Chinese New Year. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. It's something we never thought about before it was something that had to be important to us. As some of you might know, our suppliers are located in China - so we've learned a lot about their culture since starting to work with them about 4 years ago.

Before we started working with individuals who live in China, we weren't aware of all that went on during Chinese New Year. Unlike in the US, the date for Chinese New Year is different every year. It's always between January 21 - February 20th, but it's all based on the Lunar Calendar, which is why it changes every year. This year, on January 17th, something called "Little Year" begins (these are basically the preparations for New Year) - and it lasts until January 24th, which is New Years Eve for them.

January 25th is officially New Years Day, and it also kicks of Spring Festival which is an 11 day festival to celebrate the New Year. (They say it's the biggest celebration in the world!) Once that's over, February 5th-8th is the Lantern Festival - which is the culmination of all the New Years festivities. So yeah...a bit different than American New Years!

Like I mentioned above, we have absolutely loved working with our suppliers in China. Through our many messages, video chats, and years of working together, we've gotten to know them pretty well. It's crazy to think that we are connected with people on the other side of the world because of Sky, and even more cool - that people on the other side of the world are connected to Sky's mission of bringing hope to the homeless in the US.

All that being said, adjusting to their New Year celebration schedule has definitely been a learning curve for us. At the end of 2018, we made the mistake of not getting our spiring order in with enough time to get production finished before the New Year. Since all of the factories shut down for nearly a month during this time, our whole shipment was delayed significantly because we didn't understand how the timing of things worked.

That's why, with plenty of months left in 2019, we were already getting our spring 2020 order ready to go - so we wouldn't run into the same issue of having to wait until after Chinese New Year! As we grow, we are learning :)

We would love to one day be able to go over and experience it ourselves, but in the meantime we asked a few of our suppliers to tell us what they love about Chinese New Year. Here's what they said!

Anna, our hat supplier, told us that it's the most important festival in China. To celebrate, everybody gets together with their families and has a big meal - traditionally, they eat dumplings! People set off firecrackers and older family members give the children a red pack of "lucky" money...which is basically just regular money in a red envelope. Lots of traveling and visiting extended relatives, too.

Bella, one of our sock suppliers, echoed a lot of what Anna said with family getting together and eating dumplings. She also said that most work stops during this time, and they all just travel, eat well, and spend time with friends and family.

Sounds pretty fun, don't ya think?? Maybe we should turn our one night of New Years celebrations in America into something a little bigger next year...or I guess I'd settle for at least just eating more dumplings!

Pictures sent to us from Bella, our supplier. Red is the color of Chinese New Year!
Learn more about CNY here.

Chinese New Year. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. It's something we never thought about before it was something that had to be important to us. As some of you might know, our suppliers are located in China - so we've learned a lot about their culture since starting to work with them about 4 years ago.

Before we started working with individuals who live in China, we weren't aware of all that went on during Chinese New Year. Unlike in the US, the date for Chinese New Year is different every year. It's always between January 21 - February 20th, but it's all based on the Lunar Calendar, which is why it changes every year. This year, on January 17th, something called "Little Year" begins (these are basically the preparations for New Year) - and it lasts until January 24th, which is New Years Eve for them.

January 25th is officially New Years Day, and it also kicks of Spring Festival which is an 11 day festival to celebrate the New Year. (They say it's the biggest celebration in the world!) Once that's over, February 5th-8th is the Lantern Festival - which is the culmination of all the New Years festivities. So yeah...a bit different than American New Years!

Like I mentioned above, we have absolutely loved working with our suppliers in China. Through our many messages, video chats, and years of working together, we've gotten to know them pretty well. It's crazy to think that we are connected with people on the other side of the world because of Sky, and even more cool - that people on the other side of the world are connected to Sky's mission of bringing hope to the homeless in the US.

All that being said, adjusting to their New Year celebration schedule has definitely been a learning curve for us. At the end of 2018, we made the mistake of not getting our spiring order in with enough time to get production finished before the New Year. Since all of the factories shut down for nearly a month during this time, our whole shipment was delayed significantly because we didn't understand how the timing of things worked.

That's why, with plenty of months left in 2019, we were already getting our spring 2020 order ready to go - so we wouldn't run into the same issue of having to wait until after Chinese New Year! As we grow, we are learning :)

We would love to one day be able to go over and experience it ourselves, but in the meantime we asked a few of our suppliers to tell us what they love about Chinese New Year. Here's what they said!

Anna, our hat supplier, told us that it's the most important festival in China. To celebrate, everybody gets together with their families and has a big meal - traditionally, they eat dumplings! People set off firecrackers and older family members give the children a red pack of "lucky" money...which is basically just regular money in a red envelope. Lots of traveling and visiting extended relatives, too.

Bella, one of our sock suppliers, echoed a lot of what Anna said with family getting together and eating dumplings. She also said that most work stops during this time, and they all just travel, eat well, and spend time with friends and family.

Sounds pretty fun, don't ya think?? Maybe we should turn our one night of New Years celebrations in America into something a little bigger next year...or I guess I'd settle for at least just eating more dumplings!

Pictures sent to us from Bella, our supplier. Red is the color of Chinese New Year!
Learn more about CNY here.