Planning Pet Bag Production Around Chinese New Year
The Chinese New Year shutdown is longer than the public holiday and it is fixed to the official holiday announcement, not to last year's dates. Production stops ten days before the holiday starts and the buffer ends ten days after it finishes. Orders are accepted throughout; production is not, and delivery dates around the window are confirmed against the live schedule rather than estimated.
Chinese New Year is the one production interruption a buyer cannot negotiate around, and the one most commonly discovered late. The factory closes on a fixed rule, the closure is longer than the public holiday itself, and reopening is not the same as full output. Everything below is how we schedule it, so you can plan a launch date instead of asking whether we will “try”.
The rule that sets the dates
The Spring Festival date moves every year, so we never derive one year's shutdown from the previous year's. The reference is the State Council's official holiday announcement for that year, and the factory rule sits around it:
- Production stops 10 days before the official holiday begins. Workers travel home across the country, and material, printing, hardware and packaging suppliers wind down first.
- The buffer ends 10 days after the official holiday finishes. Only then does the schedule return to a normal production footing.
Two consequences follow. The closure is materially longer than the public holiday, and the exact dates cannot be published a year ahead — they are confirmed once the official announcement is out.
What continues, and what stops
The sales side does not close. The factory floor does. Confusing the two is what produces the wrong expectation.
| Continues during the shutdown | Stops during the shutdown |
|---|---|
| New inquiries and quotations | Mass production and line scheduling |
| Accepting orders and purchase orders | Cutting, sewing and assembly |
| Specification, color, material, logo and packaging confirmation | Bulk packing and carton packing |
| OEM and ODM project discussion | In-line and final QC on the production line |
| Planning the post-holiday production slot | Any sample that depends on the production line |
In one sentence: during the shutdown we take orders, we do not produce. An order confirmed in that window is accepted and joins the post-holiday queue, and we tell you where in that queue it sits.
Three scheduling windows
Whether your dates are comfortable depends entirely on which window your order confirmation falls into.
| Window | What it means for your order |
|---|---|
| Normal production period | There is enough room before the shutdown window, so standard lead times apply: approximately 15–30 days for standard custom orders and 20–45 days for heavy customization, counted from the confirmation point described below. |
| Pre-holiday peak | The window is close. Fabric lead times, factory scheduling, packaging supply and shipping space all tighten at the same time, and the delivery date is confirmed per order rather than read off the standard range. |
| Shutdown period | Order accepted, production pending until the factory reopens. Deposits, artwork and material confirmation still move forward so that nothing is waiting on paperwork when the line restarts. |
Reopening is not full output
The most expensive planning mistake is treating the reopening date as the day your goods start moving. After the holiday, staff return in stages; fabric mills, printers, hardware and packaging suppliers restart on their own calendars; freight capacity recovers gradually; and the pre-holiday backlog is ahead of you in the queue. The end of the shutdown period is when scheduling resumes — not when every order is suddenly in production.
How to work backwards from a shelf date
If you have a launch date, do not calculate it from the production lead time alone. The honest arithmetic is:
- Order confirmation date
- + the shutdown window, if it falls in between
- + material lead time for your fabric, hardware and packaging
- + the production queue position
- + the actual production lead time
- + transit time to your market — see the Incoterms and landed-cost guide for reference sea and air figures
Production time itself only starts once the final sample is approved, the specification, materials, colors, logo and packaging are confirmed, the proforma invoice is agreed, the deposit has arrived and the production files are released. Anything outstanding on that list moves the whole chain, which is why we push sample approval and artwork forward hard when a shutdown is between you and your dates. Our custom order FAQ sets out those confirmation points in full.
What we will not promise
Before the schedule is actually checked, we will not say “definitely before the holiday”, “guaranteed shipment before the shutdown”, “we start the first day back” or “no delay over Chinese New Year”. Around the shutdown we do not estimate delivery dates; we check the live production schedule against your quantity and specification and confirm the earliest realistic shipping date. A date you can plan around is worth more than a date that sounds good in an email.
Practical steps if your season depends on it
- Bring sample approval forward. A sample that needs the production line cannot be made during the shutdown.
- Fix artwork and packaging early — packaging follows its own supplier MOQ and sampling time, covered in the logo and packaging guide.
- Settle fabric before the peak. Custom colors need dye lots, and mills wind down before the factory does; the fabric selection guide shows what to lock in.
- Book freight early. Space before the holiday is the second bottleneck after production.
- Ask for the queue position, not just the lead time, if you confirm inside or near the window.
Can you produce during Chinese New Year?
No. Orders can be received and confirmed, but factory production is suspended for the shutdown period. Work that does not need the line — quotations, specification, artwork, planning the post-holiday slot — continues.
How long is the factory actually closed?
From 10 days before the official holiday starts until 10 days after it ends. That is longer than the public holiday, and it is the window to plan against.
If I place an order now, when can you ship?
Around the shutdown that cannot be answered from the standard lead time. We check the confirmation date, the shutdown window, material lead time, the production queue and the real production time, then confirm a date.
Should I ship before the holiday or after?
It depends on your shelf date and on how much of your specification is already fixed. If materials and artwork are settled and there is room before the peak, shipping before the holiday avoids the queue entirely; if not, a post-holiday slot booked early usually beats a pre-holiday slot missed by a week.
Eland Bag also manufactures wholesale pet carriers and travel bags and OEM pet backpack carriers at the same MOQ, so one factory can supply a complete travel range.