Out of Stock!
Out of stock are words that strike me right in the gut! Picture one of the fabric tasks I do is coordinating and creating a great look out of fabric. I can spend hours in several showrooms getting the exact right collection of fabrics pulled together. The high points are hit, the little bit of trendy, the perfect amount of timeless and just the right mix of colors, textures and patterns. It’s perfection. The stock levels are good, the pricing is in the budget and it’s presentation time. You LOVE IT! It’s perfection. You can completely see my vision for your space. You gulp and excitedly write the check. I head back to my office, enter the orders (or call them in) and then it happens. Those three dreaded, frightening, perfectly awful trio of small words that can strike a designer down where she stands. We’re “out of stock”. NOOOOOOO, say it isn’t so! Out of stock? But I need 24 yards and I needed it like, um, yesterday? Really? Look again, will you?
But no, they are really, truly, horrifyingly Out. Of. Stock. Then the second worst word: reselect. I must reselect. And make sure it’s just as perfect, just as relevant, just as complimentary to the other fabrics, maybe better? than the one I showed first.
My dear current client had not one, but TWO fabrics Out. Of. Stock. Then, the back up fabric on the first? Also, Out. Of. Stock. Horrifying as she was desperate for her furniture as her living room was bare! Window coverings could be dealt with on delay, but the sofas? A serious hardship. What I didn’t tell her (and thank goodness didn’t have to) is sometimes these three words are followed by an estimated delivery date. And it’s not always soon.
The first time those three dreaded words came my way, was a beautiful woven tapestry look that was winging it’s way to the US by way of Italy. And guess what? It was on the slow boat. My poor client waited SIX MONTHS for that beauty. My lovely widowed client, re-doing her room for the first time in many years waited three months for her drapery fabric to make the trek across the sea. So when this latest round of “out of stock” came my way, I said a prayer, headed out to (gulp) reselect but to no avail. So we waited.
So in the end my dear client was patient and held out a couple of weeks for sofa fabric and four weeks for her window fabric. Luckily we have some great sources who are right now pushing through the orders as fast as possible to ensure her family has a place to gather to celebrate a family event. After all, THAT is what it’s all about!
