Signs of life in U.S. fiber community
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, February 24, 2002
There's a rustling sound in the woods. Maybe it's the re-emergence of American fiber companies as they reinvent themselves. Reinvention, of course, is the new business buzzword. It was even the subject of a panel discussion at last month's National Retail Federation conference.
After at least a decade of slipping into the background as "Asian flu" swept through the U.S. textiles market, several domestic fiber companies are determined to reclaim their predominance. It's refreshing that life is stirring in the fiber community.
In the generic fiber category, many see lots of potential in the fiber that Cargill Dow is launching under the trade name NatureWorks. And announcements of new products by Wellman and DuPont also are serving notice that the American fiber community has not given up the fight.
The common threads in all this are differentiation and the crossing of traditional merchandising lines. It's the tearing down of the walls that traditionally have separated the furniture fiber folks from the sheets and towels folks or the floor coverings folks. And the apparel and hosiery and lingerie mavens were a class all to themselves.
Tearing down walls? What a radical concept! Just think what could happen. A high-tech, high-performance fiber designed for sporting goods or luggage could have potential for furniture fabrics or outdoor home fashions uses. The idea that a cowhide can be treated for stretching and recovery, as smaller hides are for shoes and accessories, can open entire new vistas in the home arena.
Not all of this is going to happen domestically. Lots of it will be translated offshore, but with the impetus and development and marketing happening here. The key is moving out of the commodity arena, a move long overdue.
American fiber producers spent the last decade trying to beat Asian low-price, low-cost fiber production. They've learned they can't win at that game. That's a welcome change.
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