. causing us to either have to make 25 pairs to replace a single pair, or waiting for exchanges/remakes to accumulate before placing the order. both horrible options, and both options that contributed to a really negative experience for our launch 1 and 2 customers.
solution #1: timelines
almost 8 months of planning, the solutions are here!
manufacturing
we have built our own manufacuturing facility in Istanbul, turkey that we are calling Groovy Labs. It is 100% optimized for our system, and exclusively designed to create slow fashion garments. Groovy labs is the world's first factory 100% dedicated to a single brand and a single system. The entire factory is supported and optimized using a first of it's kind AI system we have designed in house we're calling Disco AI, and will allow us to create 100% customized garments in 21 days or less.
fulfillment
inside of our new manufacturing facility is a built-in fulfillment set up, powered by some of the world's top delivery partners (Fedex, USPS, DHL, Aramex, and more). We will be able to take finished garments and pack them within minutes, not months. They will then be dispatched globally directly from our facility.
as a result we will be able to fulfill every completed garment within 72 hours.
exchanges
we're now our own manufacturer, and have built a manufacturing line exclusively for remakes, exchanges, and emergency production. with end to end control, we now have the ability to facilitate exchanges faster, better, and with absolutely no sacrifice to quality or standards.
within our new AI system is also a self service customer service portal in which you will be able to initiate exchanges without the need of writing us e-mails or awaiting answers from customer support.
problem #2: communications
too many people left in the dark.
radio silence
our first two launches ended up being fragmented into almost 100 subgroups of people as a result of manufacturing issues. it became impossible to provide accurate updates to large groups of people due to some jeans nearing completion, while others had not begun production, only amplified by our manufacturing partners giving us false information in order for us to "not be upset" with them. much of this information was then provided to customers, causing a ridiculous amount of confusion, frustration, and misunderstanding. our two person communications team could not verify information fast enough leading to large periods of time with little to no communication, a very very big issue when your manufacturing timelines are also way off.
solution #2: communications
automated, efficient, and personal updates
product tagging
moving forward every update you receive will be a personal update, specifically about YOUR garment as a result of our new QR code tracking system. Every single product will contain a QR code that is scanned through each stage of production, automatically sending you an update e-mail with the stage of production, the person working on your garment, and the timeline to completion. We're completely removing any chance of human error and giving you complete control on how frequently you'd like to be updated. don't care and just want it to arrive? no problem, opt out of updates. want to know each and every step? no problem we'll update you with each scan.
problem #3: customer service
too many tickets, not enough support
leaving you hanging
believe it or not, we have some of the best customer support agents in the industry, but if you can't get a timely reply, that doesn't matter. our customer support timelines were far too long as a result of insanely high ticket volumes (thanks to all of the above) our customer service team could not keep up with the tickets, and even when hiring additional support, the complexity of the issues meant only a limited number of people had the knowledge, expertise, and ability to reply to very specific scenarios. all in all, it has not been a good enough customer experience and it is something we have been incredibly disappointed with (especially our customer support team who want to be doing so much more!)
we've got a lot of work to do, but we will never hide our flaws from you.
our team is dedicated to building a better, faster, and more efficient system that significantly improves the customer experience. we sincerely apologize for the past mistakes, and we do hope you'll consider giving us another chance to earn back your trust.
solution #3: customer service
self service, additional resources, and more people
easy access
we're implementing more customer service agents, a self-service system for facilitating exchanges, defect reports, and for seeking updates on your order, as well as a chatbot system powered by ChatGPT 4 that will help to answer general inquiries, questions about products, or on-site issues. These additional levels of support will keep our human customer support team less occupied and available to help solve your more complicated inquiries while ensuring we get ticket solution timelines down by weeks.
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