Originally Posted by JoAnnGC
Yes, my question is this...Why is it that when I find a fabric collection that I really love I can hardly ever find a shop either online or brick and mortar that carries the complete collection... Some shops only picked up the panels and a few of the coordinating fabrics, some the opposite.
JoAnnGC, I can tell you why I very rarely order full collections for our shop. They generally have a few "feature fabrics" (the panel, the interesting large print or two, the couple of interesting small prints, the border stripe). And then the collection has a dozen or more relatively uninteresting coordinates that do not stand on their own. The "feature fabrics" sell out rather quickly, but in many cases, by the time we even receive the collection, it's already out of print. So we can't get more of the best prints, and without those to drive sales, all those coordinates sit and sit and sit. If we're lucky, the next collection by the same designer will use the same color palette, so if we buy ONLY the "feature fabrics" from that one, we will be able to re-merchandise some of the leftover coordinates from the previous group. But now, as a shopper, you're having trouble finding the coordinates from the second group.
We always have the fabric manufacturers offering us a 15 cent/yard discount if we buy a full collection... but I almost always find that there are a couple of fabrics that I actively dislike. The amount of the discount that 15 cents is not even enough to cover the cost of a half-bolt of fabric. So why bother? I just pick-and-choose "the good ones".
BTW: the cost of picking up an entire line is in the area of $1000 - $2000, a rather significant amount!