Revolution Fabrics and a USA supply chain
Hi Friends ~
Tyler Benner here, Venn creator.
To kick off the beginning of the year, our sister brand Strong Feet Athletics started off brilliantly debuting the Leviathan cycling shoe as customers started receiving the first factory-direct air-mailed orders in late January. But then, the trade wars kicked into high gear as Trump took office and the international climate changed overnight with the introduction of new tariffs.
The extent of Venn’s involvement in this global fiasco became more apparent in the ensuing weeks as we learned our Massachusetts-based fabric vendor to be sourcing most of their fabrics from China and the new tariffs broke both our fabric vendor’s and our business model. Since we don’t like to waste a good crisis, we began an unplanned and rapid hunt for a new supply chain.
Enter, Revolution Fabrics. With a fabric mill located in North Carolina in the heart of the furniture / upholstery epicenter of the USA, Revolution Fabrics brings Venn Design to a near total USA-based supply chain and operations.
Thus, we are proud to share the details on our USA-based supply chain, with the stability ball and pump remaining as the sole outliers in our domestic supply chain. While we would love to have a 100% USA-based supply chain, the chances of us finding a stability ball and pump factory in the United States appear zero (we’ve looked extensively) and there is no indication that will change in the next decade making our only realistic chances of achieving that are to do it ourselves and we’ll need to grow several orders of magnitude to take on such a challenge. All the same, we’re proud of our partners and this is our best lineup of materials and products we’ve made to date and we’re so excited to see what everyone thinks of the new collection.
I want to extend a special thank you to the Texas sewing team, my sister, my nephew, and my mother who all were instrumental in the epic 3-day photoshoot we did with the new fabrics. Even while we felt pushed to our limits adapting our business to the new trade climate, we couldn’t waste the opportunity to make our biggest media production to date with the new fabrics. It was truly special to fill a giant photo studio (thanks Creative Camp Studio) with 23 new fabrics, 3 items each, and dream about Venn’s future. While we’ve previously developed new and unique Air Chairs featuring our proprietary sublimation techniques like the Solar Series or the Sports Series, or formed partnerships with a premium textile company like Pendleton Wool, we’ve used the same fabrics and colors on Standard Air Chairs since we started Venn in 2015.
Cut, sew, and packaging - Forney, Texas, USA
Fabric - Kings Mountain, North Carolina, USA
Foam - Houston, Texas, USA
Felt - Riverside, New Jersey, USA
Nylon - South Bend, Indiana, USA
Sublimation fabric - Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Sublimation - Portland, Oregon, USA
Wool - Pendleton, Oregon, USA
Buckwheat hulls - Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
Zippers - Marietta, Georgia, USA
Stability ball and pumps - Shanghai, China
Design and Opps - Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Venn Design
USA Supply Chain Map
Revolution Fabrics’s motto is, “Because life happens,” and is the first PFAS chemical-free performance fabric to hit the marketplace in 2014 and was the only one made entirely in the United States. PFAS = Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. Revolution is perfect for families who want a beautiful and comfortable fabric that is stain-resistant but doesn’t have a huge price tag. Fabrics are 100% Polypropylene and offers the warmth and coziness of cotton without sacrificing durability or cleanability. With the ability to be cleaned using diluted bleach or soapy water, maintaining the pristine look of your Venn items has never been easier.
“Revolution Performance Fabrics has pioneered an entirely different approach. Instead of switching from one potentially harmful chemical finish to another, we believe that no finish is, in fact, the best finish. Our fabrics offer superior performance, matching the stain-resistant qualities of chemically treated counterparts, but without any hazardous chemical finishes.
Why do we believe ‘No Finish is the Best Finish’? For us, it’s about prioritizing both human and environmental health. By eliminating chemical finishes, we’re cutting out potential toxins from your living spaces and reducing the pollution these chemicals can cause.
In the world of upholstery, the revolution has begun – and it’s chemical-free.”
Because Life Happens
Revolution Fabrics
Revolution has an extensive collection of upholstery fabrics, far more than the 23 we’ve selected on our first collection. Are you a designer / hotel / architect / brand and want to make something custom? Send us a message with your ideas after ordering fabric samples direct from Revolution.
Now all Standard Air Chairs and Sitting Cushions will come in Revolution fabrics in addition to our Pendleton Wool and sublimated Solar Series and Sports Series. And, we are so proud we’ve been able to weather this storm, change our supply chain, and keep the same great $299 starting price for Air Chairs and $189 for Sitting Cushions. And yes we have deals on Furniture Sets for when you want to outfit the whole house / office though we need a little more time to get Furniture Sets in the new fabrics up on the site.
Another important development to share is we are proud to have our friend and partner, Eric Egger, creator of Space Club, join Venn to lead our social media presence. Eric’s passion and expertise in media production and socials is a welcome and necessary addition to our team. We’re taking our creator and influencer program to the next level and broadly committing to a more active presence on our organic socials. Please stop over and say hello to Eric and leave a comment! Or if you’re a creator, send a DM to connect with Eric to discuss our upcoming campaigns and plans.
Finally I must conclude this blog with also a request and a mea culpa to our followers and customers and partners. During the tumult of changing our supply chain we couldn’t be everywhere at once and I’m aware some of you have not had your questions answered or requests fulfilled, whether on social media or email. We were facing an existential crisis of not being able to fulfill future orders of our highest volume items and had to act quickly to make changes to our process. We should have done a better job of announcing these things, though I believe as a rule customers deserve a solution presented, not frustrated capitulations, and we didn’t have one earlier in the year. If you haven’t had your questions answered or requests fulfilled, please do prompt us with another message so we can find your message at the top of the list, we want to help.
There’s still a couple months left in the year and the changing seasons around here have been offering colorful inspiration to get outside and find beauty. So to send you all off, I’m including a gallery of some pictures I took on my recent adventures out into nature. I pray the delight I feel photographing these moments makes your heart yearn for a nice walk around a lake and later you write me an email sharing a beautiful moment you discovered on your own adventure.
Viva la movement revolution!
—Tyler
PS – Venn partner Katy Bowman has an apt and amazing new audiobook out, I Know I Should Exercise, But… 44 Reasons We Don’t Move and How to Get Over Them. For the next 2 weeks, you can get it for $20 direct from Katy when it will later be $35 when it hits all the platforms. Katy is brilliant and this is a fantastic value and gift for a friend, loved one, or yourself. Get your copy here:
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