So that’s right So Many of you commented that they asked a lot of questions about what happened to our lagline. Why am I not on the site anymore, and do some of our rugs have new names? It’s confusing and up until now I couldn’t share (and hoped it wasn’t necessary), but I’ll go here.
Why is it not on the website anymore?
Well, I’m no longer working with them – they cancelled the line on the contract. After two lines of Rug USA (2nd year), especially after the second line was sold very well, they decided to break it.
Why was it cancelled?
Changes in leadership and financial changes. They rehired a former CEO (who sat on the board while I was there), and the collaboration was not part of his vision for the previous or current company. Various CEOs can change the direction of the company under their clocks to meet Their Goals (usually under pressure from the board of directors, debtors and investors). Essentially, financial changes change marketing budgets and collaboration is always part of the marketing budget, so when there are major leadership changes, we are always vulnerable to this. Honestly, it’s pretty standard business. The line was doing very well, but Rugs USA had to make some changes. So I’m sure there was a lot of stuff in the chopping block, including influencer/designer collaborations.
Have you seen it come?
a little bit. Again, when you hear about the changes at the top, you need to wonder if they will hold the relationship. Our line was doing very well so I thought at worst we would just renegotiate the profit sharing on the third line. The first was said about changes in human resources in marketing (always warning), larger marketing shifts, and many stalls in the sample, and potential shooting dates for the next line. So I knew something was going on. Sure enough, a week later they/we all cancelled and “activated immediately.” Drama! lol.
Are you angry?
of course. We worked really hard on these, but the revenue was great for EHD. I’m myself and my team. We are truly proud of them and the whole process has been a very positive experience. If it were, we probably had a different reaction, but it was really great, so it’s sad not to work with them anymore. But I also know that you have to be healthy to stay alive in business, and sometimes you have to make difficult decisions. Zero’s difficult emotions – it’s just business.
Was it because they didn’t sell?
no. Sales were high. In fact, I think because They were so expensive that we decided to take them inside the company. Listen, Rugs USA brought a lot to the table, including the large population of people who shop from them, whether they know me or not, and it was great marketing for us. You should cut costs in the hopes of maintaining more profits. I have made similar moves in the past when I was in financial stress – false calculations based on fear and spikes – I think you can do the same amount less (and sometimes you can). I have no insight Their Business beyond what I read in the Wall Street Journal article. I really understand the response because when businesses are not healthy, everyone is vulnerable and they need to make difficult decisions. Only time will tell if that is correct or not.
Do you regret doing it?
no! We learned a lot and met such amazing people (their marketing team was very incredible – completely changing the brand, making it more positive, cool and stylish). Plus, we made money. This is the overall point of running a business, so regardless of how it turned out, it was a real victory.
Looking for another rug partner?
yes! …Like today. We couldn’t do this because of the contract we had up until now, but it was so successful that we are confident that we can work with another company we love to produce something as good as the rug for us and you. We have a lot of revenue streams, I’m grateful, so this is a bit down, but we’re really excited to find the right partner and do it again.
The biggest shame…
I designed my brother’s river house to sell these rugs (and already filmed). It will be a big magazine spread (there are some rooms I haven’t seen before). So it’s a huge disappointment that they haven’t made any money from their design and marketing jobs. Certainly, we can link to them and create a small affiliate committee (usually 3-5% of retail costs). But when you design a house literally based on your own lines, you’re excited to show people how good you can see in this house you’ve worked for for four years, and that’s not the case your Already line… yeah, that’s a shame. I still stand by the rug – they look very good in my brother’s house and I haven’t changed them.
Can they still use your photo and rug name?
Yeah. If they pay for filming and production of the rug, they will be used (Starke, even if it is in my home and is named after my child or my maiden!). So if you look at those photos in the mountain houses and ours, it’s all legal and on top.
Will EHD be profitable if you buy them?
not much. You can use affiliate links when you have lag here or social (links that pay influencers a small percentage of the selling price from retailers are free to consumers). So, when we featured them in our past or my brother’s project, it would be ridiculous to not link to the rug, but that’s not the royals we’ve got before, and it’s very minimal. I still think they’re great rugs and now they have a massive sale (they may have stopped them). Large 40% off sale).
Man, it’s fun to see them together like this.
I am seriously proud of the team for their efforts on this, especially Jess, who led the design process. This line really worked. We had many bestsellers. And especially ask that you run a business that is rooted in digital marketing. We need to be fluid and pivot fairly quickly (Lord, I know that Tiktok and AI are disrupting historically solid platforms. It requires us to be agile and have many different revenue streams, so if solid things (like this) are reduced in one day, we are totally fine. Sticking to our core values and audiences is always a great reminder. And while growing is great, growing big comes with its own risks. Thank you to everyone who bought the rug, loved them and cared enough to ask.
Keep shopping from Rug USA when you need affordable rugs. That is, until you have a new lug line, and support your own line. 🙂 and then, it’s up!!
Unless otherwise stated:
*style GetTeline Rene
**photograph Mark Wineburg
Source: Emily Henderson – stylebyemilyhenderson.com
