Lead times and managed expectations.
A Letter from Renate Ruby, the founder of Brume/Adorn June 2021
Extended lead times are with us to stay for at least a few more weeks. We have a perfect storm of several contributing factors converging on our industry that are just not something we can work around any more. I want to bullet point a few of them so when setting client expectations you can promise something that vendors can deliver.
INCREASED DEMAND
Just like you and your clients, many many people have never spent more time in their homes and they have time to think about making upgrades. they also have money available they haven’t spent on travel, clothes, and other personal items while WFH creating unprecedented demand.
FABRIC DELAYS
Existing stock shipped early in the pandemic and the mills have not been able to replenish that stock due to working smaller crews, and the continued high volume of orders. For example, stonewashed linen is made by tumbling the woven fabric in a big drum with white pumice stones. There is ONE facility in France with 5 of these 100 year old tumbling machines. There is no rushing the process. There are no more machines. It will take as long as it takes to catch up to demand.
LUMBER SHORTAGE
Furniture is not the only thing people are adding to their homes. Between construction, decks, fences and everything else, lumber is in short supply and the prices are skyrocketing.
SHIPPING DELAYS
Not even taking into account the ship blocking the Suez canal, putting world wide shipping on hold, there are more containers trying to travel around the globe than there are ships to take them, people to load them and trucks to deliver them, so we have seen containers filled with needed supplies sitting on docks for more than a month, like leather in New Zealand (There is 2,000 sq ft in the container waiting at the port and a back order of 11,000 sqare feet here in the US alone, so that particular leather is likely unavailable for 6 months or more)
If you were 60 and your job took you all over the country interacting with unknown people every day, you would have retired at the beginning of the pandemic as well. That’s what happened to a whole lot of truck drivers last year, and the trucking companies are recruiting as quickly as they can…. but not a lot of millennials dream of a career as a long haul truck driver.
Legalized POT is having an unintended consequence of fewer truck drivers who can pass drug tests, leading to trucks sitting for weeks at a time waiting for a driver to take the goods cross country. Trucking companies are recruiting from Amish, Muslim and other communities where drug use is discouraged. Can’t train them quickly enough to catch up with demand.
Refrigerated goods always take priority at a port. When a ship comes in, the refrigerated containers are taken off first and put on any truck that can run the refrigeration unit. After 3 days, the port is financially responsible for any loss of refrigerated goods, so our leather, lumber, fabric, springs, etc, are pushed to the back of the line.
FOAM SHORTAGE
I’ve learned more about world wide foam production recently than I ever thought I would. The ONE place a particular chemical needed for foam production is located in Louisiana, and during the spring storm that froze the entire south for many days, the pipes froze and burst in this facility, putting a halt to foam production all over the country. The stock available was used up quickly and now the furniture industry is battling it out with the auto industry for available product.
QUICK SHIP PROGRAMS SUSPENDED. LEAD TIMES EXTENDED ACROSS THE INDUSTRY
If your favorite vendor isn’t experiencing these delays, it’s just a matter of time before they do. Even typical 3 week quick ship production lines are out of commission as foam and other raw materials are simply not delivered to the factory.
Suffice it to say, we are all human beings doing our best to deliver quality furnishings in the most timely way possible. Our vendors are working as fast as they can and running the largest team they safely can, while maintaining the high level of quality we expect and value.
Just like wearing masks, getting vaccinated, keeping social distance and learning to work differently, we all need to have patience and compassion for the community of people doing their best to bring you and your clients the home furnishing that will last beyond our memory of this inconvenience.
Sincerely,
Renate Ruby from Brume and Adorn
Founder Renate Ruby…..
spent 20 years working as a designer and has been in the industry since 1988 where she began her journey as a finisher at a high-end furniture manufacturer. Renate founded Brume in 2018 as an extension to her Adorn showroom and store in Greenwood, Seattle. Both were founded out of a need for high-quality, artisan-made furnishings and decor in the Seattle area. Renate loves to learn and tell the stories of artists and craftsmen from furniture manufacturers, to great designers themselves; and that is why she founded Brume
