A Comprehensive Guide to Buying, Using and Selling Silk Flowers
Let’s level-set on silk flowers. This decade’s hardgoods are leaps and bounds above the supplies of decades past. It is important to note what a good supply of silk flowers, like those from Pioneer Imports & Wholesale, represents. Let’s stop perpetuating the stereotype of silk flowers as a dated, unsophisticated nemesis to fresh flowers.
High-quality silk flowers should replicate the fresh bloom almost identically!
Silk flowers are an artistic representation of the beauty found in nature. At its core, the combination of color, shape, and size of flowers adds art to our homes and events. We revere them as artistic tools, and therefore their quality and color are extremely important.
Silk flowers are botanically correct. Our silk flowers contain the same attributes as their fresh counterparts. Petals may be hand-painted to resemble the natural color variation. Foliage is the correct shape and shade you’d find on the bush or plant. Even the materials we use – fabrics, plastic, polyurethane, and more - are selected to provide the most accurate texture.
Silk flowers are trend forward. We do allow for an exception to rule #2. Sometimes the beauty in faux flowers is controlling the colors and materials to fill a need for home decor and wedding color trends. This spectrum varies. For example, it could be a color found in nature, like blush pink, applied to a sunflower that wouldn’t grow that way naturally but could be easily imagined. This allows designers to get their size, texture, and shape needs met while staying in a color story. We also know there are some truly avant-garde fashions that need unique materials, like a turquoise ranunculus.
Silk flowers are a complement to fresh flowers, not a competitor. There are benefits to both fresh and silk flowers. Both have their place. And in events, we see mixing silk and fresh can save time and provide peace of mind. In areas like a flower wall, lifelike silk greenery and florals can be beautifully paired with fresh floral accents. This helps to achieve a price point and a timeline for labor that is manageable, along with great reusability. Because of this, we again remind ourselves of rule #2. Only by creating botanically correct artificial flowers can our customers mix real and faux flawlessly.
But not all products are created equal. Consider the following traits when shopping for supplies:
How to buy silk flowers
What makes a quality silk flower? Pioneer Imports & Wholesale’s owner, David Botchick, answers this common question and shares his expert advice on selecting silk floral supplies.
David says one of the first steps to choosing a quality product is something he learned as he was starting off in the business and buying wholesale silk flowers. Go with your instincts. When you look at the flower, if you like your initial view, that’s step one. Don’t look twice because your customers won’t either!
Beyond the initial visual appeal, check the construction of the flower or bush. The wire stems should feel sturdy and strong. Foliage should be securely attached, and pop-on style leaves should not come off easily.
Next, move on to the flower head. Quality artificial flowers have many layers and great detail, which combine to create a more realistic-looking product. Although a bit of fraying on silk petal edges is normal, it should be minimal.
The process of selecting quality artificial floral bushes is similar. Many florists prefer to purchase wholesale silk flowers by the bush, later cutting them into individual stems for arrangements. This often results in a lower cost than purchasing individual silk flower stems, an important factor in today’s business environment. Just make sure you are using the right tools—bunch cutters or wire cutters—so you make clean cuts and don’t harm the visual or feeling of the flowers and foliage.
Now that we know the basics about today’s silk flowers, why else do you need this guide?
Why should designers consider silk flowers and foliage in floral designs?
“By understanding silk flowers’ features and benefits, it gives you more tools in your toolbox,” says American Institute of Floral Designers professional Tom Bowling AIFD, PFCI: “More opportunities and more creativity.”
Like any artist, having a variety of media available, and understanding how to use them, opens the doors to innovation.
“We’ve experienced a lot of supply chain challenges in the past few years, and that’s not going away anytime soon,” continued Bowling. “I’m talking about supply and demand of certain colors or varieties of fresh flowers that are often used in all segments of our industry, from everyday to wedding and event work.”
Protecting yourself from the volatility of supply, and potential inflated pricing, when there is a limited supply, is key for a profitable business. By becoming more familiar with silk flowers, designers find a backup, or even better, a source for some materials. This results in less stress in seasonal and event purchasing.
Faux materials have consistent quality, color and availability year-round. This allows for better planning—the key to any profitable design business. By getting the materials in, teammates can work ahead, reducing labor costs by working “normal” hours.
Even before the supply chain issues of the 2020s, the cost of fresh flowers could become cost-prohibitive for clients. When the same colors and style can be achieved with permanents, everyone wins.
Now that you’ve gotten more familiar with silk flowers and why they are important to a profitable business, we had some notable designers share some ideas for using them today.
There are many places where faux flowers are appropriate to use.
How can I use silk flowers? In events? In a flower shop?
Consider how you can reduce your event anxiety if you use permanent materials. They can solve your most common concerns and thus reduce a variety of stressors.
Wedding and event designers have long held a guiding principle that flowers at a certain height or distance are acceptable in a realistic, faux botanical. When flowers aren’t being touched frequently, the beauty and effect is achieved with permanent material. Plus, you don’t have to hold your breath waiting for the stock to arrive, be concerned about freshness, or worry about a potential time crunch in design and set-up. Add the benefits of reusability and less fragility, and you’ve discovered the event florist’s secret weapon. At a distance, people don’t notice they aren’t real.
Achieving on-trend looks with silk floral
Ceiling Installations
A current obsession in events, ceiling installations of flowers or just foliage is popular because it brings the outdoors in. Because they draw everyone’s eyes up, they make rooms feel bigger and more lavish too.
“I’ve seen some amazing ceiling installations that have been achieved with the majority of the flowers permanent with just enough fresh garden roses added in to give the fragrance you might expect from what you’re seeing,” said Vonda LaFever AIFD, PFCI, CFD. “Using faux botanicals for these event pieces checks all the boxes. Customer satisfaction—you could get all the product you needed, and they wanted; designer prep—you can get a good percentage done ahead of time, and allows for earlier and easier installation.”
Utilizing silks in arbors and arches cut down on cost and also elongate the durability of the creation.
Backdrops and arches
Flower walls have now hit the mainstream, and designers are sure to get a lot of requests for them. Faux materials are important to creating these walls on time and on budget. Create bases for backdrops, arches, and flower walls in permanents, and then add water tubes or floral cages to the base to achieve a personalized look for the client.
And, for clients who are looking for the emerging trend, “We are seeing changes in wedding backdrops, arches, flower/foliage walls,” said Tom Bowling, AIFD, PFCI. “Different armatures of permanent materials that hang over a bride’s table, and different shapes and sizes.”
Trending today are hexagon or hoop forms instead of traditional arches. “You can create this base form in permanent flowers and then add water tubes or floral cages to the base to achieve the look, feel, and fragrance the customer desires,” explains LaFever.
Unique shapes on-trend mean unique mechanical challenges. When working with the wire and polypropylene of permanent florals, you don’t have to worry about crushing a delicate living cell structure. Weaving, spinning, and twisting are without consequence to the flower’s longevity. Permanent structures save you time and ensure stability and transportability event after event.
By building a neutral base of artificial foliage and flowers, these structures can be repurposed. When adding fresh flower insertions, it achieves the goal of the perfect color palette, fragrance, and texture your clients desire. Layering fresh and silk flowers can be seamless with today’s available product. To get the best of both worlds, combine silk and fresh.
Tablescapes versus strict centerpieces
Tablescapes allow for a combination of materials—mixing containers, candles, found objects, and flowers to create a mood for the event. Silk florals can work well in those objects that aren’t sized or made for the industry. Unusual containers may not be watertight, so filling them with fresh flowers isn’t an option. Found objects like old books or sheet music that bring a mood together would be damaged by fresh flowers and water, but working with silk is safe.
Secondary usage or repurposing
The bonus is…much of the design work done with faux materials can be reused or resold for another event.
Now that you see the real opportunity for silk flowers, we know you need to make sure it appeals to your customers. You’ll find they are more perceptive than you may have thought!
If you want to sell silk flowers, be sure you market them! If you don’t show them to your consumers, it’s highly likely they won’t purchase them.
How to market silk flowers?
The 2020s created a style boom in the use of plants. And, as people realized caretaking might not be their forte, they acclimated to realistic-looking substitutions.
The mainstream cultural trend helped the conversation for faux materials because they are more prevalent and realistic than in decades past.
When it comes to your flower shop, try simply wrapping silk stems in butcher paper like fresh. The presentation, on a flower cart in buckets, can make them an impulse purchase.
Be sure to feature permanent botanicals (you may want to refer to them as “faux florals”) on your website. If you don’t show them, you can’t sell them!
Displaying premade arrangements and wreaths out of silk also allows customers to buy as-is or imagine customizing a color combination for their home. By having lifelike arrangements in your merchandising, you extend the life of the display, and no labor time is wasted.
When it comes to events, Bowling recommends being honest about using silk flowers and reminding clients of the positive benefits. Security, guaranteed availability, and often reduced cost result in budget that can be applied to the event so that there are more floral moments.
In conclusion
If you have any other questions about how to buy, use, or market silk flowers, turn to the experts. One source is the customer service professionals at Pioneer Imports & Wholesale. Their staff is located right here in the United States, alongside a 24,000 square foot warehouse full of merchandise at their fingertips, so you can ask questions, order just one piece, and discuss your needs. Family-owned by the original founders, they have made sure the product they deliver is right for floral designers. It’s what has led to 45 years of serving the industry.
We love ALL flowers and believe silk flowers complement fresh. By knowing how to buy, use, and market quality silk flowers and permanent botanicals, you can manage your time, maintain a profit, and exceed client expectations.
