1. TIMELY SHIPPING

On-time delivery of all purchase orders is AKIRA's highest priority. AKIRA carefully analyzes a vendor's ability to ship and deliver products in a reasonable amount of time and on time, because AKIRA can incur significant losses, in terms of both monetary damages and customer respect, from late shipments. To meet our expectations, all vendors must deliver products on time and meet all associated delivery windows, cut off dates, and documentation requirements including, but not limited to, those required by customs or the carrier/freight forwarder. Merchandise that is not completely delivered within the agreed upon delivery window will be subject to cancellation or invoice penalties found in Section 11. If an extension is required, a written request must be made to the AKIRA team for approval ten business days prior to the original ship by date. Please note that an extension does not necessarily relieve the vendor of late fee penalties. If you wish to ship early, a written request must be submitted and confirmed by the Buyer you are in contact with.

2. PRODUCTION CALENDAR *This section only apply to Apparel Vendors*

Shown below is our Production calendar by season. Each season is listed by month then shows the expected SD . Arrival date to our warehouse. Please be sure to communicate with the appropriate Buyer as some of these timelines will not always be met or work out. However, please utilize and commit to help the Buyer organization to be on time so we can deliver beyond expectations for AKIRA.

3. SAMPLE STANDARDS

It is required by AKIRA that when your product has been chosen for our assortment, that the Vendor provides us with samples as determined by the Buyer. The sample requirements may be modified at the discretion of the Buyer. Failure to deliver all samples, prices and information in a timely fashion may result in the cancellation of all purchase orders. All samples are considered a cost of doing business and should be sent to AKIRA at the Vendor's expense. We also require the Vendor only sends samples that have been requested. Do not send anything unconfirmed by the Buyer. When submitting emails that inform us of samples, we require you provide all the information via excel or pdf. The linesheet must clearly state the style number, unit cost, minimum order quantity, and a clear image of the selection. Be sure to write the cost with the USD currency symbol ($). Do not write out “USD”. We also request that you send photo attachments of the samples in the body of the email with the style # as the file name. Please reach out to your Buyer if you have any questions.

SAMPLE TYPES REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS

1st Sample:

• Must have yellow sample tag to represent 1st, 2nd or PP sample
• Include the date sample was made
• Style Number must be written on tag and via email
• Indication of the sample size
• Fabric Content
• Check which box the Sample Type is

USING OUR PURCHASE ORDER NUMBERS FOR SAMPLES

Any purchase order ending with a W (Web) must have SAMPLE sent with the bulk but in a separate carton. Those samples also must have their own packing list so our warehouse can quickly send them to our ecommerce team.

*ALL: ADD IN OPTIONS BASED ON STYLE TYPE

4. QUALITY TRIMS REQUIRED

In order to improve the quality and longevity of our products, we require that the best practice for trims and construction are followed. All zippers (invisible and not) must be by YKK quality unless otherwise advised by your Buyer. All items with beads, rhinestones, patches, tape, feathers, hotfix and/or any applique and/or trim provided MUST be enforced with extra sewing, heat application or adhesive to defer from any sort of damages. Silicon packets MUST be included in all polybags (individual and bulk). Buyers will be responsible for sending out a Vendor Quality Compliance Sign Off waiver in order to help call out the styles that we need extra care and attention with. That waiver will be included with this manual. We will also send a separate manual that will focus on quality trims. It will be titled Quality Trims and Assurance Guide that will also be sent with this manual.

5. QUALITY PROCEDURES:

Vendors are responsible for shipping high quality merchandise. AKIRA requires vendors to perform independent ‘out of the box’ Quality Inspections on all orders prior to shipping. All items should be inspected for fit, construction, and overall appearance. If the order ‘Fails’ the Out-Going Inspection, vendors should proceed to inspect ALL items in the order. Vendors must contact the appropriate Buyer immediately to inform them of the problem and expected delays associated with correcting the problem.

• In order to ensure that only high quality goods are received in our facilities, we require that Vendors use an integrated quality program that includes:
  • Incoming materials inspection and testing
  • In-process auditing + 100% Final Inspection
  • Final auditing of each production lot after packaging
  • Photos of packaging if requested by AKIRA Buyers.
• As a final step in our quality assurance program, we utilize an internal quality control audit at the AKIRA Distribution Center. (DC)
  • The purpose of this audit is to ensure that our customers receive quality products, free of defects and other irregularities.
  • The quality control inspection is applied to all merchandise upon arrival by our Quality Control Department and consists of an internal sample audit and inspection.
• AKIRA reserves the right to return or fine vendors with any merchandise deemed unsellable by our Quality Control Department. The PO, AP, DC or buying team will communicate any error, damage or non-compliance standard found via email within 60 days of landing at our warehouse.
• Vendor and AKIRA must agree upon one of two options:
  • Return merchandise on the Vendor's shipping account (if applicable) and refund 100% of the order cost. Refunds can only be made in the form of a credit if we have open orders with your company. If we do not have any future orders, you will need to refund us via bank wire, Paypal, or Western Union.
  • Assessed with a violation chargeback (found in Section 11). Violation chargebacks can only be paid by ways of a credit if we have open orders with your company. If we do not have any future orders, you will need to refund us via bank wire, Paypal, or Western Union.

6. QUALITY BIN CHECKS & TESTING:

• A shipment may pass an initial audit, but still prove to be defective when it reaches our customers.
• When customers alert us to a problem, we will perform a “Quality Bin Check” to verify that the product remaining in stock is of acceptable quality.
  • If defects are discovered, the affected pieces will be pulled and may be returned to the vendor or the vendor will be fined (please see Violation Chargebacks for full details on chargebacks associated with quality issues in Section 11).

7. REJECTED MERCHANDISE PROCEDURE:

If an order is rejected due to quality issues AKIRA will notify the vendor, requesting a Return Authorization (RA) # or voice authorization to return the goods. Vendors are required to pay for the return freight costs. If replacement merchandise is sent, it must be shipped immediately and the vendor will pay for the shipping of this merchandise.

If damage occurs to merchandise prior to its arrival at the AKIRA Distribution Center, AKIRA is absolved of the total cost of the merchandise.

The QC Inspector will take comprehensive photos of defects and email them to the Buyer, along with a detailed recap of the inspection that will support the reason that the style has failed the inspection. The Buyer will forward all info pertaining to the rejected style to the appropriate parties. If necessary, representative samples will be sent to the vendor, as determined by production or the Buyer.

For domestically produced orders, the AKIRA Buyer will work with the vendor and provide them with the option of having merchandise returned to them for inspection, or repair, with all freight charges being the responsibility of the vendor. In the case of an import order, the order will be sent out to a third party repair facility, with all charges associated with the repair being the responsibility of the vendors.

AKIRA reserves the right to issue a chargeback to the vendor for all costs associated with additional inspection that is required as the result of a purchase order failing the quality audit, due to inferior quality, incorrect product, damages in transit due to packaging, or incorrect packaging or labeling (full chargeback details can be found in Section 11).

8. LABELING: *Our full section on Labeling can be found in Section 7*

• Any order with incorrect or inaccurate labeling and/or ticketing will result in a chargeback fine(s). (full details in Section 11)
  • This includes but is not limited to:
    • No tags, incorrect tags (color, size, retail, style #, etc), no sensor tags, partial sensor tags, partial items tagged, missing hangtags, anything that does not have an AKIRA garment label, missing carton marks, incorrect carton marks, incorrect match back to PL and what is in a container, inaccurate labels, etc.
• AKIRA requires that all care tag labeling meet current U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requirements and be in compliance with all U.S. Customs Service regulations.
• It is the responsibility of the vendor to understand and apply all labeling rules and requirements.
• It is imperative that all care labels are correctly labeled with the following information:
  • Country of Origin
  • Fiber Content
  • Registration Number
  • Complete and Accurate Care Instructions
  • Style Number
• For items shipped from China, please mark "MADE IN CHINA" on each garment / item as well as the cartons carrying them.