Held Captive...For Boots!

Jan. 26, 2011 - PRLog -- I sit here as my 1 year old baby girl sleeps in the other room and wonder how did we get here? My best friend and business partner Cansion is being held captive in a Chinese factory office guarded by two big black dogs for the last two days with irregular visits by security staff to walk her to the toilet and back; a mobile phone that’s running out of power and the almost impossible task of getting $10K Au in cash by the end of business hours today or she will be put in prison for the biggest celebration of the year in China, New Years. All this over women’s fashion wide calf boots!
It seems unreal but then so much of creating the Bennetts Boots brand has been crazy, scary and beyond most people’s understanding of manufacturing a unique product like wide calf boots.
We started Bennetts Boots in 2007 with no industry or technical experience in shoes, retail, imports, manufacturing, fashion etc… so we were bound to be taken on a fantastic journey of discovery but did not expect to be fearing bankruptcy or putting the life of one of us in danger. Yet here we are waiting anxiously as the day roles out. It seems silly as in this particular situation none of the parties involved have done anything wrong. I can’t complain that we are being done wrong by like we have in the past.
There is a lot of skill that goes into making a boot wider calf and have it fit properly, comfortably as well as balance so it can be stood up for display. So instead of finding a solution to the fitting and balance problem they just cut the calf size down by 2cm each. Not great when you’re promoting selling wide calf boots and they are only 2cm wider than the boots in the shops instead of the 4cm you had planned. From this we knew we had to find a more skilled Designer. Designers are hard to find so we went to Wenhou where 70% of the world’s shoes were made and the skilled craftsmen resided. We did find a Designer here who was known for his skill in boots and got our next style made. This was much better and the right measurements but we needed the boots to be made in three different calf widths and the designer we found said this was past his skills and we need a “Master Designer”. Sounds impressive but the reality is “Master Designers” are rare and very very very highly paid. Of course the Master designer couldn’t keep doing this work for free as it takes a long time to design a pair if Bennetts Boots and with such a huge size range and calf range she could design 5+ pairs to our one pair. As none of us were being paid yet and still working other fulltime jobs, there was no way we could afford her. So we sourced some high quality designers and had them train under a Master Designer for 6 months. Of the group we started only one came out the end of the highly difficult process. A woman called Rachel who now trains other designs and makes or oversees the Bennetts Boots patterns that are produced in China and in other countries.
I suspect you’re wondering how Cansion’s life was put in danger. It was Christmas Day two months after the World Financial Crisis hit. I was at my mum’s for Christmas dinner and I get an urgent text from Cansion to contact her urgently. I called straight away and could here huge noise in the back ground. “what’s going on?” I asked. “there’s huge riots here, they are destroying the factory.” She said sounding scared. “Who is? Why are you still there? Get out now!”. I panicked as we had almost lost Cansion the year before to a bad bike accident where she was unconscious for two weeks and we had no idea what was happening.
“I can’t”
“Why? Are you hurt?”
“No, if I leave they will take or destroy the half finished boots”
“So what get out of there, your way more important than boots”
“Thank-you but I know if you don’t get these you will be in big trouble” and she was right, we were re-mortgaged to the hilt, with no way of covering the house payments  and if these boots didn’t arrive we would lose everything and be living on the streets, or worse at my mums (lol, just kidding).
“It doesn’t matter, you are more important, get out of there”
“no”
“Yes Cansion, please get out” we were shouting over the noise in the background of things being smashed and shouting. It was a world away from the quiet comfort of my mums sitting room.
“Wait, I’ll call you back in 10 mins”
“Wait….” I said as the line went dead. As I’m sure you can imagine walking back into the backyard and all the family laughing, smiling and eating a yummy Christmas dinner, I was a little shocked. It was a real riot, like the ones you see in movies, and our friend was in the middle of it and staying to protect stupid bloody boots. I felt helpless, scared and angry all at once and must have looked at that phone over a thousand times as I waited for her to call back.
When she finally did she told me that the workers were rioting as the factory was closing due to the financial crisis and they weren’t going to be paid. At that stage there was reports of over 1000 factories closing a day in China. She confirmed that she was safe and that the workers agreed not to hurt her, mainly because she had been working with them overseeing the boots production and unlike many of their other bosses she was nice to them. She still wouldn’t sleep as mobs can change their minds very quickly. She wouldn’t leave no matter how much I pleaded with her using the excuse they would have taken the leather and sold it.
Now here she is again being kept captive in an office trying to get $10K cash. Why you’re probably asking. When we order boots we need to pay for them in advance to them being sent to Australia. This causes huge cash flow problems every year especially as we are growing at 400% + every year. So we use credit cards and credit facilities to help manage this. Now we have been in business for a few years we qualify for  “trade credit” where  they will lend money against the good we are purchasing. To do this the finance company requires the “bill of lading” which is supplied by the shipping company before it will release the funds. We had promised the big factory that we would have their money before Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) which is by end of business day today. Due to a shipping delay they Bill of Lading won’t be released until today and it takes 3 days for payment to be processed.
The factory is scared to let Cansion go just in case she runs away and they are out 100K but understand the situation and agreed if she could get 10KAU cash by end of business today they will wait for the rest. The shipping company can’t help having a delay, which I think was something to do with a storm.
We don’t have $10K cash to send even if we maxed out all our credit cards etc… plus we have wages to pay here today.
Cansion can’t leave to find someone who could help and her phone is running out of power. The office equipment is all off from the mains as the factory has closed for the holiday other then the security guy who comes to let her out for toilet brakes.
I sit here and hope that we have been able to get this organised in time to save Cansion from a Chinese jail I wonder how we are going to pay the fantastic people who have leant us the money in the next three weeks. I just hope we have a really sharp cold spell and everyone goes out and gets their boots early this year.
Now I’m sure your reading this wondering how so much can happen in 3 years but I am yet to tell you of the accounts person who stole $80K, the billionaire’s son, the mining tycoon marriage proposal, the bike accident, return of the long lost father and many other adventures. It feels like we are living a novel.  I really had no idea Bennetts Boots was going to be so involved and such an adventure when we started or that getting wide calf boots to the masses would be so hard; I wonder what’s going to happen in 2011.