Hi there,
I wanted to share something a little different this week.
We don’t often talk about what happens behind the scenes at Thread & Maple -- we usually prefer to keep the focus on your projects, your tools, and the joy of making. But lately, it’s felt important to open that door just a little, and let you see the human side of what we’re building.
This past season has been… a lot.
Building Something Bigger (and More Complex)
At the start of the year, we made the decision to partner with a U.S. warehouse so that our American customers wouldn’t have to deal with long shipping times, tariffs, or surprise fees. It felt like the right move -- and it is -- but getting there has been far more complex than we anticipated.
Many of our products aren’t simple “pick and pack” items. A lot of your orders are assembled by hand -- matching the right binder pages, backings, tabs, and inserts, often from dozens of components. It’s something our team has learned through experience and care, and translating that into a third-party system hasn’t been straightforward. We’ve been training, troubleshooting, and sometimes reworking things order by order.
At the same time, our inventory system -- the backbone that connects everything from Shopify to wholesale -- surprised us when we learned it wasn’t built for reading multiple fulfillment locations from Shopify (the storefront you use to shop). That’s meant a lot of additional work behind the scenes, manually routing every single item in every order, just to make sure your order goes to the right place and gets to you correctly.
The Things We Couldn’t Plan For
And then there were the unexpected challenges.
At the beginning of January, we unexpectedly ran out of our core leather supply, reserves included. We had to return an entire shipment that was off-color and too scarred to use. We had to wait for a new batch to be produced from scratch, which took weeks -- right as we were heading into one of our busiest seasons, with shows, restocks, and new launches planned.
Meanwhile, our small team has been packing shipments, preparing for shows, on constant calls with Fedex, coordinating cross-border logistics, and yes -- literally driving inventory across the border ourselves because it was the only viable option.
On top of that, our new releases slowed down when our product development team lead in Ukraine had to travel east because her husband was wounded in the war. Thankfully, he is now recuperating and she has been able to return to work -- something we’re deeply grateful for on a human level, beyond just the impact on our business.
Many of our leather makers there are women now, because so many of our male workers have been drafted. It’s a reality that adds a layer of uncertainty we’re constantly navigating with care and respect.
What This Meant for You
All of this had real consequences.
Slower shipping times.
Out-of-stock items.
A quieter start to the year than we’ve ever had.
And I know you’ve felt that.
So I want to say: thank you. For your patience, your kind messages, and for continuing to support us through a season that hasn’t been easy.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Moving Forward
The good news is that things are moving forward again.
We’re receiving inventory, restocking our shelves, and improving how orders are processed. Our U.S. warehouse is getting back on track, and we’ve found workarounds for some of the systems that slowed us down. Our product development is also picking up again, which means new pieces are finally on the horizon.
It’s been a season of learning -- sometimes the hard way -- but also of building something more resilient.
Thread & Maple has always been a small team, shaped by real people with real lives: running a business while raising young children, working across countries and time zones, and doing our best to create something meaningful in a complicated world.
We’re still here. Still making. Still improving.
And we’re very grateful you’re part of this with us.
With appreciation,
