Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Is Quilt Market Becoming Less Important?
Hi Everybody,
Did you miss me? I am sure you were feeling a major void with no blog last week. Not!
I hate to be blunt and negative, but this was probably the worst market I have been to and I am starting to question the future and importance of quilt markets. Before I get in to this discussion though, I want to draw your attention to a couple Studioe fabrics that got buzz this market. Please ask your rep to see these lines or check them out at www.studioefabrics.com.
Pepper Cory has done it again with Brushstrokes, a 16 color line of Stripeish Textures. This line was such a hit that 2 of our sample bundles displayed in the booth were stolen. I was as shocked as you are.
This is what the free project for Brushstrokes looks like.
Dt-K Signature, who created the best selling Studioe line ever, Cheeky Pumpkins, released a new line called Happy Camper which has the most adorable old fashion campers. I am not talking about the kids that go to summer camp either, I am talking about those things that you hook on to your car.
By The Sea was another hit. This was the follow up line to Natural Wonders (quilt featured in the Studioe booth) by Elizabeth Isles. The concept was to have a line that looked like batiks, but was really printed and a bit less expensive than batiks.
So back to the discussion at hand, what is the deal with Quilt Market? Here are the problems as I saw and see them:
- The cost for US shops to come to market is becoming prohibitive.
- Why schlep to Minnesota when the reps can come right to your shop and sell to you in a pleasant and less stressful environment?
- For International customers it is becoming cost prohibitive too.
- The US dollar strength and volatility are wreaking havoc on our international customers’ businesses.
Those are the critical problems in a nutshell and it is really sad, but it is reality. Our companies, like many others out there, spend tons of money to come to these shows and it is a little depressing when the customers don’t show or they don’t buy. This year however, we saw this trend coming so we downsized all of our booths and kept members of the team in Minnesota for fewer days. So what does this mean for Quilt Market? I am not sure, but I heard some interesting things that I want to share. I heard that the people at Quilts Inc. have already committed to 8 more years of 2 quilt markets/year. That being said, nothing is changing any time soon. I also heard that the people at Quilts Inc. were walking around doing surveys and asking questions. One question was: what would you think of one market a year? Perhaps that is the future. What do you think? I would love to hear your comments and insights.
Until next week,
Skeptical Scott