June 11, 2021

To: Our Valued Customers,

The purpose of this letter is to discuss the impact that the current global economic climate is having on the cost and deliveries of your uniform apparel. A confluence of factors have arisen over the past year to create an environment in which materials and labor costs, as well as the cost for ocean freight have risen exponentially. In particular, the following factors have directly affected our costs as a uniform apparel importer and distributor.

• The dollar continues to be devalued vs the Chinese yuan resulting in an increase in labor and material cost of approximately 15%.
• Many importers who moved their production out of China are now returning to China, as Covid has had a devastating impact in India and the Middle East on manufacturing output.
• This has further backed-up production in the Chinese factories, which was already critical due to the increased demand for goods as the pandemic eased.
• Compounding these problems is the lack of shipping containers available in China and overbooked ports all over the world, which has pushed shipping costs up by 110%.

So, even though Christy & Main planned ahead and secured factories’ production well into 2022, these factors have resulted in transit delays and significant cost increases.

As a result of this unprecedented situation, we have had to make the difficult decision to add a temporary fee per apparel item of $0.25 to cover the substantial increase in ocean transit costs. This will go into effect on order received as of July 1, 2021. We do not make this decision lightly, but it is a necessary one. It is our intention to remove this charge as soon as the shipping costs return to normal.

All of us here at Christy & Main thank you for your patience and understanding concerning this difficult situation. We are grateful to you for trusting us with your uniform apparel needs and look forward to continuing our partnership with you.

Sincerely,

Bruce L Main
CEO