18 months of supplier poaching, then none.

The situation

Two competitors turned up at the same mill within eighteen months. The second time, the mill's sales manager mentioned it in passing, as if it were a compliment.

The importer sells private-label apparel through its own site and two big-box accounts. Its edge was a mill in Tamil Nadu that most of its category had never heard of, and a five-year relationship that got it priority on capacity. By early 2025, two direct competitors were buying from the same mill. Nobody had leaked anything. The mill's name was on every bill of lading, and every bill of lading was public.

What was public

We ran the lookup the way anyone would, across the 18 platforms we check. Thirteen of them showed the company. Between them: every supplier, every product code, and the monthly cadence going back to 2019.

ImportYetiPanjivaImportKeyTrademoVolzaTradesparqand ten more platforms

The detail that mattered most was the names. The customer had filed protection itself once, two years earlier, under the two legal entities. It had lapsed quietly, and it had never covered the eight spellings the factories actually used on the paperwork. Records under those names had never stopped.

What we did

Nothing changed about how they ship. No broker calls, no forwarder changes, no paperwork on their side beyond a five-minute form.

What changed

Records already published stayed published, as they always do. New shipments stopped appearing from the first sailing after protection. The April 2025 check was the first with nothing new under any of the eleven names. Every check since has said the same thing.

Protection confirmationMarch 2026 · after

Prepared for

An apparel importer, two entities

Renewed 12 Mar 2026 · 2 entities · 11 names · 18 platforms watched

546 days of continuous coverage · 0 gaps

Platforms watched 18

Every one of the eleven names, watched on all eighteen platforms. Nothing has appeared under any of them since April 2025.

Customs Data Lock · Confidential · Prepared for the named account onlyPage 1 of 1

A year and a half later, the mill has not seen a third competitor. That is not something we can prove is because of us, and we will not claim it. What we can prove is on the confirmation above: eleven names, eighteen platforms, nothing new since April 2025.

In their words

"Our factory told us, almost as a compliment, that two competitors had been asking about us. Since April 2025, not one new shipment has shown up."Head of Sourcing at the importer. Quoted with permission, name withheld.

The timeline

• DAY 0 · 18 FEB 2025Free exposure check requested from the site.
• DAY 1Exposure report and quote sent. Eleven names found, four of them new to the customer.
• DAY 3 · 12 MAR 2025Protection confirmed under all eleven names.
• APR 2025First watch pass. Nothing new under any of the eleven names
• MAR 2026Renewed automatically. No email needed.
• SEP 2026Eighteenth consecutive clean check.