PEST of pattern books

Political

•  Environmental issues: When a fabric in a pattern book is removed from the collection and is not for sale any more, the whole book has to be re-made. This creates a lot of wastage and will have an impact on the environment.
• The Government waste policy in 2011 aims to create more sustainable approach to the use of materials, delivering environmental benefits and supporting economic growth. It specifies we must focus on restricting waste from landfill, this will include the fabric waste that the out of date pattern books create.
• Fashion is already implementing this with a surge in popularity of ‘Zero Waste Fashion’, which follows the guidelines of reduce, reuse, recycle. E.g. Zandra Rhodes. 

Economic

• The recession has seen consumers deferring the purchasing of home furnishings and fabrics and focusing their incomes on necessities like energy bills. 
•  Good quality fabrics and furnishings are long-lasting so new purchases are less frequent. 
• Re-making books because one fabric has been discontinued can be very costly, especially for books made up of fabrics costing up to £200 per metre. 
• Pike stated that “a good book generates 3 sales per year, whereas a bad collection generates only 1 sales per year.” 

Social

• Encourages conversation between shop assistant/interior designer and the customer. They have the knowledge to help and inform the customer who may feel intimidated using the pattern book on its own.  
• Clients can socially interact with the designs themselves – looking, smelling, hearing and touching the fabric.
• Harder for customer to be more creative, because they are hard to manoeuvre and mix with other collections  – samples are more suitable.
• It’s a promotional tool for the fabric designer to communicate and showcase their collections to the consumer – is there a better alternative?

Technological

• Showrooming enables customers to seek better, competitive prices online - threat for the pattern book.
• The increasing popularity of apps and websites means that customers can browse all of the collections in the comfort of their homes without having to trawl through pattern books. Some shops might not have the storage to display all of the collections, so this puts online at an advantage. 
• You can look at the technical specifics of the fabric: weight, thread, substrate etc.
• Great for old-fashioned, technophobe customers who want to physically interact with the fabrics!