Blog

Dear Folia Customer,

As you may be aware, there have been unprecedented increases in the cost of inland, ocean and air transport over the past year. The logistic companies have advised that we can expect these increases to continue in the coming months due to the lack of transport availability, heightened demand, congestion in ports of departure and arrival, and Covid protocols. As a result, worldwide shipment costs spiked to more than four times the normal rates in just the last 60 days.

We have been absorbing these additional costs for the past six to eight months, but the size of the most recent increases puts us in a position where we can no longer do so completely on our own. We will continue to absorb a fair share of the increases ourselves, but beginning August 2, 2021, we will be applying a Freight surcharge of $.35 per yard and $.35 per roll to all wallpaper and fabric invoices. 

We will continue to monitor the transport issues for the next 4 to 5 months with the hope that the situation eases and reverts to more normal levels. 

Thank you for your continuing support.understanding of this situation and for your continued support..

Dear Folia Customer, First and foremost, we hope that you remain safe and healthy during the Covid-19 virus pandemic period. In addition, we also wish you the best in the maintaining a viable business model as you navigate through the financial impact that the Covid-19 virus pandemic has had on all businesses in our industry and beyond. Unfortunately, this unprecedented pandemic period has greatly impacted our decorative fabric supply chain from all over the world. Costs for all the raw materials and yarns such as Poly/ Cotton/ Viscose has skyrocketed by over 25 % in addition to all dyes, chemicals and oil prices. Additionally, the unbalanced trading around the world created high congestion in ports and high demand for shipping containers. All these activities have led to sharp escalations in logistics and freight costs from all worldwide shipping points in addition to excessive delays and timelines. All these spiking supply chain cost increases has created a “perfect storm” scenario and has fueled the necessity of increasing our prices. Effective July 1, 2021, we are increasing our prices by 5 - 6.5%. Please note, the price increase affects only orders placed on, or after July 1, 2021. You can obtain a copy of the New Ralph Lauren fabric and wallcovering July 1, 2021 price list by logging onto the Folia Customer website at: http://customers.folia-fabrics.com  or by emailing Folia Customer Service at: customerservice@Folia-fabrics.com and we’ll email you an Excel pricing file of the July 1, 2021 price list. Thank you for your valued business during this difficult time, your understanding of this situation and for your continued support.. Sincerely,

Daniel J. Bonini, President

A recently identified issue impacting battery life for some PowerView® products was communicated in the Newsroom on May 20, 2021. You can view the article here.

It’s important to note that this issue only exists in a limited number of motors in the field. The potentially impacted products were fabricated between March 17 and May 18, 2021.

Based on our records, you may have received an order with impacted products:

• Alustra® Woven Textures® Roman Shades

• Applause® Honeycomb Shades

• Design Studio™ Roman Shades

• Duette® Honeycomb Shades

• Duette® SkyLift™ Honeycomb Shades

• Pirouette® Window Shadings 

• Provenance® Woven Woods Shades

• Solera® Soft Shades

We strongly recommend verifying that the motors in these products are not impacted by this issue prior to installation whenever possible. To identify if a motor contains this defect, consult the following criteria: 

1. Fabricated between March 17 and May 18, 2021

2. The product type is listed above

3. Battery power is completely drained in 2-7 days (after installation)

4. The date code on the physical motor assembly is in the 2110 - 2119 range

   a. Please see an example of the date code label pictured below

If you identify a defective motor, please contact Customer Support by creating a support case in The Link or by emailing Support@Hunterdouglas.com. We’re eager to assist by providing replacement motors or arranging a repair. Due to the currently limited inventory of replacement motors, verification of this issue is necessary before motor replacement, either through positively identifying the date code on the physical motor or for products already installed, looking for the obvious symptoms of battery drainage within a week of use. 

More information on this issue, including specific orders which may be impacted, will be shared early next week, along with detailed instructions to remediate the issue for affected products. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Customer Support.  

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes, and we appreciate your ongoing business and support.

Hunter Douglas 2nd Quarter 2021 rebate form. Please be sure to contact us first to make sure that your orders are marked correctly for the rebates. Consumers are the ONLY ones that can redeem rebates, NOT designers or dealers. rebatepdf.IWI.MDC.2Q.2021.pdf

2021 Summary of Price Changes.pdf

Effective immediately- Members receive an extra 10% off retail pricing on Thibaut and Anna French fabrics , wallpapers and trims (was 40% off retail previously). 

Previous pricing on Thibaut and Anna French fabrics, wallpapers and trims was 40% off retail pricing. My Designer Concierge has recently invested in their book and trim program which now reflects deeper discounts of 50%/10% off retail pricing off all fabric, wallpaper and trim when you view on the website. In order to recoup our investment for the "book and trim plan" the new pricing will be as follows, 50% off retail. Please keep this in mind when pricing your fabrics moving forward. 

For example: Thibaut Honshu fabric. Retail price shows $130.00/yd and the website states "your cost" as $58.50/yd. Your MDC cost would actually be $65.00 (50% retail). This is still less expensive than going through a design showroom (they charge 40% retail). 

Fabric, wallpaper and trim orders will be invoiced by My Designer Concierge after shipping is calculated and you can pay online with your credit card, bank account or via check (USPS mail).

You can place memo sample orders yourself. If you require large samples (nominal charge), you may order those online yourself as well. However, we just ask that you pay us for these via Venmo or Zelle so that we do not incur additional credit card fees. 

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Jill

​Shades of Elegance Collection

• ​Noble Pleat Charcoal - Light Filtering Fabrics - Stack B - Page 82

Good morning,

 

Thank you for being a loyal Norwalk customer. While we strive to manage costs whenever possible and try to minimize any price increases to our customers, we are forced from time to time to react to increases we see in raw materials, transportation and packaging.

 

In the past eight months we have seen increases in the following (just to name a few):

• Foam 8% surcharge with additional increases planned for 2021

• Wire up 10% (this includes sinuous wire, drop in coils, upholstery springs)

• Motion mechanisms- 6% on top of the 5.5% we received earlier in 2020

• Packing materials up 9%

 

Effective February 2, 2021...

• We will be increasing our prices by 3% on all products. We will advise later when new price lists will be in the Customer Center for downloading.

• With the increases in foam, we need to increase our specialty seat cushion inserts by a flat $5.00 per upholstery piece.

• We also are seeing an increase on select fabrics (40 inline fabrics, 3 leathers and 11 order-to-order fabrics). We will be sending out code stickers the last week of January. Fifty of the 54 total fabrics are an increase of one code. Click here for list

 

As always, we are committed to providing superior custom upholstery, and work to keep high levels of fabrics in stock. We appreciate your business and continued support.

Scot Kanaly

Norwalk Furniture, VP Sales

419-744-3391

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First, let me thank you for your partnership and your patience. This is a challenging time in so many ways. I hope both professionally and personally, that you will come through this period strong and healthy.

I would like to give you an update on our business, and what you can expect going forwards.

Product Development  Our entire team of Designers has been hard at work to keep our product line fresh and exciting. Because we cannot travel freely, the pace of our development is slower, but the quality of our design work is strong.

Inventory  We always intend to hold a heavy inventory in our distribution centers, so that you don't have to. We want our warehouses to function as your warehouse. Unfortunately, our production has not been able to keep up with our extraordinarily high level of shipping for the past 7 months, so our inventory is much lower than we would like. We do continue to have more product in production than ever before, and we are receiving new inventory into our distribution centers at record levels. Nevertheless, it will likely be summer before our inventory levels are fully back to where we intend them to be. Until then, I would suggest that you focus your purchases on product that is in stock. If you are logged onto our website, you can use the "availability" filter when shopping any category of product.

Shipping performance  We continue to work overtime and hire new talent in both our Virginia and California distribution centers. Since June, we have achieved an all-time high shipping volume, but this still has not been enough to keep up with orders. Unfortunately, we have also been challenged at times with team members being out for quarantines due to COVID. Our trucking companies have also struggled to deliver as timely as normal. My apologies for those of you we have let down as slow performance is never acceptable to us. Please know that we are doing everything possible to ship you more promptly.

Inflation  As I'm sure you know, costs in our industry are increasing rapidly now. We are paying as much as double to get containers, the US dollar has weakened making overseas production more expensive, and many material costs are up dramatically. We are absorbing these increases as much as we can, but we must pass along some of these costs in our products. We plan to get specific information to you in early February, with price increases effective later in February.

Please know that we're committed to meeting your needs. Our effort is stronger than ever, and our factories are producing at their highest levels.

Thank you for your understanding as we navigate through the challenges we all face.

Sincerely, 

Mac Cooper, President

Two new MDC vendors:

Click on the logos to view the websites. Vendor login, ordering instructions and cost factors coming soon.