Leather demand rising, and market fills needs
By Joan Gunin -- Furniture Today, April 28, 2002
HIGH POINT — Pent-up demand prompted leather upholstery dealers to shop High Point in high spirits, eager to restock their floors with modern looks, better leathers and sharp prices.
"People have gotten off of the idea of not spending money," said Mark Parris, vice president of sales and marketing USA for Canadian-based Coja Leather. "Many dealers missed not being here (in October). Fortunately, most manufacturers were ready for them with value looks and new leathers at a time when they really need it."
Coja drew buyers with its new Studio Collection, a modern, high-volume custom program encompassing 18 SKUs in six styles, sporting welting details, button backs and appealing shapes, with sofa retails of $1,699. "It was a hot ticket," Parris said.
Omnia Leather's introductions also sold well.
"People did not buy in October because they were shell-shocked and didn't know what was going to happen," said Herb Wool, national sales manager. "Now they're getting back to work. The level of goods in stores is down and they are faced with rebuilding their inventories."
A button-tufted sofa and a formal leather presentation were especially well received, Wool said, adding, "We saw a lot of repeat business and opened up a lot of dealers."
Traffic was up by more than 50% over October at American Leather, said Glenn Paluch, director of sales and marketing, Western region, adding, "Our written business was through the roof.
"Retailers do not want to inventory. They want quick turns and they want to see their gross margins in the bank a bit faster," Paluch said.
"Even our North Carolina competition is still not shipping as fast as they should in light of the slowness of the economy."
At Natuzzi, Johne Albanese, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said, "Everything just seemed to work right. It was an extremely successful market.
"Our new offerings were very well received," he said. "The (in-store) gallery concept far exceeded our expectations. Many of our dealers are ready right now. We are developing a schedule for the rollouts."
Modern designs were especially popular, he added, with a selection of high-end frames conceived by Italian designers drawing attention, in addition to sectionals from the promotionally priced Italsofa line and SoFast quick-ship entries.
Chateau d'Ax also reported strong activity. "Everything is price sensitive because of where things are in the world today, but we continue to offer better-styled goods at value pricing," said Harry Cierler, director of North American operations.
La-Z-Boy introduced a leather group embossed with exotic crocodile and ostrich imprints. The croc leather adorned the sofa cushions while solid leather played it straight on outside arms, back and sides.
"Using different shapes and tailoring gives us an edge over imports," said Greg White, vice president of merchandising.
Leathercraft President Jack Donahoe noted the return of a strong German-European styling influence, calling it "a nice segue from transitional looks."
The company's Euro Inspirations Collection is taking hold particularly in urban areas. "It's clean, architectural, linear styling with softer, plusher American seating," he said.
LeatherTrend continued to push the envelope on unusual finishing techniques. Its Old Brompton sofa, dressed in a wax-enriched Italian aniline, proved popular, said Peter Robinson, group president of LeatherTrend.
Landmark, which entered the leather category six months ago with an assortment of finished frames made in Brazil, expanded its sofa offerings from three to eight.
"We have done really well with leather," said Bruce Barfield, vice president of Landmark. "We started it as a warehouse operation and are now doing container-direct to dealers. That has been a big surprise and we are really pleased."
Jeff Baron, president of DeCoro USA, said his line benefited from the addition of two Elmo leathers.
"We also offered a collection of cleaner, more sophisticated, modern designs that dealers had been asking for," he said.
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| The Texas Longhorn Settee from William Alan's newly licensed Double D Ranch Home collection garnered attention with its molded synthetic horn legs. |
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