Upholstery producers ratchet up intros
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, February 8, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO — Growing business at factories and increasing enthusiasm at retail prompted a heavier-than-usual introduction of stationary upholstery product and programs here.
Manufacturers, especially Western regional producers who see San Francisco as their main event, filled showrooms with new frames, new price points and new colors.
Fairchild of California introduced eight fabric frames, two of which are sofas, loveseats and sectionals, and five leather introductions, three imported and correlated with tables — all with a casual flair.
"We have more luck with casual," said President Scott Haight. "The West Coast is such a casual market; that's where the opportunities are."
Fairchild uses the January market here for two-thirds of its annual introductions. Haight said the company "has gotten a little more aggressive with fabric chairs in the $599 (retail) price points" and is pushing its price points up with improved cushioning materials. "We're getting much more acceptance of down and feathers," he said, "which has been a fringe item to us."
Stylus Made to Order Sofas introduced a slipcover program, returning the Canadian manufacturer to a product it hasn't made for a while, said Jason Harris, national sales manager. The slipcovers come in 500 fabric choices to fit the company's three best-selling frames, and will wholesale for $225 each. One of the hooks will be that consumers can update their rooms or change the look to fit the season and, with UPS delivery, do it all in a matter of days.
Plus, it's a no-brainer for the retailer. "We sold thousands of frames so retailers can just send out a (promotional) post card," Harris said. "They don't have to do much."
Long Beach, Calif.-based Mike Cims introduced 20 frames to retail at $499 to $899 in colors like teal, purple, black and tan.
"We showed new looks that we haven't had in the line before," said Vice President of Sales and Marketing Rich Pietranski, particularly retro and clean, contemporary looks. "We're not walking away from what we've been doing; we're just changing our image."
Retailers apparently were impressed with the sharply priced lineup. "We've opened 10 or 12 people already," Pietranski said on the market's second day. The company also wants to expand into the $799 to $899 retail price points, he said.
"Our business slowed down a little in December and some of January but has picked up again," he said. "Overall, our business has remained strong," and the company expects between 10% and 20% growth for the upcoming year.
Bradley Home expects to double its business this year, said Steve Kaplan, executive vice president of the mid-to-upper priced line. The company's strategy is "ingredient branding," using lots of detail — on arms, welts, full-feathered downs — that unite "East Coast flavor with West Coast style," said Kaplan.
This market, Bradley added 12 transitional lifestyle frames from $799 to $1,599 for sofas and $1,550 to $3,900 for sectionals.
Cisco launched a lower-priced lifestyle upholstery line (see story below left) and also added a series of slick, bright colors — with names like chili, azure, mango — to select occasional, dining and accessory pieces from its two-year-old case goods line, Serene.
"We really went as bold as we could," said Lesley Roberts, vice president of sales and marketing, noting the introductions were aimed at the cottage and beach town crowd.
And, she added, while the palette was bright for the wood, it still complemented the upholstery.
Roberts said Cisco has seen an upturn in business. "We keep looking at our numbers and feel fortunate," she said. "It could be our product or we're at a price point (in the luxury market) that's not affected," or it could be the proliferation of home shows that stimulate people to update their furniture looks.
"Furniture is almost like the 'new' coffee," she said. "People get hooked on the next hot thing. There's almost an addiction for it. People are recreating themselves by recreating their homes."
Contemporary specialist Lazar turned its Acme Brand Couch Company collection of denims into a full division (see story below left) and also went more casual in its regular Silhouettes line.
"We were doing more avant-garde looks, but now we're concentrating on soft contemporary," said Darrin Royer, director of design and merchandising. The style is transitional contemporary, and includes a sectional sofa that hits the $2,999 retail price point.
"Since Labor Day, we've been trending upward," he said. "We happen to be in a style category that's very hot now. We're experiencing growth in areas we have never dreamed."
With the economy improving, housing starts and resales up, interest rates down and home shows "putting in consumers' minds that they need to decorate, we've never been on a better footing with so many planets aligning," Royer said.
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