Youniverse

If you read yesterday's blog post then this will be extra shocking, but the time has come to be brutally honest with you and we haven't been. 

For the last month we've been putting in ENORMOUS effort to build our own factory. In the wake of years and years of excruciating production nightmares that have cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars, the only way through seemed to be doing it ourselves. So, for the last 3 years, we've been taking steps to make that possible. Our CSA, that you all funded, provided cash flow for us to be able to get into a larger space, hire, and buy equipment. 

And a month ago we started machines rolling at The Youniverse - our Missoula based in-house factory. We produced nearly 1000 pieces in the last several weeks but it hasn't been as peachy as we've led you to believe. Simply put, we have no idea what we're doing. And that has cost us immensely. We're behind on production, struggling to find talent, out of money and out of time.

Effective immediately, the Youniverse is closing shop. Youer will remain, but there's only one way we can survive as a brand and it's something we've been resisting for so so long.

We've been martyrs for USA-Made for YEARS, but we simply cannot do it any more. The profit margins on Made In USA are non-existent, and will put us out of business soon. So, today we submitted our first purchase orders to a factory in China. We hear your shock, and we're shocked too. We're devastated that it had to come to this, but to keep providing you with a high quality product, it has to be done. 

So, this is the sad tale of yet another Made In USA failure in our long long list of them. While moving production to China is not the result we had hoped for, it will enable us to have consistent on-time production and lessen our overhead to increase profitability. Because, at the end of the day, Youer is run by capitalists and profit is all we care about. And all this time you thought we cared about people and the planet?! C'mon, that was just marketing. 

If you made it this far, are feeling panic and confusion about why your favorite brand is taking a major pivot that doesn't align with your personal values, and haven't checked your calendar yet shame on you! 

While this is probably a very mean April Fool's joke to play on you, REST ASSURED we're not changing ANYTHING about ANYTHING we're doing. While it's certainly true that we have no idea what we're doing, we're doing a pretty bang-up job of it and are totally loving the new adventure of producing in-house. It's given us a new refresh that feels exciting and challenging and not-boring in all the right ways.

Being martyrs for USA-Made is something we love deeply and our team is anything but un-talented. We're in awe of what we're all able to do on a daily basis, and while production might be a nightmare, our greatest nightmare is moving production overseas. That's not something we ever plan on doing.

While there may come a day when Youer ceases to excite people and our cash flow dries up, right now you are giving us so much love and support that these production dreams are financially possible and for that we cannot thank you enough. Thanks for supporting this wacky group of people who are just figuring shit out on a daily basis and trying to have fun along the way while providing you with things that have great stories and make getting dressed fun. We're gonna keep on doing this.

We hope this is the nastiest joke someone plays on you today.

Cheers!

Team Youer