How Chinese New Year Shut Down My Supply Chain and What Every Product Founder Needs to Know

In February 2021, my business went dark.

No emails. No tracking numbers. Zero samples.

Missing Chinese New Year cost me weeks of launch time, and the worst part? I didn’t even know it was coming.

I was deep in launch mode, running on adrenaline and a spreadsheet, sourcing samples from a manufacturer in China. Then, everything went quiet.

I thought I’d been ghosted.

Turns out, factories in China shut down for 15 days to a month every Chinese New Year. No production. No shipping. No exceptions.

From that moment on, Chinese New Year became one of the most important dates in my inventory planning calendar. Every single year.

As we settle into the Year of the Horse, I’m reminded of that version of me: the one who thought she could outrun a holiday she didn’t know existed.

The lesson I carried forward: Your supply chain runs on the world’s calendar, not yours.