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WORKROOM OPERATIONS

What Was to What Is
In 25 years there has been both change and no change.

by Kitty Stein, CWP, WCAA

Draperies & Window Coverings is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Wow! A quarter century! And I have been there with them from the beginning watching them grow. I have no idea how I first started receiving the magazine, but I and my business partner and some of our associates attended the first World of Window Coverings trade show in 1983. I still have a copy of that magazine and program! My, how things have changed!
That first trade show offered fewer than 90 vendors and 15 seminars. The show floor was dominated by mini-blinds and verticals and there were no seminars for workroom fabricators. The show was definitely geared to the retailer with Steve Bursten teaching “Recruiting and Training Salespeople.” I remember being very much in awe of the information he offered.

The shows have changed; the seminars have changed; many things have changed, but some aspects of our industry have not.

INFORMATION AND EDUCATION
When I started in this industry, there was almost no information on window coverings fabrication to be had. Forget asking your competitors. They would not share anything. The public library had no books on window treatments. Sometime before 1976, I had acquired a book, “Curtains, Slipcovers, and Upholstery,” copyrighted 1962, from which I made my first pair of pinch pleated panels out of casement of all things! I was trying to make a little money sewing in my home and these were for a customer. Even at that time, I was like most every custom fabricator in the industry. You first say, “Yes I can do it!” and then figure out how! That has not changed!

In 1976, I went to work for a local department store altering ready-made draperies and occasionally making pinch pleated draperies. In one instance, a customer returned sheer draperies because the seams showed and she wanted us to hide them. We had no idea how to do that. A local decorator, who did no sewing herself, was called in. She couldn’t help us. I worked there two years before I started my own business and those panels were still hanging there when I left.

I learned by taking existing treatments apart, or by examining those that were already made. I’m sure this is still true today, but that was about the only way I had to learn, which is not true today.

Early in the ’80s my partner and I took a correspondence course that helped immensely in our sadly lacking education. That company no longer exists. Other than that course, there was no formal education, not even at local trade schools. I once tried to get the head of the trade school to offer classes in making draperies but had no success. Sometime in the ’80s, I did teach a class for interior design students at our local community college. I literally had to write the textbook, which the college printed for the students. I never did publish that book.

When D&WC magazine showed up, I was ravenous for information. Seminars were the next step on the education path and now they cover all aspects of our industry. We also have several certifications, the Custom Home Furnishings Academy, the Window Coverings University, the Window Coverings Association of America and more that are less known. All of this information is good—very good—but one thing has not changed: How do we get the new people in this industry to find and drink from these wells? While we do have more savvy people starting businesses, I’m sure that if there were a way to find all the businesses that are really out there, their numbers would be overwhelming and they would be undereducated.

Of course, one cannot talk about information without discussing the Internet. Twenty –five years ago, it was unheard of. Even 10 years ago, it was just beginning to get some real attention. Today, it offers instant information and is a part of taking care of business every day. If you don’t have Internet access and a Web site today, you will not be able to compete in business.

To go from no information 25 years ago to having the world at your fingertips has to be the most dramatic change in our industry. But there may be a down side and that is too much information. While you can find almost everything on the Internet, you could spend hours researching only one thing; e.g. tiebacks. If you Google “tiebacks,” you get about 500,000 responses. Try “how to make tiebacks” and you get about 162,000 answers. Narrow it to “how to make smocked tiebacks” and you have a reasonable number of about 319!

The current populace suffers from instant gratification and getting those responses in a split second is gratifying, but you could spend hours wading through it. Probably due to the lack of information when I started in this business, I have collected window coverings books for years and have an extensive library. If I want information on how to make a smocked tieback, I find it much less time consuming to go through my books. In most cases, I know which ones may have what I’m looking for. And on the financial side of research, tiebacks do not generate that much income to spend hours online researching. The vastness and speed of the Internet tend to make you forget the economics involved.

FROM DOS TO WINDOWS
The first industry trade show in 1983 offered one seminar on computerization. I did not take that seminar as I didn’t see the need to have a computer. However, it wasn’t long after that I and my partner started searching trade shows for industry specific software for our business, which by the late ’80s we could not find. However, we did make a contact at a trade show with someone who wanted to arrange custom programming. So we invested in our first computer, DOS-based, and a dot matrix printer. The custom programming did not work out and all we used the computer for was to write fabrication instructions.

By 1995, my retail business had been dissolved and I was back home with a wholesale workroom working by myself. However, I was doing more speaking and writing for D&WC and SewWhat? Newsletter. Because of that, I also needed to be connected to the Internet to interact with the industry folks who were there. I needed to stay abreast of the current state of the industry. The need for word processing and communication had grown so I made the jump to a Windows 95 computer and a black and white laser printer.

In the last 11 years, I was one of the first to invest in a Palm Pilot PDA. Most professionals are now relying heavily on their cell phones, unheard of 25 years ago, to enhance and assist in their businesses. I have lost two computers to viruses and now have three Windows XP computers, all of which have personalities and ailments! I have five ink jet color printers! I have had to learn far too much about computers, but one must keep up with the changes.

FROM PAPER TO SOFTWARE
I published Order in the Workroom in 1994, which still is paper master forms for internal workroom operations. However, we now have fabulous industry software that enables you to estimate quickly and present beautiful color drawings to your customers.

I discovered the anxiety of learning new software. My first software with my Windows 95 computer was basic Microsoft Word and then I made the jump to QuickBooks Pro. Various other special software followed.

The initial marketing for computers raved about saving paper. I have yet to see that come to fruition the way I would like it to be. While paper takes up storage room, computers can lose information by hitting a wrong key or through viruses, Trojan Horses and Worms of all things! Storage media (CDs) only last so long and can become corrupted at the most inconvenient times.

Computers are supposed to save us time, too, and they do if they are working properly. However, my computers have been temperamental and have misbehaved at the most inopportune times causing me much lost time and mental anguish. Then, of course, you must back up all your files. This takes time and taking the backup media to and from the bank safe deposit box takes time. There was a time I could just leave the computer alone for a while and it would back up everything to a tape. It was neat and simple. Now I have too many files that constantly change on too many computers and even backing up to external hard drives is time consuming.

Computers have become absolutely essential to any business and almost as important in our private lives. Unfortunately most, if not all, computer owners will confess to having a very real love/hate relationship with their computers!

25 YEARS AGO WE DIDN'T HAVE:
• Fax machines and e-mail
• Motorization, which is becoming more standard
• So many residential oversized/multi-story windows and home theaters
• Interlinings and multiple interlinings and more than one to choose from
• Numerous ways to embellish soft treatments
• Double-sticky tape and iron-on tapes and linings
• Numerous trade shows every year
• Industry suppliers who are our one-stop sources for all workroom supplies
• Big Box competition
• More than a pinch pleat or rod pocket headings to choose from for panel headings
• Anything fancier than a swag and cascades for top treatments
• Patterns! What a blessing they are!
• So many choices of hardware for hanging a pinch pleated drapery
• So many people stepping up to teach, share and create industry products
• Standard terminology. The Window Coverings Association of America (WCAA) has established standard terminology for better communication, but getting the whole industry on the same page will take a bit more time
• Numerous books, videos, CDs, and DVDs to help us learn anything from fabrication to business practices
• Ways to communicate with sympathetic and knowledgeable peers in the industry to relieve the loneliness of sole proprietorship businesses
• WCAA bringing more continuity to the industry and encouraging education
• So much information you really need to know from the start.

TODAY WE STILL HAVE:
• The same basic sewing machines and drapery machines that will still get the job done for the small workroom. Some of these machines can be computerized, but they still perform the same basic operations. However, there are more elaborate machines for larger workrooms.
• Not enough cohesion in the industry to define and identify a truly capable and educated window coverings professional, whether retail or wholesale
• Not enough skilled seamstresses and fabricators
• Not one or even two complete, comprehensive resources to provide all the basic information one should know before starting a window covering business
• Many ways to fabricate the same product
• Reluctant peers who refuse to share their knowledge with competitors, although it’s certainly not as bad as it used to be
• Reluctance to consider change and to try out new ideas, technology, etc.
• Lack of sufficient startup capital and unrealistic expectations of when you truly start making money
• Insufficient business knowledge
• Lack of marketing and advertising knowledge
• Reticence to charge what you and your work are worth
• Interior design educational (college level) programs that do not adequately educate about window treatments and thus require wholesale workrooms to do the educating
• Optimistic entrepreneurs ready to go into business doing what they love

D&WC and the whole industry have come a long way! There have been many changes, good and bad. Companies have come and gone. However, there is one thing that has remained true whether today or 25 years ago for anyone to stay in this business and be successful: To succeed in this industry you must be passionate. You must be passionate about window treatments, but more importantly, you must have the passion to stay on top of all the changes and new technology.

The elegant custom detailed window coverings you fabricate hide the amount of knowledge needed to make them and run a business. Only your enthusiasm for your work can reveal part of your passion. The part that isn’t visible is your insatiable hunger to learn what’s new and what will benefit your business and your customers. Why don’t you feed that appetite now and go check your industry list e-mail!