Flexsteel to anchor Wrangler home effort
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, October 6, 2003
Greensboro, N.C. — Wrangler brand, the giant jeans division of VF Corp., plans to launch a collection of home furnishings at next fall's furniture market with upholstery producer Flexsteel Inds. as its cornerstone.
The licensing partnership with Flexsteel will give the casual apparel maker its first entrée into home furnishings. Besides upholstery, case goods and occasional from Flexsteel, other products licensed by Wrangle may include sheets, towels, paint, lamps, accessories and other products for the home.
The collection will be positioned as Real.Comfortable.Home, a continuation of Wrangler's successful Real.Comfortable.Jeans.
"We're very excited about it," said Keith Feuerhaken, vice president of sales, residential for Flexsteel. "We felt that with our success with Christopher Lowell as a personality, a brand that's as strong as Wrangler in apparel could have a great reception from consumers in home furnishings if we do it right."
Feuerhaken said the collection will serve as its market centerpiece in October 2004. The initial offering will be 20 to 25 pieces for the living room.
"This doesn't affect Christopher at all," said Feuerhaken, who was with Lowell in Honolulu last week for an appearance at retailer C.S. Wo. "We see this (Wrangler license) blooming, and what gets us psyched is that now that we have our DMI partners, this collection could become very broad and meaningful."
Flexsteel recently closed on the acquisition of DMI, a wood furniture manufacturer.
"There are different Wrangler customers, and the first collection will be the broad middle demographic," Feuerhaken said. "After that collection gets going, we'll follow it up with more segment product for the more affluent, more mature Wrangler customer, and the younger customer as well."
"Consumers associate the Wrangler name with quality, value, comfort and style," said George Weldon, director of licensing for Wrangler. "Wrangler presents a unique buying opportunity for consumers by combining these four attributes with unprecedented global brand recognition. We look forward to our partnership with Flexsteel. The company's expertise and impeccable reputation is invaluable."
Bruce Lauritsen, president and chief executive officer of Flexsteel, said Flexsteel "can offer retailers and consumers a complete home lifestyle collection with upholstered furniture, and it has the sourcing capabilities for quality case goods manufacturing. When you couple Wrangler and Flexsteel's mirrored missions of providing consumers great overall value and style, the Wrangler Home Collection is positioned for success."
