Hello all my Shade-A-Rella friends! Thank you for visiting my site today. Lots of great changes have been occurring at the Shade-a-Rella workshop over the last year and a half. We have our second new Rod design and I think this one is the winner. The first design (tent rod style with shock cord in the center) was good but it wasn't adaptable to make it longer and could swivel at the joints. The second design was better with solid aluminum rod with a spring pin for a solid joint that would not swivel and the ground receiver had a set screw to keep the rod from moving. It also allowed for extra sections to be added to make your Shade-A-Rella taller. But the ground receiver wasn't sturdy enough for really tall applications and the cost for the rods plus the receiver was expensive. Now we have our third, and I hope, final design. A pitch fork style ground stake with 3- 6" long spikes that make for a sturdy base and the bent rod that screws onto the ground stake section making a solid connection. It also has a straight 16" section you can add to make your shade-a-rella 40" tall. This will be very sturdy and long lasting outdoors and still allows some movement. I love when they bounce in the breeze!
There have been many supply chain and material challenges over these last two years. The cost of the backer material has gone up by $10 a sheet! This has prompted a change of how we cut our backers. And the cost of 18GA steel has increased by about 30%. And shipping charges have gone up as well. My manufacturing partners have gotten so busy that their lead times have increased to weeks (or sometimes, months). Know that we are working to keep inventory in stock and we are trying to stay ahead of the lead times. We appreciate your patience.
And finally, I have signed up for Shark Tank twice now but no luck so far. If I were able to get on Shark Tank, I know that Lori would love this idea and help me find a great manufacturer to get our costs down and our inventory up. Shade-A-Rella would be great on QVC or HSN! And they could start being sold in retail stores so you wouldn't have the shipping costs! So if you would like to see me and Shade-a-Rella on Shark Tank, contact them at https://www.facebook.com/SharkTank/, Neda.Naderi@abc.com and tell them you want to see us on the show!!!