As many of you know, STIK headquarters is based in Boston, but the reality is that all of our products are handmade (with lots of TLC) in Peru. But what does that really mean? What does that really look like? How does production really work? These are all really great questions that we get asked all the time: Enter this blog post.
It’s crazy to think about, but your beloved STIK products are touched by so many people prior to them arriving on your doorstep. Although the journey that our wraps, beanies, earrings, etc. is long, we believe that it’s important for our customers understand the different aspects of our production process.
For the most part, all of our products are the brainchild of our main girl boss, Christina. As a team, we work together to come up with ideas for new products, and Christina creates her vision. (Way back in the day, Christina used to actually design, sketch, AND knit all the hats, but we’re in the big leagues now.) The team works together to finalize the vision and ideas, before they get communicated to Peru.
Christina and our operations manager, Sarah, then share our ideas with the team in Lima, Peru and they start knitting prototypes and samples before we fully lock in on any ideas. The process of finalizing samples can take anywhere from a week to several months. We go back and forth until we have the perfect design and it matches exactly what we’re looking for.
Once we finalize the sample, our knitters receive the raw materials to start knitting. They are given timelines and the quantities they are each responsible for.
Obviously there are many miles between our two teams, but to keep our whole operation going, communication is (#major) key!
We are in constant communication with our team in Peru - getting updates on how production is going, talking about new ideas, and getting updates on the amount of raw materials we have as back stock (in case our amazing customers buy all of our shit !!!!).
Once each knitter finishes their products, they send them to our main facility in Peru, where they go through several rounds of QA (quality assurance) to make sure they are completely perfect for our customers. From their they get shipped to us, and we ship your products to you from Boston.
Phew, I’m tired just thinking about this. It’s a lot of work, but luckily we have some seriously amazing team members who make this all happen like a perfectly orchestrated Taylor Swift concert (I mean, have you seen her shows?!)
So there you have it - a one page version of months and months of work that it takes to product our sh*t. Of course, if you have any further questions about our process you can always hit us up at wazzup@shitthatiknit.com.
XO,
The STIK Team
