Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: The Quilt Market Day Of Reckoning Is Upon Us

I never like to be a Monday morning quarterback and say “I told you so” after the fact. Instead, I am going to predict the future and you will be saying, “Scott, you called this one spot on.” Before I go any further though, I don’t want people to think I am a hater on the Quilt Market and that I am trying to bring everyone down because I am not a hater. I am just a businessman trying to run a business in an efficient way and ultimately for a profit. I think that is legit. Don’t you? In fact, I am, and have been, trying to put the word out for sometime, so maybe, someone at Quilts Inc. would actually say, “Geez, maybe the future doesn’t look so bright, this Fortunoff guy is on to something and we could use some change quickly.” The truth is, Quilt Market used to be well attended, upbeat and a place to write a lot of business. Essentially, it used to be worth the trip, but like everything else in this fast paced world, times they are a changin’ and they are changin’ fast.

The problems that exist now for Quilt Market are real and plentiful and in most cases related to money. From the quilt shop owner perspective:

It is too expensive to attend unless you are local. Hotels, airfare and food break the bank.
It is too hard to leave the office (Quilt Shop) for such an extended period of time.
Why attend market when my sales rep comes to show me the same stuff? In fact, last year someone passed by my booth and I asked them to sit down and see the lines. The answer that I got back was, “I will see them when the rep comes to my shop.” Ouch, that hurts.
People used to attend for inspiration, but with social media and such, all the inspiration can be found with a click of a button. In fact, Quilts Inc. is so enmeshed in social media now that they are giving people another excuse not to attend. Social media is really a double edged sword.
One of the few things that I could think of that are worth attending for are probably the classes offered at market, but I am sure that those classes alone aren’t worth the trip across country to Utah. And those classes can be costly too. I am sure that there are local or online classes that provide cheaper options.

From the fabric vendor’s perspective, here are the problems:

The costs of our employees attending the quilt market have gotten astronomical. We have anywhere from 10-20 people that we have to feed 3 meals a day, provide them a hotel room (and we don’t double up) and fly them in and out among so much more. Just to put it in perspective, a flight could be $400-$500 or more depending on where the show is, the hotel per night is around $200 and the food is about $100 or more per day. Not chump change at all.
The cost of having booths at the show is complete highway robbery. I always go to the same story about how it costed our company about $2000 to move some boxes from the back of the building to our booth. The unions are killer and they may be shooting themselves in the foot.
The cost of decorating the booth and shipping everything in is not cheap either.
The cost of entertaining customers is also costly, but probably the best market investment possible under the circumstances.
On the contrary, the most important reason for our companies to attend market is to see the international customers. The international customers play such a critical role in helping our companies to determine which of our lines are worth launching and which aren’t. If anything, this keeps us coming back to market. However, they too have problems attending due to the high costs and the weakness of their currencies.

So what to do you might ask? We at the Jaftex companies cannot stand around any longer and blow the bank on quilt market. We didn’t make it in business for 86 years just sitting around on our hands and watching while our business went in to the ground. Therefore, we have decided to take the following actions this year and we will continue to evaluate the situation going forward.

Fewer attendees.
Fewer sales reps.
Fewer booths.
Simple booths.
No sample spree.
We will participate in schoolhouses.
We will hopefully be making a lot of appointments.
We will have freebies.
We will have show specials.
We will have a lot of eye candy.

What are you going to do about market? If you are a quilt shop owner, are you going this year? If you are a vendor, are you attending? Are you downsizing? If you are an international customer, are you attending? I am hearing that a lot of our competitors (“big boys”) and distributors are taking a lot smaller booths. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot of people are taking smaller booths and the booths will also be a lot smaller. I am optimistic about international customers as I have heard a lot of them are attending, but I also heard that the US attendance is going to be dismal. I really hate to say it, but I think the day of reckoning is here. Attendance will be down to levels not seen before, but I am sure the people at Quilts Inc. will somehow spin it positively. Only until they are hit in the wallet will they really take notice. I guess that only time will tell.

All in all, I still don’t have the solution to the Quilt Market woes, but getting the costs down would help everyone dramatically as would shortening the show. I do have some other ideas, but those really aren’t worth sharing until someone actually asks. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone who can make a difference is going to be asking me for advice. I am probably viewed as the enemy even though I should be viewed as the alarm clock. If you recall, the last time that my negative comments came up about market, Karey (CEO Quilts Inc.) said, “If he doesn’t like it, tell him he should not attend.” Nice touch Karey! Moreover, when I emailed Karey, she didn’t even reply. That is pretty weak considering that my companies are the future of her business.

We will just have to wait and see. If you are going to market, please email scott@jaftex.com as I would love to meet you and show you the lines. Thanks for your time.

Until next time,
This is Sew Excited for Quilt Market Scott

On Thursday, the Studioe blog will shine the spotlight on an exciting new quilt, called Choreography, that features fabrics from Brushstrokes by Pepper Cory and the Studioe Just Color! basic line. Choreography is designed as a Block of the Month (BOM) program and is available exclusively to independent quilt and fabric shops. To tell you the story behind the creation and design of this graphic, modern-style quilt is its designer, Julia LaBauve of JML Colors. Once you’re smitten with the quilt and its story, dance over to the JML Colors web site for patterns. Thereafter, contact your Studioe direct sales representative or go to the Studioe website to place your fabric order… and let the music begin!