Vendor onboarding checklist for designers joining Faura
By Faura ·
Vendor onboarding checklist for designers joining Faura
Send a brand dossier, two showroom-ready samples and a clear trade price list to begin onboarding at Faura. That single step starts the curation review and, once accepted, moves a brand towards a display slot in the Westminster showroom.
The full sequence brands need before outreach looks like this:
- A brand dossier: bio, technical specifications, high-resolution imagery
- A trade price list, with lead times and minimum order quantities
- Two showroom-ready samples, including one statement piece
- Proof of public and product liability insurance
- Agreed launch commitments for the first 90 days
Faura has represented a large selection of curated brands for designers working in many countries. Showroom representation gives a new brand that same validation the moment it goes on display.
Key Takeaways
Passing Faura’s curation review comes down to arriving with a complete dossier, showroom-ready samples, agreed commercial terms and clear communication commitments before you apply.
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Lead with a complete dossier | Submit brand bio, high-res images, specifications and a trade price list together, not piecemeal. |
| Send showroom-grade samples | Two SKU types plus one statement piece, labelled with SKU, price and lead time. |
| Settle commercial terms early | Agree trade pricing, commission, MAP and returns policy before the contract stage. |
| Set SLAs before launch | Define response times and a named escalation contact on both sides. |
| Faura provides the platform | Faura’s showroom and residency give brands the same 210-brand, 42-country validation new entrants need. |
Table of Contents
- What are Faura’s eligibility and curation criteria?
- What goes into your brand dossier and application?
- How should you prepare and ship samples?
- What commercial terms should you expect to negotiate?
- What are Faura’s showroom presentation standards?
- How do lead handling and communication SLAs work?
- What legal and insurance documents does onboarding require?
- What does the 0 to 90 day onboarding timeline look like.
- Why this onboarding process exists
- How Faura supports your onboarding from application to launch
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
What are Faura’s eligibility and curation criteria?
Before writing a single word of your application, check the fit honestly. Faura curates rather than accumulates, and a mismatched submission wastes everyone’s time.
Ask yourself:
- Does the design language sit comfortably alongside a considered, neutral-toned showroom aesthetic?
- Does the price band match a trade audience specifying for private residences and commercial fit-outs?
- Can production handle trade order volumes and realistic lead times without delay?
- Are provenance, materials and sustainability claims documented and verifiable?
Designers judge a showroom on five things: spatial quality, lighting, product presentation, location prestige and overall brand environment, according to research on how luxury furniture designers choose their dealers. A brand entering that environment needs to hold its own against those standards, not just fill a gap on a shelf.
Before reaching out, work through three questions:
- What annual order volume can you realistically fulfil through a trade channel?
- Can you commit to at least one showroom event or sample refresh in year one?
- Do you have two or three trade references who can vouch for your reliability?
What goes into your brand dossier and application?
A complete submission moves faster through review. Faura’s team is assessing fit and readiness in one pass, so incomplete files simply sit in a queue behind better-prepared ones.
Your dossier must include:
- A concise brand bio covering history, design philosophy and manufacturing base
- High-resolution product images (studio shots, minimum 300dpi)
- Technical specifications: dimensions, materials, finishes, weight
- A trade price list separate from any retail pricing
- Lead times and minimum order quantities per product line
Recommended additions strengthen a first impression considerably: press mentions, case studies from previous trade or showroom placements, lifestyle photography showing pieces in situ, and an active Instagram handle or portfolio link. A structured due diligence approach works both ways. Just as Faura documents experience and communication standards before accepting a brand, a brand should arrive with its own evidence ready rather than promises to follow up later.
Pro Tip: Submit your price list as a clean CSV rather than embedded in a PDF. It shaves days off the review because pricing can be checked against your product specifications without retyping.
How should you prepare and ship samples?
Samples do the selling before a single designer walks through the door, so treatment matters as much as design.
Send showroom-ready pieces, not seconds or prototypes. Faura expects at least two SKU types from your range plus one statement piece that represents the collection’s character. Every sample needs clear labelling: SKU, trade price, lead time, a named contact, and handling instructions for anything upholstered or finished with delicate materials.
Package fragile and heavy items to trade shipping standards, with corner protection and crating where weight demands it. Faura typically arranges these as temporary loan agreements during the trial display period, with unsold stock returned or rotated out at an agreed point rather than held indefinitely.
Pro Tip: Photograph your sample the moment it leaves your workshop. If a dispute ever arises over transit damage, that timestamped image is the fastest way to resolve it.
What commercial terms should you expect to negotiate?
Commercial clauses are where onboarding either accelerates or stalls, so arrive with your numbers settled rather than negotiated on the spot.
Be ready to provide:
- Trade pricing separate from your recommended retail price (RRP)
- Commission rate expectations for showroom-generated sales
- Minimum display commitment (typically a defined period per product line)
- A returns policy covering damaged or unsold stock
Expect these clauses in the representation agreement:
- Exclusivity terms defining whether Faura holds sole trade representation in the region
- Minimum advertised price (MAP) protections to prevent undercutting across channels
- Payment terms, including any cure period before a missed payment triggers termination
- Renewal and termination triggers, stated clearly rather than left open-ended
Luxury partnerships are typically judged against intangible measures too, not just unit sales. Audience overlap, brand elasticity and earned media value all factor into how a strategic partnership is assessed, and protecting scarcity matters as much as protecting margin. Define your first 90-day milestones during negotiation: who funds the initial sample refresh, who commits marketing spend, and what a successful launch actually looks like.
What are Faura’s showroom presentation standards?
Once accepted, your product has to earn its space visually. Display standards exist because a well-curated showroom genuinely changes how a buyer perceives quality, and inconsistent presentation undermines that effect for every brand nearby.
Expect proportion, lighting angle and grouping by brand identity to be managed carefully, with sample rotation on a set schedule rather than left static for years. Each display carries a label with brand name, SKU, trade price, lead time and any relevant care notes, matching the documentation sent with your original sample.
Faura also holds product photography to a consistent standard for the showroom’s online listings, since designers frequently specify from imagery before booking an in-person visit. Blurry phone shots or inconsistent lighting between images will hold your listing back even after physical acceptance.
How do lead handling and communication SLAs work?
Most partnership breakdowns trace back to unclear communication, not product quality. Faura sets explicit service-level expectations from day one so neither side is guessing who owns what.
Register a named escalation contact on both sides before launch, not after the first problem arises. Track three figures through your first 90 days: lead-to-sale conversion, appointment show-rate, and fulfilment accuracy against quoted lead times. These three numbers tell you faster than anything else whether the placement is working.
What legal and insurance documents does onboarding require?
Keep this list short but non-negotiable. Faura won’t schedule a display slot without it.
- A signed representation agreement with a defined reporting cadence
- Public liability insurance covering the sample while on display
- Product liability cover where the category requires it
- Written permission for Faura to use your product photography in listings and event promotion
Data ownership and termination clauses deserve particular attention. Decide now who retains customer and lead data if the partnership ends, rather than leaving it to a difficult conversation later.
What does the 0 to 90 day onboarding timeline look like.
A realistic timeline keeps both sides accountable and stops “waiting to hear back” from stretching into months.
| Days | Milestone | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 7 | Application and dossier submitted | Brand |
| 7 | Curation review and feedback | Faura |
| — | Samples shipped and received | Brand |
| — | Contract signed, commercial terms confirmed | Both |
| — | Display built, labelling and photography finalised | Faura |
| 90 | Staff briefed, launch event window opens | Both |
Treat this as your internal working document:
- Confirm your dossier is complete before submission, not after a rejection
- Diarise the sample shipping window the moment your contract is signed
- Assign one internal owner to respond to Faura’s SLA windows
- Set a calendar reminder for your 90-day performance conversation
Why this onboarding process exists
Curation only works if it stays selective. Faura turns down more brands than it accepts, and that discipline is exactly what gives a showroom placement its weight with designers. A brand accepted onto the floor benefits from the credibility of every brand already there, which is a harder thing to build alone than most new entrants expect.
Representation across 42 countries and over 210 curated brands isn’t a vanity figure. It reflects a network designers already trust, and it’s why the vetting at the front end matters more than it might feel like when you’re filling out a dossier. For designers, that same curation means faster specification, procurement support, and exposure to private clients they wouldn’t otherwise reach.
How Faura supports your onboarding from application to launch
Faura’s residency model was built to remove the friction that usually slows a brand’s entry into the London trade market. Beyond showroom display, brands get sample handling support, procurement coordination with designers sourcing for live projects, and access to events that put product in front of a room of specifiers rather than a single buyer at a time. Project-execution support extends this further, connecting your range to designers running full fit-out sourcing rather than one-off purchases.
To start, submit your brand dossier through the trade showroom application and expect an initial response within the review windows outlined above. If you’d rather see the space before committing samples, book a showroom visit and speak with the team directly about where your range would sit.
Frequently asked questions
What is a vendor onboarding checklist for a trade showroom? It’s the set of steps a brand completes to move from application to display, covering dossier submission, sample shipping, contract terms and launch milestones.
How long does onboarding to Faura typically take? Budget roughly 90 days from application submission to launch, assuming samples arrive promptly and contract terms are agreed without extended back-and-forth.
Do I need insurance before sending samples? Yes. Public liability cover for the display period and product liability where relevant are expected before a sample goes on the showroom floor.
What happens to unsold samples? Samples are typically held under a temporary loan agreement and returned or rotated at an agreed point rather than kept indefinitely.
Can I negotiate commission and trade pricing? Yes, both are negotiated as part of the representation agreement, alongside minimum display commitments and returns policy.
Sources
The onboarding steps above draw on established due diligence and showroom curation practice, alongside Faura’s own representation standards.
- How Luxury Furniture Designers Choose Their Dealers
- How to Vet a Showroom Partner Like a Syndicator
- The Luxury Brand Partnership Blueprint: A Strategic Framework for B2B Collaborations
- Why showrooms still matter in the digital age
Figures on Faura’s brand count and country reach are Faura’s own representation data; the curation and SLA frameworks come from the external sources above.