Creating a well-designed fabric swatch book is critical for both your sales team as well as for your customers. Choosing how to place the various fabrics and swatches in the book will have an impact on how people perceive the different samples and the possibilities for the use of the fabric or material in their home or commercial building.
There are different ways to set up fabric swatch books. Using a system that works well to identify fabrics by materials, colors, patterns, or other criteria is always a simple option. There are other organizational tips to consider if you are working with an interior designer or a coordinator/decorator.
Grouping Like Fabrics
A common way to organize swatch books is by fabric or material type. This is a good option if you have specific fabric type requests. Grouping similar fabric types and then breaking it down by colors is even specific, allowing a customer or a sales professional to immediately find the right section of the book to allow customers to see options.
Patterns or textures can also be grouped together. For example, all paisleys could be in one section of a swatch book, while all velvet swatches could be in another. This is often a good choice if the customer is choosing a single item.
Grouping Complementary Fabric Options
Waterfall or island types of pages in a fabric swatch book is a wonderful way to display fabrics that compliment or contrast with each other. For interior designers or decorators, this creates a concept on a page. The customer can easily see how different patterns, colors, and even textures and types of fabrics look when used together.