Is brass making a come back?

Say it ain’t so… Has anyone else seen an uptick in the sale of brass hardware?  In the last two weeks I have sold more brass closet rods than I have sold in the past 3 months.  What is sparking this new found interest?  Do the Kardashians have brass in their closet?  Are people clearing out their inventory and giving away those brass baskets that they have had for years?  Does anybody have an answer?

About a year ago I was shopping for a new watch for my wife and I noticed that many of the watches were two toned – gold and silver.  I have also noticed women starting to wear gold jewelry again.  I think this is the first sign of the trends starting to change.

Is everyone tired of oil rubbed bronze already? What about brushed nickel?

What’s going on in your market?

This soft close movement has started; I have sold more soft close slides in the first quarter than I have sold all last year.  The end-user is demanding that their closets look and feel like their kitchens.  With the consumer being more informed and expecting more bang for their buck, don’t you think that you should offer these slides and hinges?  I have a handful of customers offering soft close under mounts as their only slide.  Of course they are catering to a high-end client, and yes they are more expensive, but price is not everything.  People buying our closets are the same people who need to have the latest and greatest from Apple.  They wait ridiculously long lines to buy it now, when they could wait 6 months for the price to drop.  These are the same customers that payed to cancel their current cell phone plans, and purchase the new IPhone on Verizon.  Why? Because they saw the value of having an IPhone on that network – the price never came up. 

You can continue to fight the soft close movement or you can pick up your surf board and ride the wave to the bank.  Wouldn’t it be nice to charge an extra $30 for every drawer that you install?  What does that do for your numbers at the end of the year? 

Please consider me a resource and reach out to me if I can help you or your organization… richdemarco@optonline.net