Well, here we are again (but tell me exactly why)
Susan M. Andrews, Fabric editor -- Furniture Today, March 31, 2003
Why are there two High Point furniture markets a year?
This is not a riddle. If I ever knew the answer, I don't remember it now. I need to know because every time I go to Europe for a fabric show, mill and manufacturing executives and retail buyers ask me this question and their English is always excellent, so I can't smile and pretend that I don't understand the question.
I wonder if we look a bit dim, since other important home furnishings shows around the world — Milan, Cologne, Paris — are held just once a year and they seem to do quite well.
At first blush, it seems absurd that hundreds of American manufacturers knock themselves out (or knock each other off) coming up with "new" lines every six months to show to retailers who have barely had a chance to see what's selling from the last "new" line.
Consumers don't make a pilgrimage to a furniture store twice a year to check out the "new models." Heck, even new models of automobiles, which some consumers will buy almost sight unseen just because they're new, don't come out every six months. It's sad but true that consumers buy furniture very infrequently. Even the most wildly rich devotees of conspicuous consumption are too busy buying cars, electronics, computers and cruises to change out their furnishings every six months.
And even the most outrageous and edgy of American furniture designs aren't so "out there" that anyone is waiting breathlessly for the newest thing. Having six pleats instead of four in the upholstery of a chair arm, or a block foot instead of a bun foot, or a reddish brown instead of ashy brown finish, is hardly a big deal, yet is often touted as "new" when market rolls around. I'm speaking generally, of course, but as an industry we change so little that having these teensy-weensy changes every six months seems to magnify the teensy-weeniness of them.
Plus, I think having "new" lines every few months just adds to the widely held perception of furniture as a low-value commodity item. If there was a longer time between introductions, some degree of genuine anticipation could build and the perceived value of furniture could grow among consumers, which I believe is critically important if we hope to be making furniture in the United States 10 years from now.
Here's my favorite alternative to the status quo: one furniture market every October in High Point and one every April in San Francisco (or Las Vegas, depending on which one prevails). New product would be the focus of the High Point market, which should come to be known as the East Coast market, and networking and client entertaining would be the focus of the San Francisco (or Las Vegas) market, which should become the West Coast market.
The East Coast market would be hardcore business-oriented and the West Coast market could be education-oriented and relaxed, with more time to attend seminars and learn from one another.
All that said, have a good April market in High Point!
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