Post earthquake update.......1 March 2011

Bowron Head Office, 1 March 2011.

"I am pleased to report that progress has been made over the last few days and I wish to thank the people who have worked hard to get Bowron back up and running" says Kerry Greene, Marketing Manager. " I take this opportunity to report the progress we have made to ensure our customers, staff and friends globally are kept in formed of our situation", says Greene.

The essentials..........

Power is still shut off at the factory. In saying that, power companies are working hard on the faults and we expect service to resume this week, either on Wednesday or Thursday.

Telephones are manned during business hours at Christchurch powered by generators.

Email and IT services have been relocated and restored.

Clean Up

Silt and mud is being cleared daily. After power is restored further evaluation will be possible.

Back in Business.....

As progress is made each day, we are becoming increasingly confident of a quicker time to full production. Our estimated total production down time based on information we have today is 6 weeks. We expect to be back part processing by the end of this week.

We continue to secure our full planned quota of skins and our key supplier Alliance company have kindly undertaken to salt these and reserve these skins for us in the short term. We expect to continue our salting operations by the end of this week.

Bowron's European offices set up temporary email address.......

The staff in the European office and warehouse would like to wish all the Bowron staff in New Zealand well, our thoughts are with them and their families.

The temporary email address for the European office is jackiec.bowron@yahoo.com until the New Zealand server is back up and running.

Bowron Sheepskins is based in Christchurch New Zealand where last Tuesday's earthquake has caused damaged to the tannery. The management team are working on a recovery plan and clean up is in progress.

Bowron USA - Temporary Invoicing and Order Processing Procedure for Bowron USA

You would have heard about the devastating earthquake which hit Christchurch, New Zealand last Tuesday 22 February 2011. The Bowron tannery has suffered damage and the management team in New Zealand are working through a recovery plan.

Our Denver and Los Angeles offices are in full operation with some set backs in our computer systems. With this in mind we wish to inform you of our temporary order processing and invoicing procedure.

Regular orders by phone and email

Please send through your orders to our team in Denver and Los Angeles using this email account bowronusa@gmail.com until further notice. You can continue to call us on

1 800 926 9766.

Invoicing

We will be issuing manual invoices at this time until our systems are up and running. Payments can be made through credit cards or checks. Client statements will not be issued at this time, all payment will have to be made based on manual invoices issued.

Bowron USA - supporting our team in New Zealand

The Bowron team in the USA sends our condolences and heartfelt sympathy for the people in Christchurch after the devastating earthquake which happened last Tuesday. Special thoughts go out for our colleagues at the Bowron head office.

We wanted to reassure our customers in the USA and Canada that it is business as usual with our offices in Denver and Los Angeles. Our free phone number is 1-800-926-9766.

A temporary email address has been set up bowronusa@gmail.com. We are having a few IT glitches with the earthquake, therefore please continue to use the gmail email address until further notice.

Earthquake Christchurch 22 February 2011

The Bowron tannery in New Zealand remains closed until further notice as it has suffered damage from the earthquake that struck the city on the 22nd of February 2011. "Whilst we go through a recovery program here in Christchurch, it is business as usual for our overseas locations in Europe, USA and Asia" says Kerry Greene, Marketing Manager for Bowron Sheepskins.

An interesting economic situation..........what next?

This years buying season has been somewhat interesting with prices for raw sheepskin material going up by about 50% to 65%. Needless to say, it has put the challenge on tanneries worldwide to prepare clients for this news. "Interestingly enough our clients understand the economics of this and we now await the impact from consumers. The success of UGG boots has made supply scarce hence pushing prices for raw material up........" says Kerry Greene, Marketing Manager for Bowron Sheepskins. We are announcing our new prices in the New Year, which will apply to our subsidiary companies worldwide. If you have any thoughts on this price shift and what you predict will happen in the future please blog with us......

Mark Griffin, Founder of Play Rugby USA takes home a Goldstar Bowron Sheepskin this Christmas

11th of December 2010: New Zealand Consul General to Los Angeles, John Mataira and his wife hosted the Kiwis in LA Christmas event. Bowron Sheepskins sponsored top end Goldstar Sheepskin rug and world renowned Baby Care comforter for the raffle draw. We are pleased to announce that Mark Griffin, founder of Play Rugby USA won the Goldstar rug and here is what he had to say "I am looking forward to going to New Zealand next year for the Rugby World Cup, and will be headed to Christchurch. The rug feels great and I may just use it on the plane for some extra comfort!". Mark who is originally from Rutland in the UK founded Play Rugby USA. He created this organization to bring educational and developmental benefits of rugby to urban youth in the USA. For more information on Play Rugby USA please go to http://www.playrugbyusa.com/