C.O.M. (Customer’s Own Material) may add the perfect fabric to your project.
This recent project of mine was a fun experiment with C.O.M fabric. Upholstery manufacturers carry their own fabrics, and often have great selections. But, sometimes you can’t find quite the right fabric in their line. C.O.M stands for Customer’s Own Material and it’s when you customize your furniture and put a fabric from a different company on the manufacturer’s upholstery piece.
Manufacturers consider any fabric from any outside source to be a COM fabric.
My client really liked a bright plaid fabric for an ottoman. I wanted to find a correlating fabric for the chairs with some texture and, of course, the right color to go with the plaid. I looked through the chair manufacturer’s fabrics and couldn’t find the perfect fit.
So I began searching other sources. by Design’s incredible fabric wall has thousands of fabrics and leathers from our best vendors. However, we also have tons of books with more fabrics than you can imagine. I turned to a new fabric book that came out just this year from Pindler Fabrics. It has some really nice tweed fabrics. These textures are so unique and subtle. They have an awesome menswear look that can go with a variety of different styles. Eventually I finally found the right fabric for the chairs that looked perfect with the plaid ottoman!
Look at how sharp these Natalie Chairs look in the C.O.M. fabric!
Don’t be afraid to dive a little deeper when searching for the perfect combination of fabrics on your furniture pieces! You’ll probably be surprised at how comparable to the vendor fabrics the prices of C.O.M. fabrics can be. And, you get a whole lot of look!
Have fun experimenting! It’s a great part of the process.
