A pair of children's skates comes back to a European retailer because the box says 33-36 and the boot fits neither end of that range. In the same week, a product manager asks a factory for one SKU that covers four sizes for the coming winter. Both of them want custom ice skates. They mean two different things. Short a...
Read MoreA skate that stops fitting four months after purchase is the most expensive return a children's retailer can carry. That is why adjustable sizing has moved from a bonus feature to a baseline requirement in the kids' roller skate category, and why "custom" and "adjustable" now land on the same purchase order as two sep...
Read MoreThe order that goes wrong is rarely the one with a bad sample. It is the one where the helmet cartons read EN 1078, the purchase order was written against CPSC 16 CFR 1203, and nobody notices until the customs broker asks for the test report that names the model number on the box. China remains the world's largest sou...
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