COM - Customer's Own Material

Using your own fabric

Called COM (for Customer’s Own Material) adds time and cost to any order. Please review our procedures and how this works in this COM overview. (COM Overview: COM: Customer's Own Material We will use fabric provided by a consumer subject to our inspection and handling schedule. We must ensure the fabric is defect-free, because we are responsible in the event that a slub, run or defect goes undetected into the production of your furniture. We will not handle COM orders where the fabric is sent directly to the factory unless the consumer is willing to waive rights to all warranty and claims. COM yardage must be shipped directly to our store in Maine.

We will accept fabric only after the consumer has placed an order with 100% deposit paid, because we need to first place the order with the factory to have reference numbers to use when submitting the inspected fabric for production.

Consideration for flow matching and other pattern matching must be taken into account when selecting fabric for COM. Each piece has a required yardage, and we follow a formula to gauge how much extra would be required when using a stripe or pattern. Based on the horizontal and/or vertical repeat, more material may be required. On abstract patterns where no flow or pattern match can be achieved, we do not need extra COM fabric. For inspection, handling, and re-packaging the fabric, we charge $50 per 25 yards or part thereof. In exchange for this fee, we inspect, identify, enumerate and mark all defects, summarize findings in a report, and send to the factory along with photos of all defects found.

Actual UPS charges and insurance paid by us to ship the inspected fabric to the factory are passed on to the consumer with no extra charges. The UPS and handling fees must be paid before the furniture leaves the factory. Production lead times start upon the factory receipt of COM material, and customizations to furniture designs may add a week or two to lead times.

Keep in mind there are design considerations when choosing material to cover your seating, custom or stock. Fabric comes in 54” wide rolled goods that come off the roll either “up the bolt” or “railroad”. If you have panels in your design that are wider than around 54”, expect that there will be seams in the finished product. See illustration for details.