From a Chinese Atelier to a US Address: How the Shipping Works
A proxy order does not travel the way a domestic order does. There are two separate journeys with two separate clocks, and the thing that usually dominates the wait is neither of them.
Two legs, two clocks
First the atelier ships to a domestic Chinese address — ours. That leg is fast and is where inspection happens: the piece is checked against the listing before it goes any further. Then the piece is forwarded internationally to your address. Consolidating several pieces into one parcel happens between those legs, which is why ordering a garment and its accessories together produces one shipment instead of three.
What actually sets the timeline
For most indie pieces the shipping is not the long part — production is. Small ateliers run made-to-order batches: they collect orders during a window, then cut and sew. A piece bought early in a batch waits for the batch to close. An in-stock piece skips that entirely. This is why two orders placed the same day can arrive weeks apart, and why the batch state matters more than the courier when you are planning around a date.
Customs, duty and declared value
Import charges on goods entering the United States are the recipient's responsibility, and the rules for goods from China have changed more than once in recent years — so treat any fixed threshold you read online, here included, as possibly out of date and check the current position before you rely on it. What does not change: we declare honest value on the customs paperwork. Under-declaring to reduce duty is fraud, it puts the parcel at risk of seizure, and it voids any recourse if the shipment is lost. The refund and shipping terms spell out where liability sits.