10042006 Letter to the Editor Melanie Hayim

I could not agree more with Bud Wyman's guest editorial.  I am amazed at how we sell rugs as a commodity item, as if we were selling tires.  (Click here to read the Wyman column)

As an industry, we look to licenses  to give us the credibility to sell our rugs at slightly higher margins when, with proper marketing, all rugs of superior color and design should be sold at a premium and be treated as works of art. 

The dealer today wants lower and lower price points and does not want to pay more for a rug that is cutting edge, new or innovative in design. 

 But that is because we vendors have been willing to provide our dealers with rugs at ever decreasing costs and quality instead of marketing what a rug truly does for the consumer's home. 

As we all know, the rug is what finishes a room, makes it warm and inviting, and pulls all the furniture together so that the room does not look like a bunch of individual pieces floating in a three dimensional space.  

Don't get me wrong I am in favor of licensed product but it should not be the only way we market our rugs or even the idea of using a rug in the first place.

Here's one idea:  We should work together as an industry and make sure every furniture ad has a rug in it. Let it be known to the furniture industry that we are willing to loan rugs at no charge just to get a rug in their ads - not so we can sell "that?Θ╝VbCrLf rug but to sell the idea that all room settings should have a rug in it .

After all, every cookie commercial has a glass of milk in it!

Melanie Hayim
828 International Trading
St. Louis, MO.

ED NOTE: We welcome your comments. E-mail us at Lwyman@rugnews.com