Na, I don't go up on the Weavers' sites more than 3 or 4 times a day.
You see, I can't afford the swatch books from all the weavers I deal with. (some run $700.00 per book with 5 & 6 books per weight.)
So what I did was mount a flat screen TV on the wall in my shop.
When a customer comes in asking about a particular Tartan I go up on the Weavers Site and pull up the picture of the Tartan.
I set up the TV to be a clone of my monitor and the customer can stand in the shop and see their Tartan at eye level.
I do the same with the Scottish Tartans Authority. As I am a member, I can pull up the picture of all the Registered Tartans, along with the thread count and a brief history of the Tartan.
I find it really helpful when a customer has just a name or a vague idea of what Tartan they want.
It also gives the customer a really good idea how many Tartans there are, that some are very new, that there are many times more than one Tartan for a given name, and that there are versions of the same Tartan depending on which weaver does the Tartan.
It also gives the customer an authoritative idea of the availability of their Tartan.
So yea, I spend a lot of time on the weavers sites. They are all bookmarked on my computer.
I also spend a lot of time talking to the weavers on the phone. The only problem is the time zone difference. For me to call Marton Mills I usually have to do it at about 1:00am my time.
Steve Ashton
www.freedomkilts.com
Skype (webcam enabled) thewizardofbc
I wear the kilt because: Swish + Swagger = Swoon.
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