REPOST:

Project Using Dackor Leather White Alligator
This project is specifically complimentary because Jill Zarin's family owns Zarin Fabrics. Certainly Jill has an eye for high end materials and it was a huge compliment that she selected our White Alligator via the Closet Factory.

Jill Zarin Custom Closet Story

By:Gabi Glassman

Reality Star Jill Zarin pictured in front of her shoe closet.

Being a designer for Closet Factory is always satisfying and fulfilling. I truly enjoy creating beautiful spaces that help people organize their lives.

This fall I had the opportunity to work with an amazing client, Jill Zarin ! She is a former Real Housewife of New York (Bravo TV), best selling author of Secrets of a Jewish Mother, the creator of the shapewear line SKWEEZ COUTURE and now also  Jill Zarin Bedding; not to mention trendsetter, fashionista; The mom of Ginger (New York’s most famous dog) and just recently tennis partner of Chris Everett in a charity event.  How exciting!

Working with Jill was so much fun! Her energy and enthusiasm made the whole process from design to installation extremely rewarding.

Closet Factory Designer Gabi Glassman Werner pictured with Rocky one of the New York location's Installers.The challenge was creating a glamorous closet that would coincide with the decor of her chic Manhattan apartment while exceeding all of her wardrobe storage needs.Her apartment is beautifully appointed with silk fabrics, hand painted walls, beautiful carpets, custom wood built-ins with a mix of art deco pieces and antiques.   The color scheme was blues, teals and grays…. There were sweeping views of the East River from every room.  We decided to select a new color, Linen Light Gray Melamine, for the closet with hardware accents of large modern handles in brushed chrome.  The Linen Light Gray was selected for it’s texture and color because it complimented the hand glazed walls and grey silk carpet.  DACKOR's White Alligator doors with Mirrored inserts and Crystal Bar Handles was selected for the wall unit in the bedroom.   It was dazzling and fit the room perfectly!

Now that the decorating decisions were made we needed to address the storage problems.  Jill’s current custom closet system designed by another closet company was not working for her.  It consisted of a closet organizer designed with basic shelving, hanging rods at standard heights and a few deep drawers.  Her large selection of designer handbags and shoes did not fit into the space.  Her leggings and T-Shirts were in such deep drawers she could not find what she needed without going through the whole drawer multiple times. Because her rods were hung all at the same height it did not accommodate the variety of dresses that she owns. Almost all had a different hemline from short to long. And there was a major flaw in the current system – there was no place to store Jill’s costume jewelry and even worse her Skweez Couture line.

With some creativity and careful sorting of dress lengths the new design we can up with incorporated all of Jill’s needs.   In Jill’s new design the closet had a tower of velvet lined 3″ high Lucite trays for her leggings and Skweez Couture.  Because the fronts were clear she could see exactly what was inside each tray.  The shallow depth of the trays made it easy for Jill to find what she needed without digging or searching as she had prior.  We used lots of deep shelves to house her handbags and installed a variety of hooks on the wall behind the door for additional handbags that worked well hanging from their straps.  We custom hung her rods at different heights to accommodate the different lengths of dressed she owns.  Drawers for T-Shirts and sweaters were placed as a focal point on the back wall as well as a double-decker jewelry drawer with a lock.  Because the ceiling height of the closet was 9 feet tall we were able to use all the height to create optimum storage.
The Faux White Alligator wall unit with Mirrored inserts contains storage for Jill’s current selection of designer shoes.  There is space for tall boots as well as Lucite slanted shoe shelves for the rest of her shoes.

Close up of DACKOR's White Alligator Faces detail designed for Jill Zarin's Wall Unit.

Now Jill is very happy with her Closet Factory custom closets.  They exceeded her expectations in storage, organization and appearance.   She is so happy that she asked me to design her husband Bobby’s Closet!!!

Leather Closet Drawer Organizer Components

As many of you may know, DACKOR stocks Leather Brown 3D Laminate and in early December we will also have Leather Black.

Recently I was on a long flight from Canada back home to Orlando and thinking about different and unique ways to promote the Leather series. Just as I was about to be served my small cup of water and miniscule bag of pretzels it hit me. "What if component producers made a drawer organizer for closet companies?"

I am assuming that most closet companies feature displays AND many of them buy components from more than one source. Imagine calling up one of your closet customers and asking them their inside dimensions for one of their displays. After getting the dimensions you custom router out an MDF shape organizer that stores keys, their wallet, belts and coins and send it to your customer at no charge. After they put this organizer in the display they are sure to show it off to home owners as an option. Chances are that when the job is sold they will then be sure to order the parts from your company. This is a unique what to keep customer loyalty or to sway a company to start buying components from your company.

But why leather 3D Laminate?

I am assuming that for most consumers who choose to spend a few thousand on a closet that this type of customer may also spend a bit on shoes, hand bags and belts. If you think of a closet storing these items many of them are leather. By incorporating DACKOR Leather series into an island top, desk top or crown moulding it creates a unique custom look that fits.

Whats new with Leather?

In addition to stock Leather Brown and Leather Black, DACKOR is willing to stock other leathers with only a 300Ly order versus our standard 600Ly customer order quantity. We would like to stock Leather items like crocodile, ostrich, and different shades of Leather. By decreasing our custom order quantity we may be more able to stock different colors to strengthen the series.

Leather Black

Leather Brown

This newsletter goes out to all, won't everyone do it?

Over the past two years of writing this blog I have noticed that only a fraction of people I send it to actually open and read it. If you are one of those few that do read this then you are part of a very small group who are looking for new ways to market 3D Laminate components. I think we all know that in business there are two types of companies....those that lead and those that follow. While its impossible to offer this Leather series only to one company, by being an agressive and first moving company is the key to success for many. For your competitors, and for ours, the volume of Leather orders may not warrant adding it to their line. They may not recognize the impact of such marketing and may miss the bigger picture. They may mistakenly think "Well its small volume.... "

The Marketing Term for this situation:

Our Leather series may never sell in huge volume and to date we've spent more on samples than we have had sales.... We believe that for us it helps to solidify DACKOR as a leader rather than a follower. But what can our Leather series do for you? There are a lot of marketing terms that you may be familiar with such as "Loss Leader" referring to merchandise sold at a loss to pull in customers or the "Pink Spoon" which refers to the free sample to entice customers. But what do you call an item sold at profit that is in small volume yet it hooks the larger order? I haven't quite located this marketing term however it may be called an "attraction tool" or maybe instead of "Loss Leader" we could coin this marketing technique the "Gain Leader". So under my definition of "Gain Leader" you would introduce an item that is more profitable than your other parts yet it Leads the sale. So your customers would order your "Gain" item..."The Leather" and then it would lead to the rest of the Chocolate Pear, White or whatever color the closet was done in. You might require your customers to order the entire job with you to get the Leather drawer insert, for example.

CONCLUSION:

Well I hope that you have found this article to be more than a sales intro for our Leather series but mind opening in terms of marketing...

If you found this article helpful be sure to shoot me an email. Or if you'd like to get right into it.... be sure to contact our company for a sample roll. Order Samples

The closet market will change in 2009, let's examine it.

Happy New Year !

This post marks our 1 Year Anniversary of this blog. We have been averaging over 100 hits per month which is great because of the specificity of this blog geared towards this niche industry of manufacturers.

Over the past year I have gotten a lot of compliments on this blog and one of our articles were published in Surface & Panel Magazine. The article was about selling 3D Laminate Thermofoils for high end Kitchens. In 2008 I was also offered to be a guest speaker at the Decorative Surfacing seminar in Austria. Unfortunately I had to pass on this due to a conflicting schedule.

For this post I would like to write about how your customers are changing. You can feel it right? I'd like to examine deeper what opportunities may arise as a result of the economic challenges we face.

Factor 1: Poor economies force us to increase our customer base in order to maintain revenue
Factor 2: Poor economies change the motivations for purchasing by the end user
Factor 3: When companies go out of business you can pick up their clients by taking on their colors.

Factor 1: We have all witnessed the building slowing down for a two straight years. Certainly for it to pick up to the previous levels it would stand to reason that it would also take a few years to rebound. Should we wait for this rebound or should we reposition ourselves for the new and existing market opportunities?

Several years ago it was so easy to obtain new business that many door companies had few sales people and were able to take orders rather than chase orders. If a customer was too difficult you could price them out to go away or just not return their calls. You can bet that some of the customers you inadvertently chased away were very good potentials had you been able and willing to handle them differently. Now that the market has declined you probably have found yourself calling more potentials. If you or your sales people are succeeding you may actually find that your client list is expanding even though your sales revenue is continuing to decline. Is this a bad thing?

What is happening is that you are being forced to look at business you would normally turn away. Lets look at the cons... First you be even more busy, have more stress on customer service, more sampling and more hidden costs of doing business. Doesn't sound too good.... But on the bright side, your company is now making an investment in a new client base. Could one of these small accounts become your number one account in five years? Its possible and I've seen it happen.

Yes in a down economy you should be increasing your client list, increasing your colors (if you have the capital) and making the investment towards the future.

Factor 2: Poor economies change the motivations for purchasing by the end user. Your customer will tell you that price is what matters now. But they're only half right, please let me explain.

If you produce components for a wide variety of company types you will notice some go out of business, some remain the same and others will order but much less. Please don't jump to conclusions that the market alone will determine your fate. Put the thought into your customer's new and changing needs.

Lets assume that you have a closet customer called ABC Closets. Two years ago a lot of his or her business was driven by new home sales. ABC Closets was either working with the builder, a designer or a home owner to install a new closet into that new home. When they came to that closet company they selected from one of the 5 or 10 colors available and had it installed into their new home. With all the color decisions and budget being spent throughout the home the decision was made in the most efficient manner possible. Today however, the atmosphere of the buyer has changed. The type of person deciding to remodel a closet today is more likely to be doing so because they have decided NOT to move into a bigger home. This new consumer will have more time to decide and will put more focus on the color choice. This new consumer is rewarding themselves with a new swimming pool, a closet or other interior furnishings rather than moving up into a larger or more custom home. So how does this change the buying factor?

It is my estimation that you will have two types of buyers increase their size demographic in the current market condition. There will be an increasing divide in to "Value Buyers" or "Status Buyers" as it relates to ABC Closet type business.

A. Value Buyers will be ones looking for a deal. I'll call this consumer Bargain Betty. Certainly , Betty figures that if ABC Closets is hurting for business she should be able to get a good deal. And we both know that Betty is right. She will be OK with Hard Rock Maple, White or Summer Flame as long as she can get a good deal. ABC Closets will react to Betty and will give her the best price they have because they need the work. This will in turn make ABC Closets look much harder at their door buying to squeeze their vendors for their profit. This will send the message to the door manufacturers that price matters! In the case of Bargain Betty Value Buyer, the price of the market standard doors will continue to drop in 09'.

B. Status Buyers are a second type of customer that will emerge in 2009. Status buyers have always existing however there will be a new status buyer demographic emerge this year. I'll call this status buyer "Jane" for the purpose of this story. Both Jane and her husband have been employed in a secure company for 15 years and they have always dreamed of buying a larger home. But what if Jane or her husband gets layed off from work? Certainly taking on a larger mortgage would not be a smart move in today's economy. Feeling trapped in their current home they will look to make it better and improved. What better way than to increase your space than to invest into a closet. Jane will go to ABC Closets and look for a closet system that is truly unique with a color that is rich, warm and special. Jane will feel that she deserves something new or special because she is sacrificing the upgraded house. Jane is willing to pay more but will expect something special. For that reason, a new market will emerge in 2009 whereby new colors and high end looks will flourish.

Factor 3: When companies go out of business you can pick up their clients by taking on their colors. In one specific market I noticed that a company went out of business but nobody approached the owner to buy his customer list or to work out a deal. In difficult markets its the ideal time to take over your competitors business. This new opportunity will require you to increase a few colors that your competitor had to service those old clients. You may even be able to buy his tooling.

In this post I have examined the fictitious company ABC Closets needs as they relate to Bargain Betty the Value Buyer and Status Buyer Jane . Both customers will change the nature of the market and it is important to see the market from a macro level rather than only at a micro level. We could make similar observations to the Kitchen or Store Fixture markets as well. I may write another article specifically catered to the changing needs in those markets later. But one thing is for certain, the market you knew is gone and you can either wait for it to return or react to the market that is given to you.

For 2009, DACKOR will be increasing its color offering and expanding our stock. We hope you'll join us in making both Bargain Betty and Status Jane happy so we can keep ABC Closets in business.