17.05.2021

Dear Family,

Yes, this letter is a little longer than usual, but I urge you to read it in its entirety.

Hope you and your loved ones are doing well and keeping safe.

At the outset, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to each and every one of you for supporting our various causes, and placing orders with us, despite the uncertainty, over the last month. I also want to express my sincere condolences to everyone out there including our FG family and beyond, who has suffered a loss(es) in this recent past. I have too, and I know what it feels like. Staying strong is all we can do at this point.

I write to you today to take you through the series of events we’ve been witnessing from an organizational point of view as the second wave unfolds, how it impacts us collectively and the way forward. We’re in this together.

Latest Lockdown Update from Our Base, New Delhi

We’ve entered into yet another lockdown extension in New Delhi today (17th May 2021), taking the lockdown period to over a month (35 days and counting), and in the case of other states, even more. The devastation that the virus has wreaked on all our lives in the span of just a few weeks is something none of us had foreseen or could have ever imagined.

Update on Your Orders Placed with Us

The lockdowns were imposed last month without prior information; and overnight, all our operations were brought to a standstill. While we welcomed this much-needed measure by the Government, we continued to take prepaid orders on the website on the assumption that some relaxations would be extended to businesses to resume operations with limited manpower over the next week or two.

In this period, many of you placed orders with us in good faith and, rightly so, expected deliveries for the same. As the devastation caused by the pandemic continued to increase, the lockdowns kept on getting extended rendering us unable to take any action on the orders you had placed. As a result, we have not been able to ship a single order placed with us since April 14th, 2021.

In this meanwhile, all we could do was be proactive and keep you informed from time to time on the latest updates. Our team has been routinely sending SMSes and emails about order updates, as a result of lockdown extensions, and publishing a weekly update on the blog to keep you all informed about the same. Unfortunately, this week the update remains unchanged.

We still cannot resume operations as per the latest government guidelines and will have to wait another week until the next announcement. This delay is unfortunate and beyond our control, but I assure you that our team will work tirelessly to dispatch your orders to you at the earliest as soon as we are allowed to resume operations.

We have been working on a dispatch plan and I assure you that we will not launch any further products till our previous backlog of orders is cleared.

Other Brands Are Shipping, Why Not FG?

I am aware that some brands have started shipping, including our contemporaries, and all of you must be thinking why not FG? Here’s why:

Unlike last year, this year’s lockdowns are imposed independently by State Governments with their own set of guidelines for different types of activities. A lot of our contemporaries and other brands in the industry have their warehouses in locations where restrictions are a little more relaxed (having only night lockdowns) for commercial activities. We have consulted endlessly with our legal team on this and, unfortunately, Delhi (the location of our warehouses) has no relaxations in place that permit the resumption of non-essential activities.

Many of you have also ordered masks and might be wondering why we are not shipping masks? Unfortunately, cloth masks as per recent revisions are not recognized as essential goods which renders us unable to ship them either. However, I assure you we will dispatch each of your orders on priority once the lockdowns are lifted. And I would like to reassure you, that we will not launch new products till the dispatch backlog is cleared.

What We Need from You?

It’s been a hard year since we resumed operations. Last year, we were put into a nationwide lockdown, overnight, for almost 45 days. This year, the duration seems to be the same. And the agony, far more. After having bounced back from the lockdowns last year with your endless support, we find ourselves in a similar position today. I understand everyone is eager to receive their FG orders. We are as eager to get them across to you.

Request

My one sincere request to you would be not to make modifications to your current orders and give us a chance to fulfill them as soon as the restrictions are lifted. We are not very far from it. Delhi’s daily tally has fallen to 4524 cases (as of today) with a positivity rate of close to 8.5%. With this progress we are not too far from resuming. We’ve come this far. It’s just a matter of another few days.

Why Should I Not Cancel My Order?

It may seem like just one order to you, and rightly so, but that one order has far-reaching consequences when all orders are collectively considered. We are using sales proceeds through this time to extend medical reimbursements to our team, to take care of their physical and mental well-being, to transfer money to our artisans on time, to make sure our people get paid on time, and to ensure we come back well prepared to resume operations and deliver the level of products and services we are known for. We have also recently donated INR 5 lakhs from the sales proceeds to various causes working towards COVID relief.

If you have placed orders, my request would be not to cancel them. It has helped us get this far, it’s just a matter of another few days and we will start shipping. I understand your position and I want to thank you for your cooperation and understanding through this time. You have impacted lives by placing your order.

If you have not placed an order yet thinking of the wait, I understand that too. But again, I urge you to place one. Each order helps us get through this time. It impacts a life, somewhere.

I apologize if my words have offended anyone. By no means do I intend to belittle any of the personal and professional problems each one of us is going through in our own lives. My endeavour was only to give an honest and transparent picture of what has ensued thus far and how we see the next few weeks unfolding. We need your support, again.

Thanking you in advance for your support and cooperation. We will get through this, together. Like always.

Sincerely,

Farida Gupta

(Founder)