The Art of Visual Storytelling

The Art of Visual Storytelling

Textile designers and merchandisers are creating unique narratives to introduce and market their newest looks.

By Trisha McBride Ferguson

Walking the halls of SHOWTIME® market is always inspiring—regardless of whether you consider yourself creative or not. The visual presentations, explosions of color and abundance of enticing textures create an experience unlike any other. And that’s just from the hallways. Inside the showrooms, today’s top textile manufacturers and distributors are weaving narratives designed to introduce their latest collections, position them within the trend spectrum, and give customers the language and imagery to share with their team. Many times, that conversation trickles down to retail sales associate training and eventually reaches interior designers and consumers.

“When fabric is displayed in a way that tells a story, it makes it memorable for not only consumers, but our sales representatives too,” says Erika Edgerly, design assistant at Yarn & Loom. “There becomes a narrative between textures, colors, and names that read in a catchy way that imprints on your memory.”

“I think it’s important to let our customers know where our ideas come from,” says Katie Williams, creative director at De Leo Textiles. “Not only to explain why and how the product is on trend, but also to give credit to the resources and cultures from where our inspiration was drawn.”

Yet this type of storytelling marketing hasn’t always been the norm. “Fifteen years ago, textiles were designed, merchandised and purchased by category, such as plains, patterns and prints,” explains Sue Patrolia, director of product development and design for Regal Fabrics. “That’s the way it was presented as well, color line after color line, perhaps categorized by price point. Things have totally changed. Now we have a lot of work to do before we begin the design process.”

VISUAL STORYTELLING

From showroom displays and hangtags to videos, handouts and social media, textile merchandisers are using a variety of tools to convey their story. At each Showtime market, Valdese Weavers dedicates a central part of its showroom to displaying a small furnished vignette featuring new introductions. “We’re trying to show how the fabrics come to life, to provide a starting point reimagined in a sofa or drapes,” says Christy Almond, vice president of product development and marketing. “We want to inspire visitors. We show different qualities together and marry fabrics with frames in unexpected ways to push people to think in different ways.”

Valdese Weavers illustrates the creative applications of its new introductions in vignettes throughout its showroom.

Storytelling as a marketing tool has its roots in the rise and dominance of coordinated fabric collections. “Covington has always marketed our products in themed collections and coordinated color stories,” says Thomas Bruno, senior vice president of sales. “The origin of coordinated collections was a mainstay in the early Covington years and has continued to evolve over the years. Our strong suit is that we have the ability to coordinate prints, woven textures, and jacquards to make a true multipurpose collection. The coordinated collection helps to define what we are trying to convey to the market and reinforces who we are. Our reps can tell a story by showing the line.”

Visitors to the De Leo Textiles showroom get a brief overview of current trends and inspiration before they see new collections. “That way they know what to look for and why they are seeing certain elements and colors showing up throughout the line,” explains Williams. “We put together trend boards for each showroom and display them with the fabrics that best represent each concept. We also offer a trend book that customers can take with them—this season we will be introducing Volume Six of our De Leo Color Guide!”

Taking the mood board concept to new heights, De Leo Textiles curates imagery and materials that bring its introductions to life.

When it comes to selling a creative product such as textiles, the storytelling approach resonates at many levels. “It’s one of the reasons Covington is so successful; it’s our way of keeping our customer engaged and excited,” says Bruno. “Our social media presence is growing dramatically and that’s how we get our message to the consumer. We are beginning to create a pull-through marketing campaign to the ultimate consumer.”

“Many customers pin pages from our trend books up on the wall in their workrooms for inspiration,” says Williams. “Others say they use our story lines and verbiage at their sales meetings and with their customers. And, many customers use our trend resources for social media content. This is the whole reason we put these trend stories together—to give our customers helpful sound bites, imagery and resources that they can use.”

With the unceasing popularity of Pinterest® and Instagram®, visual storytelling has become the norm in many industries. In home fabrics and textiles, it continues to evolve into a fine art. “While telling trend stories is still a form of entertainment, we try to make it much more useful and understandable,” explains Williams. “Since the goal is for customers to be able to utilize our trend stories with the end-consumer, we want to give them something relatable that can be easily translated to their customers. More conceptual inspiration stories are important and appreciated within the artistic community, but we try to tell simplified, relatable versions of these stories that make sense to the end-consumer, to let them know why they should want this color/texture/ pattern in their home.”

“It’s been a fantastic creative journey to get where we are now and as we continue to evolve,” adds Patrolia. “While we have been focused on educating and inspiring our customers, when we are doing our job well, we are giving them a story they can carry forward.

De Leo Textiles creates showroom visuals that illustrate and provide context to its new directions.

CREATIVITY AT ITS FINEST

A Look at Some of the Inspiring Stories Being Told

A Trend Review from a recent season at Valdese Weavers included the Casbah collection. Along with extraordinary imagery, the direction was described as: Referencing tribal textiles found in Moroccan markets, this palette is sultry and exotic. Warm notes of currant and cassis blend with cooler shades of indigo and teal. Accents of yellow and persimmon add pops of bright color.

The Free Spirit collection from Yarn & Loom features names like Morrison, Joplin and Mary Jane.

Escapism presented by De Leo earlier this year included themes such as Off the Grid, Concrete Jungle, and Fluidity. Within the Off the Grid direction, colors had names such as Moonstone, Opaline, Limestone and Mica.