Distributors lose sales when a fast size runs out in a busy month, and they tie up cash when they over-order slow sizes. Peak season makes both mistakes more expensive, because the factory may need longer to dispatch just as your customers want more stock. This guide is for wholesalers and distributors who buy steel or brass safety pins from India and need a reorder calendar, not only a one-off lead time.
It complements our export lead times article, which explains how to plan a bulk order step by step. Here the focus is the peak-season calendar: what lengthens factory dispatch between October and January, how to work backwards from the date stock must sit in your warehouse, and a labelled EXAMPLE of a reorder point.
This is general planning information, not a production-slot guarantee or a freight quote. Dispatch ranges come from Suvik Overseas’s shipping and delivery policy, checked on 8 November 2026. Every worked figure below is an EXAMPLE for illustration only, not a Suvik price, a reserved capacity or a transit time. Transit and destination clearance are not quoted as fixed numbers on the policy — add the times your forwarder gives you. Confirm current dispatch dates with the sales team when you place the order.
Quick answer
Factory peak production season: lead times may be longer from October to January. The sales team confirms updated timelines when the order is placed.
Dispatch after payment confirmation (not door-to-door): ready stock 3–5 business days; made-to-order or custom packaging 10–21 business days; large FCL/LCL export consignments 15–30 business days, including stuffing and documentation.
Transit is extra. Ocean or air time from Kolkata, plus destination customs, is not a fixed figure on the shipping policy. Ask your forwarder and add it to the factory dispatch window.
Work backwards from the warehouse date, not from today’s catalogue mood. The order date is: required-on-shelf date, minus transit and clearance, minus the matching factory dispatch window, minus a buffer for peak confirmation delays.
Reorder point (units) is, in plain terms: expected sales during the time until the next shipment can arrive, plus the safety stock you choose from your own stock-out history. Do not treat any percentage in this article as a Suvik rule.
Minimum order quantity is negotiable and depends on size, finish and packaging. Ask for a confirmed figure with your specification.
Loading: sea from Kolkata (INKOL) or air from Kolkata Airport (CCU), typically FOB Kolkata or CIF named destination, with DDP available on request.
Two clocks: your selling peak and the factory’s busy months
Peak season is easy to treat as one idea. For a safety-pin distributor it is two clocks that can overlap.
The factory clock. Suvik’s shipping policy states that lead times may vary during peak production seasons (October–January). That window applies to production and dispatch in Kolkata. It does not, by itself, tell you when your local garment factories or retailers will buy more pins.
Your selling clock. Destination demand follows your customers. A garment exporter’s tagging peak, a laundry-supply season, or a retail holiday programme can fall on different months in the US, the EU, the Gulf or Southeast Asia. This article does not invent a worldwide demand calendar or claim which months are Suvik’s highest sales. Use your own sell-through history.
The planning risk is the overlap: you often need cartons in your warehouse before your busy selling weeks, while the factory may already be inside October–January. If you wait until your shelves look empty, you are ordering into the factory’s longer window.
For the mechanics of ready-stock versus made-to-order, samples and shipment booking, stay with the lead-time planning article. Use this page to set the calendar and the reorder trigger around those facts.
Start from your own sell-through, not a generic month
Before you pick an order date, write down what actually moves.
Sizes. Catalogues commonly list codes such as 00, 0, 1, 2, 4 and assorted packs. Treat those as examples from the range, not a complete SKU matrix. Match the codes your customers already buy — see the safety pin sizes chart.
Material and finish. Nickel-plated steel, brass and nickel-free requests are different lines. Do not assume leftover steel cover will substitute for a brass or nickel-free programme.
Packaging. Pouch, bunch or loose bulk changes both how you pick orders and whether the factory treats the run as ready stock or custom packaging. See the packaging guide and custom safety pin packaging.
Fast versus slow movers. Peak cover belongs on the sizes that stock out. Deep cover on a slow size is cash sitting in a carton.
If you are still comparing suppliers rather than replenishing a known line, evaluate a sample against a fixed checklist first: sample evaluation checklist. Sample approval time sits before the production dispatch clock starts. This article does not invent a standard sample-turnaround number.
The three factory dispatch paths (from the shipping policy)
These ranges were read from the live shipping policy on 8 November 2026. They start after payment confirmation. They are not door-to-door times.
Order type
Stated dispatch lead time
What it is useful for at peak
Ready stock
3–5 business days after payment confirmation
Topping up standard sizes that the factory already holds
Made-to-order / custom packaging
10–21 business days, depending on quantity and specifications
Private-label pouches, barcode or carton-mark changes, non-stock specifications
Large export consignments (FCL / LCL)
15–30 business days, including stuffing and documentation
Container or consolidated export lots
Two policy notes matter in October–January:
Lead times may be longer in that season. Treat the top of each range as the planning case, then ask sales whether the current queue is longer still.
The sales team communicates updated timelines at order confirmation. A website range is not a reserved production slot.
Sea loading is at Kolkata (INKOL); air loading is at Kolkata Airport (CCU). How long the vessel or aircraft then takes, and how long destination customs takes, is not stated as a fixed number. Add your forwarder’s figure. For choosing LCL, FCL or air, see shipping bulk safety pins. For which party pays freight and duty, see FOB, CIF or DDP.
EXAMPLE: working backwards from a warehouse date
The figures in this section are an EXAMPLE. They are not a Suvik quotation, a promise that a given week is available, or a transit time.
EXAMPLE aim: a distributor wants a large export lot on its own warehouse floor by Wednesday 1 October. The lot is a standard specification (no new private-label artwork), shipped as a large LCL or FCL export.
EXAMPLE factory side. Use the large-export range of 15–30 business days and plan on 30 business days because the required date sits at the start of the factory’s stated peak window (October–January). Thirty business days is about six calendar weeks, but count business days on a calendar rather than assuming a round six weeks. During peak, even 30 business days may not be enough — the policy says timelines can vary and will be confirmed at order.
EXAMPLE transit side. Call the combined ocean-or-air transit plus destination clearance T. T is not measured in this article. Your forwarder fills it in. If, for illustration only, a forwarder quoted four calendar weeks door-to-port plus clearance, then T = 4 weeks. Do not treat four weeks as a Suvik or Kolkata–anywhere standard.
EXAMPLE order-by date (illustration only):
Warehouse-need date: 1 October.
Subtract T (your forwarder’s transit and clearance).
Subtract 30 business days of factory dispatch, stuffing and documentation.
Subtract a buffer you choose — for example a further five business days — so a peak confirmation delay does not miss the shelf date.
If T were four calendar weeks and you used a five-business-day buffer, you would be placing the order in July, not in September. Change T or the buffer and the order-by date moves. That is the point of the method: fill in your transit, do not borrow someone else’s.
EXAMPLE ready-stock top-up. If the same distributor only needs a standard ready-stock size and the factory confirms stock is on hand, dispatch is 3–5 business days after payment. The warehouse date then depends almost entirely on T. Ready stock is not a shortcut if the size is not actually in stock, or if you have changed packaging.
Second EXAMPLE (smaller repeat order). Suppose a line sells about 80 cartons a month in a normal month and about 120 cartons in each of two peak selling months (EXAMPLE rates, not Suvik market data). Cover for those two peak months is 240 cartons of sales. You still add whatever you must have as opening stock and subtract what you will still have on the shelf. Order the resulting quantity on the date the first method gives you, and check the minimum order against a negotiated figure rather than assuming a published box count.
A simple reorder-point method
Once the first peak shipment is on the water, you still need a trigger for the next one.
In words, not as a promised formula:
Reorder point ≈ expected sales during the waiting time + safety stock
Waiting time is factory dispatch for that order type, plus your transit and clearance (T), plus any sample or artwork approval if the specification changed.
Expected sales should come from your own weekly or monthly pick history for that SKU, not from a generic industry percentage.
Safety stock is the extra cover you hold so a late vessel or a short production confirmation does not empty the bin. Use your own stock-out history. This article does not set a standard safety-stock percentage.
EXAMPLE (illustration only). A size-0 nickel-plated pouch line sells 25 cartons a week (EXAMPLE). Waiting time is 30 business days of factory dispatch (about six weeks if there are no holidays) plus T = 4 weeks, or about ten weeks. Expected sales during the wait: 25 × 10 = 250 cartons. If you choose a safety stock of four weeks of normal sales (25 × 4 = 100), the reorder point is 350 cartons on hand and incoming. When available stock falls to 350, you place the next order. Change any input and the point moves.
Review the inputs when you enter October–January, because the factory dispatch part of the wait may lengthen. Review them again if you switch from ready stock to custom packaging.
For repeat import paperwork, keep a standing file of the documents your last shipment used. The shipping policy lists a commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, certificate of origin, GST/IGST documents, and any country-specific certificates required. See also export documents for safety pins.
What to send with a peak-season reorder so the clock can start
Production and documentation wait when the specification is incomplete. Send, in one note:
Sizes and quantities, split by fast and slow movers
Material and finish (steel nickel-plated, brass, or a nickel-free request)
Packaging (pouch count, bunch, loose, private-label artwork if already approved)
Destination port or airport, and whether you want FOB Kolkata, CIF named destination, or DDP on request
Whether the lot should ship as ready stock, made-to-order/custom packaging, or a large LCL/FCL export
The date the goods must be in your warehouse, so sales can say whether the current queue can meet it
Any inspection or document extras you will need on this shipment (for example a certificate of origin that matches the invoice)
Request a quote with that list. Destination import duty is a separate calculation by market — see the HS code and duty guide and the USA landed-cost worked example if you are building a full cost sheet.
If you serve other distributors downstream, the same specification list is what they should send you. A downstream stock-planning article in Indonesian exists for that local audience; this English guide is the peak-season reorder method for export buyers in any market.
FAQ
When is peak season for Suvik’s production lead times?
The shipping policy says lead times may vary during peak production seasons from October to January. Updated timelines are confirmed when you order. That is a factory dispatch note, not a forecast of your local selling peak.
Do the published lead times include ocean or air transit?
No. The stated ranges are dispatch times after payment confirmation (and, for large exports, they include stuffing and documentation). Transit from Kolkata and destination clearance are additional. Ask your forwarder for T and add it.
When should I place an order so stock arrives before October?
Work backwards from your warehouse-need date using the large-export or custom-packaging range, whichever matches the lot, then add transit and a buffer. The EXAMPLE in this article shows why that date can fall well before October. Ask sales to confirm the current queue; the website range is not a reserved slot.
What is the minimum order for a peak-season restock?
Minimum order quantities are negotiable and depend on size, finish and packaging. Share the specification for a confirmed figure. Do not plan purchasing around a box count copied from an older conversation without asking again.
Can I mix sizes in one peak shipment?
Ask with your size list. Assorted packs appear in the catalogue, and mixed-size export lots are a commercial question, not a figure this guide invents. Splitting fast and slow movers on the same invoice is often useful so you do not over-cover a quiet size.
Which Incoterms can I use?
Suvik typically ships FOB Kolkata or CIF port of destination. DDP can be arranged on request. Read the full wording on the shipping policy, including how destination duties are described, and name the Incoterm on the quotation.
Request a peak-season quotation
Send Suvik Overseas your sizes, material, finish, packaging, quantity, destination and the date the goods must be in your warehouse, and say whether you want FOB Kolkata, CIF or DDP. Ask whether the lot will run as ready stock, custom packaging or a large export consignment, and request the current dispatch window in writing. Request a quote. Wholesale buyers can also start from the distributor page.
Sources
Checked on 8 November 2026.
Suvik Overseas, Shipping and Delivery Policy (ready stock 3–5 business days; made-to-order / custom packaging 10–21 business days; large FCL/LCL export 15–30 business days including stuffing and documentation; peak production season October–January may lengthen lead times; INKOL and CCU; FOB Kolkata / CIF destination; DDP on request; document list): https://safety-pins.com/shipping-policy
Suvik Overseas, Safety Pin Export Lead Times (existing bulk-order planning article; complementary, not replaced by this guide): https://safety-pins.com/blog/safety-pin-export-lead-times
Suvik Overseas, minimum order quantity page: https://safety-pins.com/blog/safety-pin-moq
Suvik Overseas, safety pin sizes chart: https://safety-pins.com/blog/safety-pin-sizes-chart