Chinese New Year is the one recurring event that reliably disrupts packaging schedules, and the disruption window is far wider than the holiday itself.
Three phases, not one
Before. Every buyer wants goods out before the shutdown, so factory capacity and freight space both tighten in the weeks leading up to it. Lead times stretch and rates rise. This phase causes more missed deadlines than the closure does.
During. Factories close. This is a genuine full stop, not a reduced service.
After. The restart is gradual. Workers return over a period rather than on one day, and lines take time to come back to normal output. A factory technically "open" in the first week back is not running at capacity.
What this means for scheduling
If goods must land before the holiday, work backwards and be honest about every step: artwork approval, sampling rounds, production, inspection, booking, transit and customs. Approval rounds are the compressible-looking part that in practice compresses least, because they depend on your side responding.
If your timing straddles the holiday, decide deliberately whether to push to complete before it or to plan for after it. The worst outcome is production that is nearly finished when the shutdown starts — the goods sit, and you re-enter the queue on restart.
Practical steps
Get artwork and specification locked earlier than feels necessary. Approve samples promptly; a two-week delay on your side in this window is not two weeks, because it can push the order past a cut-off. Ask your supplier directly for their planned closure dates and their expected restart capacity rather than assuming standard dates, since they vary.
And confirm what happens to work in progress over the closure — where the goods are stored, and whether the balance payment terms are affected by the gap.
The general lesson
This applies beyond one holiday. Any seasonal program — a launch, a gifting season, a trade show — should be planned from the date goods must be landed, with the approval steps treated as fixed rather than compressible. The sewing is rarely what runs late.