We recognize that controlling the level of inventory is important to our overall operational efficiency and cost control. based on the purchase orders our distributors and the department store chains place at our biannual sales fairs, we are able to anticipate the demand for our products in advance and plan ahead for our own manufacturing and the orders we will be required to place with our contract manufacturers. We generally plan purchases of raw materials and place manufacturing orders with our contract manufacturers immediately after each of our two seasonal sales fairs, usually in May for our autumn and winter products and in October for our spring and summer products, where we confirm sales orders with our distributors and department store chains. This enables us and our contract manufacturers to have sufficient time, ranging from two to eight weeks, to produce the products and provide our products suitable for a specific season to our distributors and department store chains on a just-in-time basis so as to minimize our inventory levels.
