Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Interesting Concept About Quilt Market

Hello All,

Hope you had a nice weekend.  My weekends are just insane these days with sports, sports, more sports and some birthday parties peppered in. Not only do I attend the sports, but I coach both of the kids and scream like a lunatic, so it’s just like work (minus the screaming), but with employees that are the most challenging ever….5 & 8 year old boys.  If I could tell you how excited I was to start my weekend today (Monday), you wouldn’t believe it.  That all being said, I do get a vicarious thrill watching my boys in action and it’s awesome to see them grow up and mature.  I just wish the clock would slow down a bit.

Alright, so what does Senor Scott have to say about Quilt Market this time around?  Hmmmm…..   Let me start off by saying this is going to be a constructive blog with a point, so everyone could stop tensing up.  This one will be clean and gentle.  Anyway, most of last week I was in the Carolinas making my rounds filming the Studioe Fabrics May release Youtube video, visiting customers and our warehouse.  During one of the sales calls a very interesting commentary was made to me about quilt market and I thought I would share it with you.

Rumor has it from the Fabric Yenta that the fabric vendor quilt market roster is getting smaller.  Yes, I heard that a handful of suppliers will not be attending market and I am not totally surprised, but upset to hear that nonetheless.  This is not good and I hope more don’t follow suit.  Here is the gist of the comment from the person I spoke with:

The word on the street is that many quilt shop owners aren’t writing a lot of business, if any, with the fabric vendors at their booths at the show. The customers usually say that “they will wait for their sales rep to visit or that they already saw the lines.” They are spending more time in the school houses and with the smaller vendors who they don’t get a chance to see more regularly.  That all makes sense and is well and good.

However, here is the counterargument that I feel is way stronger than the latter point.  If customers don’t write business with the fabric vendors, the vendors will stop coming to market.  This is a vicious cycle. The result of that will be that the quilt market won’t survive, the smaller guys won’t have a place to show their products, there will be no more schoolhouses and there will be no inspiration for the shop owners to utilize in their own shops.  Not a good result if you ask me.  Don’t you agree?

In closing, if you want to continue to reap the benefits of what market has to offer, make sure to save some time to sit down with some fabric vendors and write some orders.  And don’t let me forget to tell you that if you want to make an appointment with me at market, email me scott@jaftex.com.

Until Next Week,

This is Scott, the Fabric Yenta’s alter ego.