Go back just a year ago and it wouldn’t have mattered that three 40-foot corrugated metal shipping containers stuffed with thousands of ugly holiday sweaters couldn’t make their way out of a California port.
Who was going out to the bars? Or heading to a big family dinner? Who worried about buying a new quirky sweater when life looked grim as COVID-19 cases soared?
Fred Hajjar, president of Commerce Township-based UglyChristmasSweater.com, sold a lot of holiday lounge pants and pajamas last year as people stayed home.
Now he sees the ugly sweaters making a beautiful comeback, as more people feel festive, plan to see family and continue to shop from home. He estimates the online retailer will sell 100,000 or more in holiday sweaters.
“I’m fairly confident, it’s going to be a big year,” Hajjar said. “Christmas sweaters, there’ll definitely be a shortage.”
Demand is driving optimism this year but kinks in the supply chain, including bottlenecks along various points in the transportation system, could cut into supply. We’re hearing talk about potential shortages of toys, trees and, yes, maybe even holiday sweaters.
Where’s Jay and Silent Bob?
The ugly sweater story is a local snapshot of shortages, higher prices and headaches or opportunities, depending on your point of view. Many ugly vintage Christmas sweaters, after all, started out in the late 1980s and as another person’s merry fashion statement.
Hajjar is facing skyrocketing transportation costs, extraordinary delays and worrying about those three containers of sweaters and pajamas.
“Ours are stuck, I believe, in Long Beach,” Hajjar said.
The containers are packed with a popular holiday sweater featuring the movie characters Jay and Silent Bob and a special line of holiday pajamas where families can have their names printed on the PJs. A family of three can spend $120 or more on matching holiday-themed sleepwear.
Roughly, 30,000 pieces of fun holiday gear — each container can hold 10,000 items — should be in Commerce Township, ready go, but in mid-October they were caught up in one giant supply chain mess.
What it takes to get back to normal
This holiday, many people want to get back to normal — or at least within 6 feet of normal.
And for many, no holiday is complete without showing up somewhere in a garish green-and-red sweater with Dwight K. Schrute from “The Office” on the front or donning a sparkly, candy cane-covered black blazer.
Many are giving up on sitting on the couch trying to Zoom for the holidays. People have money to spend, thanks to the federal stimulus rollouts and the uptick in the economy.
“If you follow college football at all, there’s like 100,000 people in the stadiums,” said Hajjar, who got his start in the novelty clothing business selling T-shirts out of his Hubbard Hall dorm room at Michigan State University. Make no mistake, his…
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