Important announcement regarding our current catalog:
We've made the decision to retire a (significant) amount of products from our range.
From next Monday, 23rd Feb at 10am, all products listed under 'Final Batch' collection, (about 30+ products) on our website will no longer be available for purchase.
Some are being reworked and relaunched in future, others will never return.
Why are we doing this?
We love developing gear, innovating where we can - and offering fresh, intuitive solutions to the daily work problems faced in the entertainment industry whether it be film production, concert touring, theatre and more- truly an endless list. (Not even governments or economists understand the breadth of these industries)
We have had many testing times at Sideshift over the years, originally a team of 2, growing to eventually having 11 staff working every day of the week in 2023/2024. Last year however- primarily due to financial constraints, we scaled back down to a team of 5. But in the process, we actually grew our product range by about 25 core range products, totalling 75+ products in the range.
That’s 5 people doing design, production, development, fulfilment, operations, customer service, photography, marketing and everything else. And at the end of March, one of our key people here at Sideshift, someone who's been here through the absolute highs and lows (Alesha!) will be heading back home to the UK. We’ll then be down to a team of 4.
Particularly in recent months - the harsh reality of small team, and small batch production in Australia has been setting in. Added complexity and lost efficiency is something we can no longer afford, combined with the rise in fraudulent chargebacks, lost/missing parcels, higher freight costs, increased material/input costs, state and local government taxes/fees, commercial rent increases, inflation, electricity, machine servicing and plenty of other cost increases. Additionally, we have never received any manufacturing grants, subsidies or support in any way shape or form from local government, council, state or federal. We keep this business open in the same way concert doors open on time - brute force and determination. Without it we wouldn't exist.
Our mission for 2026 is to strengthen our production capability, improve our consistency, lay a clear path for the future- and ultimately, create dependable, innovative products that serve our customers and industry colleagues, to the highest degree we possibly can.
Final Batch Gear will be available to order until Monday 10am AEDT. Then it's gone.
Thanks for stickin with us.
Brett
PS. We are doing a RIG RAID promo this weekend, for anyone interested in purchasing a Chest Rig T2, T3 or T4- this Friday night/Saturday will be the most economical time to buy (these rigs are staying in the range)