Over the last 20 years, the UK’s soft upholstery manufacturing industry has changed significantly. These days, ready-made covers are imported, and then the suites assembled locally, which has helped reduce costs – however, warranty claims are still a major problem, mainly due to minor damages.
There is a simple, cost-effective solution. According to leather care, clean and repair product supplier Gliptone’s Peter Parkinson, small scuffs and scratches are the usual offenders – these occur in the factory, the showroom, the delivery truck, or simply while entering the customer’s house.
Little problems like these often turn into major complaints because they are not attended to before delivery to the customer, says Peter – often the hope is that the problems will not be noticed, but invariably the customer does notice and then looks for other faults, so a little complaint can turn into a major one. According to Peter, this costs the industry thousand of pounds each year in warranty claims.
Gliptone offers a solution. Its 65ml Scuffmaster dye is a colour-matched, water-based concentrated ‘paint’ which can be just dabbed on and left to dry. “If you ever sold Frayling or Chapel suites,” says Peter, “the free colour touch-up kit was supplied by Gliptone. Another large manufacturer carried a touch-up bottle in the cab for every suite in the back of the truck, just in case of damage.
“Many customers do not want to buy another ‘kit’, they just want a bottle of cleaner or conditioner, and this is where the independent retailer can offer good, old-fashioned personal service”
“A 65ml bottle will touch-in dozens of scuffs, and has a shelf life of four to five years, so they are a great investment. Gliptone were the first to develop this type of product.”
Peter says that it is not only retailers that can save money and hassle from buying these touch-up paints – service technicians can spend longer mixing a colour on-site than actually doing the repair, so taking a ready-mixed colour can reduce the time it takes to carry out a repair, meaning more time for travelling and more calls each day.
“All we need is the sales swatch for the suites,” says Peter. “We will copy the colour – if it’s a matt finish, so is our dye. If it’s gloss finish, likewise. If the sales swatches are slightly different from the suites, the colour can be adjusted on-site using our Pigment Starter Kit, which only takes a minute.
“We also have a full range of easy-to-use repair products, all tried and tested over many years and used by most of the major UK retailers, service technicians and repair companies – our prices and service are considered the best.”
Gliptone Leathercare Kits were chosen by most of the well-known retailers during the 1990s, says Peter. World of Leather, Courts, Kingsbury Interiors, the Co-op, Land of Leather, Furnitureland, plus manufacturers including Frayling, Christie Tyler Group, G Plan and many smaller companies supplied Gliptone’s products to their retailers.
“We still supply these customer aftercare products to independent retailers in kits or individual bottles,” says Peter. “Many customers do not want to buy another ‘kit’, they just want a bottle of cleaner or conditioner, and this is where the independent retailer can offer good, old-fashioned personal service.”
Gliptone Scuffmaster dyes are also used on the production lines of a number of UK car, aircraft seating and luxury yacht manufacturers.
“This year is our 20th anniversary, so we must be doing something right,” concludes Peter. “Join us and start saving money on unnecessary warranty costs, as well as just providing your customers with what they want – products that work!”
