Is there any concrete news about Forte?

[David Henderson]

Does amyone have any information about whether Forte will survive its troubles? I'm particularly interested in Polywarmtone semi-matt.

[Loose Gravel]

I don't know, but I've been trying to buy some Bergger paper and the reply I got from Freestyle was that since some of Bergger's coatings are done by Forte and Forte had been taken over by the gov't, Bergger paper had been delayed 3 months.

[ian_greant]

fibre base papers yes.
RC papers no.

Not sure if they will fine tune their product lines or not.

[aldevo]

First off - the information I have is from a phone conversation with a sale rep. Generally, I've found such information to be less than 100% reliable.

Nevertheless, here goes:

I spoke with a sales rep. at Freestyle Photo on the evening of January 24th. Forte is in receivership and local Hungarian government is serving as the liquidator. Existing production obligations will be completed in the next 30 days and then the company will suspend operations for good. A buyer had come forth in early December but did not prove reputable and no deal was closed.

I hope its wrong, but I'm not seeing any re-stocking of Forte papers anywhere.

[aldevo]

Now before anybody goes ape over this...it may just be a case of sour grapes on Freestyle's part simply because Forte isn't willing to continue their private-labeling relationship.

Nevertheless - if anybody has more positive news on this front - now would be a good time to share!

[eric]

The semi-matte is my favorite paper. I love it. If I need to do glossy, Oriental Seagull but I grab the Forte semi-matte for most stuff.

I didn't know Forte was in trouble.

[Peter Schrager]

I placed a fairly large order for Forte in the not too distant past. (Not with Freestyle.) The order was executed and recieved within several business days. Let's bury this thread because it serves no purpose except to start rumors. Since J+C sells rebranded Forte Films why doesn't someone ask them instead. Might actually get a real answer or are rumors so much more fun?
Regards Peter

[aldevo]

I placed a fairly large order for Forte in the not too distant past. (Not with Freestyle.) The order was executed and recieved within several business days. Let's bury this thread because it serves no purpose except to start rumors. Since J+C sells rebranded Forte Films why doesn't someone ask them instead. Might actually get a real answer or are rumors so much more fun?
Regards Peter

Not fun in the least!

And thanks for posting this information...I'll sleep easier tonight believing that Freestyle was giving me the run-around and that there's still hope for Forte.

I would have thought Freestyle was (relatively) trustworthy giving their private-labeling of Freestyle products, but I guess not...

[Peter Schrager]

Just an update as you say: I tried the rebranded Freestyle/Fote poly paper and it didn't have any black. At least the box I got. If Forte was cutting corners on a great paper so that Freestyle could dump it I don't get it. If a paper has no black you couldn't give it to me. And so it goes.....
Peter

[aldevo]

Just an update as you say: I tried the rebranded Freestyle/Fote poly paper and it didn't have any black. At least the box I got. If Forte was cutting corners on a great paper so that Freestyle could dump it I don't get it. If a paper has no black you couldn't give it to me. And so it goes.....
Peter

Actually, I've been through about a half-dozen boxes of 100 of both Arista.EDU VC RC and VC FB without any problems. My experience has been that it was identical to Polygrade V in all respects.

BTW: Private-labeling isn't "dumping" of paper below cost. Simply put, the retailer buys the stuff direct (no markup from a distributor like Omega-Satter) and incurs the costs of marketing itself. It's a great arrangement for both parties - as long as the production schedules are kept reasonably sane. I've no idea whether or not this agreement caused Forte to come to any grief but I suppose it's possible.