A caveat in posting a rant, however humorous.
There are some excellent showrooms,
and we are grateful and support them whenever we can. 
The rant below is a glimpse into what can happen and does happen when two seasoned professionals have to get an exact color fabric, as we are doing on the DAR project,
and have to go beyond our favorite showrooms and work with places near and far. 
There are also amazing fabric companies that have weathered the great recession.
However, the point to this (and there is a point) is if you have
a designer or upholsterer or conservator who tells you that the fabric sample they showed you a week before which you fell in love with is discontinued or out of stock,
this offers you a glimpse into what can happen in between.

This follows on the post regarding the contenders.

I am going to honestly give you a glimpse of the next steps in the
vetting of green silks with names removed to protect the innocent…
*i could not make this up and be believable*
All I wanted was the wholesale price and in stock quantities on ten samples of silks
that we vetted only two weeks ago…  from a few showrooms!

*it took 3 hours to call the showrooms… truth!*

Mitchell called the X company and gave him the two silk product numbers.
“No such number in our computer.”
Mitchell reiterated that he got it off the Z home site in a color search less than a week ago and to look again… for goodness sake, the two color samples came from their showroom!
*seriously, the showroom stamp is right on the sample*
“No, no such fabric in our showroom, and it is not on my computer.”
Meanwhile I am pulling it up online and there it is, but X said it doesn’t exist.
So I call back and this time I get a different person at company X.
*this man is snotty… he is always snotty!
i really don’t like to order much from them because
i’ve never gotten the memo that to be ultra cool you have to be snotty*
However, I give him the URL I am looking at and explain the situation above.
Again, he can’t see it.
I repeat the URL again.
“No.”
I then say, “Google Z silk then click green then you will see it.”

*bingo*

*now i really don’t get why he can’t see it if i give him the URL
but can if he googles it so there you are, another cyberspace mystery*

X says he can’t order this fabric and I ask why, explaining I don’t want to spend another hour + the time ordering samples on another fabric sometime for fabric I can’t buy.
*there must be some logic, right?*
X says perhaps we can only get Z fabric in Europe?
Whaaa?
*makes no sense to me…*
Why did you have the sample sent from your showroom?
*they hate my logic.*
He will call me back.

*while i am waiting and waiting and getting ready for my next call
  mitchell and i talk about how the USA is a pretty big place with lots of fabric customers.
why is it that the huge famous fabric company can’t sell all their silk colors in the USA?*
X company calls back and says he does have one of the colors, and gives me
the wholesale price and yardage available, but the other is discontinued.
Oh, and, he may not have 4×4-inch samples of the color for me.
Whaaaa?
*we need more than one so that other members in the DAR can approve the material.
i unabashedly begin to beg.  i don’t want 45 minutes of my life wasted due to him hoarding memo samples on a viable color after so much looking
(greens are not in style) as we have given many orders over the years
and i am not putting up with this….

pride is pride and i need samples.*

Finally.  Three samples on their way from company X, special order.

Now to the next company for another set of samples.

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