How to Effectively Plan Sourcing Around Chinese Holidays — Especially Chinese New Year

And Why Smart Brands Start Planning in Late Summer/Early Fall

If your products are made in China or rely on components from the region, few events influence your production schedule more than Chinese New Year (CNY). While most U.S. holidays cause minimal disruption, Chinese New Year is different: factories shut down for 1–4 weeks, workers travel long distances home, and production takes time to ramp back up once operations reopen.

That’s why smart brands start preparing months earlier than most people realize — often in summer or early fall. By the time winter arrives, the most successful brands already have their timelines locked, samples approved, and production underway.

Why Planning Needs to Start So Early

Chinese New Year does not fall on the same day every year.  Chinese New Year does not fall on a fixed calendar date; it follows the lunar calendar and typically occurs between January 21 and February 20, shifting each year based on the new moon.

Before the holiday:

• Factories are overwhelmed with last-minute orders

• Raw material suppliers run at limited capacity and close even earlier that most production factories

• Freight rates can climb

• Production lead-tims can get longer

After the holiday:

• Factories reopen slowly

• Staffing levels drop as some workers don’t return

• The workers that do return don’t often give an exact date of return

• Lead times temporarily extend if there are labor shortages

Because of these realities, effective planning must begin months in advance.
At Flywheel Sourcing, our clients start forecasting and locking in timelines as early as August or September to avoid the crunch.

Ask yourself:
👉 Did you prepare that early this year?
If not, you’re not alone — and the good news is that better planning can transform next year’s results.

How to Plan Ahead — The Flywheel Approach

1. Work closely with your factories to understand their slow down and lead-times going into and coming out of Chinese New Year.

The most reliable CNY plans begin before holiday chaos hits. By late summer and early fall, we help clients:

• Finalize designs

• Approve samples

• Confirm raw materials

• Reserve factory capacity

This early work prevents the January panic that leads to delays, expediting, and compromised quality.

2. Build in extra time for sample development and approvals

Sample rooms slow down dramatically as CNY approaches, because factories prioritize mass production.

By pushing sample timelines earlier (late summer/early fall), clients avoid bottlenecks — and avoid approving samples under pressure.

3. Plan for a slower return to production after the holiday

Even when factories reopen, labor shortages and retraining periods mean production isn't instantly back to full speed.

Because we begin planning in late summer, we can build realistic lead times into your Q1 schedule — instead of reacting to delays later.

4. Secure freight space early, before pre-CNY congestion

The weeks leading into CNY are among the busiest in global logistics.

Booking freight early — again, starting in the fall — helps avoid inflated rates and reduces the need for costly air shipments.

5. Maintain constant communication with factories

Every factory has unique closure dates, restart timelines, and holiday impacts.
Early preparation gives us time to:

• Confirm factory schedules.  Last order placement dates to ship before Chinese New Year and first order ship dates after Chinese New Year.

• Align raw material suppliers

• Prioritize orders correctly

• Update you with accurate timelines

Last-minute planning doesn’t allow for this level of transparency or control.

6. Use multi-country sourcing to reduce single-country holiday risk

Many brands rely solely on China, but Flywheel’s multi-country network (China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia) enables clients to spread production and avoid complete shutdowns.

The earlier this planning starts, the more options are available.

Why Early Planning Matters

Starting in late summer/early fall helps brands:

✨ Hit ship windows confidently
✨ Avoid rushed production
✨ Reduce QC issues
✨ Prevent expensive freight surprises
✨ Build predictable inventory flow
✨ Maintain margin and cash flow stability

Brands that prepare early don’t worry about CNY — they’re already ahead of it.

Are You Ready for 2026?

Did you start planning in late summer this year?
If not, we can help you change that.

Flywheel’s on-the-ground teams in Asia work directly with factories to create sourcing calendars that anticipate CNY, not get disrupted by it.

If you want 2026 to run more smoothly, now is the time to start building next year’s plan.

Let’s prepare earlier — and smarter — together.