Schlappi and the joys of entrepreneurship

Awnings and more!

"What strikes me every time is the good name Schlappi has in the awning business," says Dennis Schoormans, who has led the company with his wife since 2018. "Ans and Peter Schlappi have laid the foundation for that over thirty years, we build on that every day. When it comes to awnings, Schlappi is and will remain the standard. It goes without saying that we do everything we can to keep it that way!" 

There are more and more large - including foreign - players operating within the Dutch awning business. "Then it all becomes a bit more anonymous," Schoormans believes. But we are a relatively small, traditional company, so we still maintain intensive personal contacts with our dealers. That makes our work extra fun. The other day I had an old customer on the phone, now in his eighties. He was helping out somewhere and needed some parts. Personal contacts like that are the cherry on the cake." 

The awning is a traditional product that is still produced on a relatively small scale, almost entirely by hand. Therefore, "produce" is actually not the right word: a canopy is "built"! There used to be many local awning builders, but nowadays there are only about three players in the Netherlands who build awnings. Large awning manufacturers with a wide range of products hardly ever venture into this field. For them it is a by-product, for a canopy builder like Schlappi it is a specialty. To illustrate this, Schoormans shows an awning under construction in the workshop with a "bite" out of the frame. "That awning will be on a facade where a flagpole hangs in front of a window. The awning must fall around the mast, hence the 'bite. 

Schlappi Select Dealer

Broadly speaking, there are two trends in the awning business: it's all about price or it's all about quality. "It will be clear that we take that second course, although of course price will always remain important," says Schoormans. "Something that sets us apart is that we have developed a whole concept for dealers. Schlappi Select Dealer. Of course we are very fond of all our dealers and work well with all of them, but with the Select Dealers that cooperation takes on an extra dimension." 

For the Select Dealers there are knowledge days and if necessary they can get support in measuring large or complicated projects and they are forwarded leads that come in through the Schlappi site and so on. Schlappi also helps in setting up the showroom. With many awning specialists, the awning does not have a prominent place in the showroom, but that is different in the Schlappi Select showroom concept. "We try to bring experience into the showroom. Sometimes we do that by evoking the nostalgic feeling that comes with an awning. That can be done with a visual of a awning factory from days gone by, like the one we use in our own showroom. There are dealers who have achieved surprising results with that!" 

Cloth Exchange Guarantee

Another additional service for Select Dealers is the Cloth Exchange Guarantee. Under conditions, it is possible for Schlappi to replace the fabric of awnings free of charge if the customer does not like it. Schoormans tells of an entrepreneur who wanted to fit his villa with awnings. "He hesitated, but when he heard about this service from us, he was convinced. Perhaps it was even more the innovative idea of this concept than the service itself that won him over," he laughs. Whether the man took advantage of the opportunity to replace the cloths? "No way, he was completely satisfied right away!"     

Visualize

More and more awning and fabric manufacturers are working with tools to visualize what an awning looks like on a facade. "To fully automate that for awnings is almost impossible," Schoormans believes. "Nevertheless, we can still provide it. Our Select Dealers can provide a picture of the house or building where the awnings are to be installed. We then provide a picture of the building with a photo-realistic representation of the awnings, including how they are expected to shadow the facade. It is, of course, a great help in sales when potential customers get a clear picture of what their facade will look like with awnings." 

Schlappi has also built up an extensive image database with photos and videos of projects realized with awnings from Schlappi. Dealers can use them to illustrate their website or advertising materials or to inspire the end customer. 

Sustainability

Sustainability is another theme that Schlappi has taken up. First of all with the lighting concepts with energy-efficient LED lighting that have been developed and with solar drives, but also by offering customers the option of choosing cloth made from recycled PET. Another aspect of this is the re-cladding of awnings: the old cloth off, a new one on. After all, the frame of an awning is often still good. Together with its dealers, Schlappi puts a lot of effort into this. Furthermore, at Schlappi they look at packaging materials. A lot of packaging material is still used in the awning sector. That is why Schlappi is looking for concepts to reduce that. 

BORT Prize

What they are particularly proud of at Schlappi is that they were nominated in 2023 for the BORT Prize - "unfortunately not won" - which is awarded annually to an entrepreneur who profiles himself in a special way within Tilburg. "Especially the reason why we were nominated is gratifying," says Schoormans. "That's because we have a lot of older employees at work, something we are particularly positive about!" Because of his experience, Dennis Schoormans has been asked by the EntrepreneursAkkoord Midden-Brabant to become an ambassador for the Tilburg municipality's 'Meedoen tot je pensioen' project. 

"As an ambassador, I get asked more often to talk about my experiences. With us, the ratio of 'young to old' is about fifty-fifty and that works fine. The older workers have a positive contribution. They bring experience and skill and they are disciplined and motivated. For us, the mix of 'young' and 'old' only works positively, both on and off the shop floor." 

"So we're certainly not sitting on their hands enjoying the fact that Schlappi is doing well," observes an enthusiastic Schoormans. "Building awnings is a wonderful, artisanal craft. What makes it extra nice for us is that we have the space to really do business. To come up with new concepts and take initiatives and work closely with our dealers." ■