'Exclusive' is often lost in translation
Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, March 12, 2006
Debates continue to swirl in the home furnishings fabric segment as the non-U.S. supplier base becomes more important, and U.S. suppliers and customers try to find their way in this new world order.
Discussions of distribution, ownership, design-protection and other issues are increasing in volume throughout the real world of home fabrics. This is true whether the fabrics are labeled "upholstery" or "decorative," the latter meaning appropriate for upholstery as well as other home uses.
There's been considerable conversation concerning the recent announcement by a U.S. major of an "exclusive" arrangement with a Chinese mill. Those in the know point out the Chinese mill in question supplies at least four significant American fabric companies.
Then there's the story of another American fabric company that was buying a Chinese mill's designs as an exclusive, only to find out that a furniture company already had bought a small quantity of those designs. The mill's explanation was that the furniture company hadn't bought a large quantity, so it still was up for grabs to any other U.S. company. So much for understanding the U.S. marketplace — or the Chinese mindset.
One thing that almost everyone agrees on is that quality-control folks must be on site overseas before fabrics, furniture or anything else gets trucked to a ship. The idea, of course, is not to allow any non-acceptable product to leave the factory.
And the challenges also exist in this country, where more and more U.S.-based suppliers are entering distribution alliances with offshore producers. Many of them work fine. But some reflect serious misunderstandings — to be kind — including a case where a U.S. player announced a distribution deal with an offshore supplier that implied U.S. and more distribution, only to find out the offshore company considered the United States excluded from the deal.
Obviously, very close, hard looks at the specifics of these alliances are necessary.
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