VANCOUVER -- The coronavirus has hit the retail business hard, and as stores cancel orders, small businesses all along the supply chain could be left holding the bag.
Vancouver designer Jane Nemis founded Echo Verde Clothing more than a decade ago, and the company has since helped keep small businesses afloat on two continents.
"I started my own little company 11 years ago. I still work from home. I still pick and pack all the orders myself," said Nemis in a Zoom interview with CTV News. "And I go to China and work with my factories twice a year."
Those small factories are located near Wuhan, the epicentre of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
As that region gets back to work, those small factories are ready to ship Echo Verde’s spring line, but the small Canadian boutiques that sell the clothes are mostly closed and cancelling orders.
"I am trying to crowdfund by charging just the cost of the linen to try and get my goods paid for so that I can get them onto a boat and get them over here,” said Nemis. "And still support my little factory and not leave them hanging with the goods."
Nemis owes the factories about $10,000 Cdn for the spring shipment, but because of the cancelled orders she has been paying them in small instalments.
Regardless how successful the crowdfunding campaign is, she says she will make sure the bill is paid in full.
She has also applied for the Canada Emergency Business Account, an interest-free loan program providing eligible small businesses with access up to $40,000.
If she qualifies, it will provide some certainty as she begins placing orders for her fall line.
In the meantime, at the other end of the supply chain, some of the small boutiques that carry Echo Verde clothes are adapting to the new reality of coronavirus restrictions.
"It’s been a big transition. We pivoted to online fairly quickly," said Sonia Kalathil of Kali Trading on Commercial Drive.
After 27 years in business, COVID-19 finally forced the store to build a sales website.
The small retail shop has also partnered with Echo Verde, allowing customers to place online orders which Nemis then ships directly.
Her personal connection to the factory links the whole chain.
"That ultimately is something that is really important to my customers, that’s what they look to us for,” said Kalathil, who also works with other suppliers that source ethically-made, eco-friendly clothing.
