Case Study: Partnership with "La Mesa Boutique" – A Latin American Lifestyle Chain
Buyer Profile
“La Mesa Boutique” is a vibrant lifestyle retail chain headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, with 68 stores in Colombia, Peru, and Chile. Since its establishment in 2014, the company has been known for providing a diverse range of handmade home products that preserve traditional Latin American culture while incorporating modern design styles that appeal to modern tastes. Their customer base includes urban professionals and small businesses seeking unique dining styles, such as cafes.
Product Purchased
35000 woven placemats (cotton and recycled PET blend, rectangular, 45cm x 35cm, red earth, indigo, and mustard yellow) and 22000 PVC placemats (matte finish, rectangular, 45cm x 35cm, coffee and slate gray).
Collaboration Details
Our collaboration with La Mesa Boutique began in September 2024 when their product curator Diego Morales accidentally discovered our woven placemats at the China Canton Fair. Diego obtained our contact information and contacted us via WhatsApp after returning to his home country. He is very interested in our use of PVC material to make placemats and is eager to purchase new and durable placemats for their 2025 summer collection. The placemat he envisioned can withstand the high temperature brought by tableware to a certain extent, while meeting practical needs such as anti fouling and easy maintenance.
On September 10, 2024, we kicked off through an informal video call. Diego Morales shared a sketch of their ideal placemat layout, emphasizing bright, simple colors and shapes to complement their ceramic tableware. Considering their plan to promote in multiple countries, he inquired about our material selection and production capacity. We recommend our woven placemats – made from a mixture of cotton and recyclable PET yarn – as well as our PVC placemats (this PVC placemat material is commonly referred to as Teslin).
In order to achieve cooperation, we sent a sample package via DHL on September 13th: six woven placemats (two clay, two indigo, and two mustard yellow each) and six PVC placemats (three olive green, three slate gray). These samples arrived in Bogota on September 17th and Diego’s team conducted a rigorous two-week experiment on them.
They performed these actions at their flagship store, testing them with hot plates (up to 95 ° C), spilled salsa sauce, and coffee, and wiping them daily. On October 1st, Diego Morales called us to provide feedback: the bright colors and tight weaving of the woven pads won over their employees, although he suggested using slightly thicker yarn to increase weight. The shape and texture of the PVC mat pleased their design team, but they requested a subtle embossed texture to enhance the design feel.
We made corresponding adjustments – upgrading the yarn of the weaving pad to 3mm and adding subtle embossed textures on PVC using a specially designed pattern weaving program – and then shipped the modified sample on October 8th. Diego submitted the procurement plan report on October 15th and obtained procurement approval from headquarters.
On October 18th, “La Mesa Boutique” placed an order for 35000 woven placemats (12000 clay, 12000 indigo, 11000 mustard yellow) and 22000 PVC placemats (13000 olive green, 9000 slate gray). The delivery deadline for all meal mats is January 2025.
We started production on October 22nd. The woven mat is made on four weaving machines, and the dyeing team uses low impact dyes to manually mix soil tones; Due to the thicker yarn, it takes 2 days for each batch of 5000 pieces. PVC pads are molded and embossed on our automated production line, and undergo quality inspection to ensure uniform embossing texture for all 22000 units.
By December 10, 2024, all placemat products for the order have been produced. On December 13th, we sent Diego photos of woven mats wrapped in biodegradable packaging and PVC placemats packed in cardboard boxes. We transported all the placemats to the port of Ningbo in China according to Diego’s requirements and assisted the freight forwarder in completing the subsequent shipping work. We successfully shipped everything to Cartagena, Colombia by sea.
These placemats made their debut in the “La Mesa Boutique” store and online in late January 2025. Diego later shared that woven mats sold well in Peru and Colombia, and customers paired them with handmade pottery. PVC mats became the preferred choice for Chilean cafes due to their unique shape and durability.
Outcome
Thanks to this successful collaboration, Diego received a salary increase reward from the headquarters. In order to thank us for our active cooperation in this cooperation, he convinced the procurement supervisor to also give us the autumn series product orders for 2025. This series features Andean style woven placemats, but we have not yet confirmed the final order for the placemats (the Andean style placemat samples still need to wait for their further confirmation). We look forward to collaborating with more customers similar to La Mesa Boutique to sell our high-quality placemats globally.
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