COVID-19 impact on the SSC Supply Chain

While most of our pieces and components are made in our Texas studio, we do rely on outside contractors for some of our supply chain. Specifically our East Coast caster, who has been a longtime parter has unfortunately not made it through the pandemic.

We can produce everything we make in-house. There are some designs though, especially our lower priced pieces, that cannot be done to price point without casting – and casting isn’t something we really want to do here. This has presented us with a dilemma that we are still trying to solve, and we ask that you bear with us while we figure it out.

The immediate upshot of losing our caster for you is that some items will be moving from casting to flat metal, some items will be discontinued (hopefully temporarily) and some items may see a price increase due to increased labor costs. This situation is still in flux, but as of today, October 12, each collections’ status is laid out below.

All items in COLLECTION that have been cast will be moving to flat metal:

ANA
ARTEMIS
ASHLEY LAUREN
BELINDA
the BRITTANY family
CALIFORNIA
CHARLISSE
DASCHA
ELISSA
EQUINOX
FALLON & FALLON Demi
GIULIA
KAYLEE
KEVIN
KIEV
KINSER
KIRIN
LEXY
MISSISSIPPI
NANA
PHAEDRA
STACI
VICKI
ZOE

…as we run through our casting inventory. In many cases this will result in a lighter weight piece. – in some cases, extremely so. For KIEV, KINSER, CALIFORNIA and ELISSA the difference is striking, and we believe it will be a good thing. No price increase is anticipated due to this move at the moment. Oh – we’ll also be able to offer many pieces in both clip and pierced that only have been available one way or another. A bonus. We’ll be updating soon, but please contact us if you need a special order.

This is a good change, and one we should have made earlier. It’s a little more work in-house, but we’re not sad about this one. We think most of our clients are going to be over the moon about it.

There will be little change in appearance. The one thing you will notice is that we’ll be moving from bezel (cup) settings on our tops (studs) to prong settings, as you see on our Studio and Couture collections. It will take a while for our images to catch up with this change, so please bear with us. We also ask that you explain this change as necessary to your own clients during the special order process.

There are a couple of pieces in Collection that are proving to be a touch more problematic, specifically CAMMI and PASHA. We are trying to hold the prices there, but the number of rings requiring hand soldering may necessitate a price increase. We will keep you posted. Orders placed in the near term will be honored at the current prices.

TRANSITIONS is not as broadly impacted, but the following items will be moving to flat metal as inventories run out:

ALI CLAIRE
ARCADIA
CALLY
ELISSA Demi
GALVESTON
HALLE
KENDRA
KIRA
MINSK
NORMA
PETRA
QUINN
SAMARA
SOPHIA
ZOE Demi

Here again, we don’t see any problems. No one ever complained about an earring being lighter. We think you’ll be thrilled.

The new SPARKE collection – the entire collection will be moving to flat metal, but several designs have been suspended pending production solutions:

BASQUE Fringe
ICEFALL
MOULIN
PASTICHE
RENNES
DARYA

This one – it’s a cost issue, not capability. We’re trying to keep the costs down on SPARKE, and the pieces that are iffy are either lots of rings, are hollow circles – both tricky to do on a cost effective basis by hand. We’re working on it, and we’ll keep you posted.

We do not anticipate any issues with CLASSICS, although there are a few designs there that depend on sourced components. At the moment, we’re clear.

STUDIO is not impacted.

SIREN is not impacted.

The new EDGE collection is native flat metal, there will be no impact.

The new PETITES collection may experience minor impact in a few spots. We’re still assessing. The LILYPAD and MOULIN items are of concern. The rest should not be an issue.

SOIRÉE has been suspended in its entirety until we partner with a reliable caster, or find more cost effective ways to manufacture the line in-house.

BRACELETS have not been slowed down by COVID per se, however they have been impacted by the insane rhodium markets, more so than much of the rest of the line because of both the area of plating and the thickness (for wearability). We expect a price increase soon unfortunately.

COUTURE is not impacted.

GENERAL NOTE:

Many places where we show a bezel/cup set top (post) will likely be changing to a prong setting, at least in the short term. We do not have photos at the moment to replace what is on site, but please be aware that you may receive either/or for a bit. Here agin – we’re trying to figure it out. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this as we try to figure out the best course of action.

We invite any input you may have on any of this. It’s always been very important to us to manufacture in the USA. We’re seeing now that it’s even more vital to keep our supply chain as close as possible, so that we can manage it, and touch it. As the situation stabilizes (we hope) it should get a little easier.

We’re a little clogged up in a few spots, but honestly, we’ve been in lots worse predicaments. We are Texas strong, and this is just another bump in the road.