Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Thanksgiving Blog & QM Continued
Happy Monday All,
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was so good and filling that I am exhausted from all the Tryptophan (chemical that makes you tired) in the turkey. Unfortunately for you (fortunately for me), I gave myself the day off from writing an in depth blog for today.
With that, I couldn’t help myself but to comment on the QM saga. Why not? To be honest, this is a real sleeper. You hear me yawning? No one really cares. Everyone is praying for a miracle and its name is not Scott Fortunoff. The first blog got some interest, but after that, not so much. The people at Quilt’s Inc. aren’t going to respond….who is kidding who? And I am surely not changing the world here either. Finally, in spite of what people are suggesting, Jaftex has zero interest in buying a QM. With the huge role of social media today, this seems like a dying industry to me or at the least an event in a serious downtrend. I have enough of my own problems without this headache.
In any case, I am going rogue and letting this one run its course on its own…every man and woman for him or herself. The forces of supply and demand will have to determine the future of the QM. For the Jaftex Companies, we will still work on offering some promotions to get people to market or at least to visit with us. Like I mentioned before, I do plan to invite some attendees to our company dinner. I look forward to that. We will continue to lighten up our QM footprint by having fewer booths and continuing the consolidation. We will bring fewer people and also keep people at market for shorter periods of time. I am very optimistic about St. Louis due to the new location, the ease of getting there and the centrality in the US of the QM. After that QM, it is anyone’s guess?
Oops…one more thing. Based on a lot of what I have recently heard, our company is going to look in to all the different ways that we can help our quilt shop customers thrive. This is a top priority going forward and I am 100% open to hearing your suggestions on this front about how we can help shops succeed. So please comment on the blog with ideas or email them directly to me at Scott@jaftex.com. This is a lot more important than putting too much energy on making QM great again. Don’t you agree?
Peace!
Scott
One Comment
Joanne Hubbard
I’m still playing catch up here, but want to assure you that there are still some of us out here that do care! I have a feeling that there are other people out there that want to see change, but they just don’t know how to make that happen. They are busy with their business and can’t or don’t want to commit the time and energy needed to help find a solution. As I said in my last comment about your suggestions, I fear that there are many people who want to see changes, but they aren’t willing to “put their money where their mouth is.” Contest, prizes, etc. are all good ideas, but one person or company cannot do it all.
I am discouraged that you never heard a reply from Karey. I guess they figure that since they have the next six QMs scheduled, they don’t have to worry. In my mind that is not a wise business decision. Perhaps they are still pondering your suggestions, but common decency should have compelled her to stay in contact with you.
Ok, I’m done complaining! Just like everything else, the quilting industry is changing. I try to embrace change, but sometimes it’s a challenge. Please don’t give up entirely. We need you to be our leader in this. 🙂
By the way, I’ve got my extra American Honor fabric and am finalizing my quilt designs. See! Some of us do get involved and even follow through with what we start. 🙂