COM (Customer’s Own Material)

Category: infrastructure

A custom manufacturing process where the designer sources specific fabric for a furniture brand to apply to their piece.

Designers use COM to achieve a unique look. If a sofa manufacturer doesn’t carry the right velvet color, the designer buys the velvet separately and ships it to the factory. The factory then upholsters the custom sofa using that specific designer-sourced textile.

Common Examples

• The client fell in love with a custom hand-blocked textile, so we orchestrated a COM process to apply it to the manufacturer’s lounge chair frames.
• Managing a COM project requires precise yardage calculations, as factory errors in fabric cutting can result in expensive, irreplaceable waste.