Semester With Scott Week 7: The Life Of A Fabric Line

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and remain healthy and safe. Class is back in session and the final exam is quickly approaching (Sunday, December 13 live at 4 PM eastern time on my @jaftexpresident Facebook page) so you all better start studying up because some awesome prizes are on the line.

Up to this point, we have talked about how we put a fabric collection together, how it begins with design, then goes to the mills, then to strike-offs and so much more. If you missed any of this, please go back and watch the sessions that you missed because they work best if you see them all so that you understand the timeline.

Today, I want to discuss timing especially as it relates to information on each company’s website and I am going to use the Studioe website for this. All of our websites generally follow the same principles. I am doing that so that all of you can follow the flow from home and know when the fabrics will arrive at your local quilt shop. Don’t forget that the cycles are fairly long with various checkpoints along the way. That’s what we are going to discuss now and I will discuss in more detail on Wednesday, December 2, at 730 PM eastern time.

• We start off with Just Released. That terminology could be slightly confusing, but this is when we put our lines on the website for the first time and our sales reps start selling the lines to the quilt shops. It is not when the fabrics reach quilt shops. It’s an exciting time for my team as so much has gone into reaching this day. The problem is that consumers won’t be able to get their hands on these lines for at least 5-8 months from the time of release. The waiting game begins.
• Then we move to Shipping Soon. The lines in this grouping are shipping in the next 2 months. This typically aligns with the timing of when the fabric is on its way to the US and then to our warehouse to be cut up and stacked on the warehouse shelves.
• Then we have Shipping Now which is just what it sounds like. These items are available at once and shipping to stores as we speak.

A few comments about the above info. Don’t forget that this cadence applies to all of my companies: FreeSpirit, Studioe, Henry Glass & Blank. All the companies release new lines in January, April/May, July and October. That’s 4 times per year.

However, Henry Glass is slightly different in that they have a March and May release instead of an April/May release. As such, they have new lines 5 times per year. As for A.E. Nathan, they have a new release once a year which comes out in the fourth quarter. As for 3 Wishes, they have new releases in April and October which would align with Quilt Market if and when that returns.

Outside of all that, we have free projects created and available for all the new collections.

Speaking of free projects, I hope you watch the video for this session as I have a special guest who will be talking about the free projects in more detail and how they are created and developed. You won’t want to miss her speak. Please put a reminder in your calendar to check out the video on Wednesday, December 2 at 730 PM on my @jaftexpresident Facebook page.

Until next time!

Professor Scott