Casual comfort reigns in upholstery
Retailers respond to ambitious introductions
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, October 28, 2002
High Point — Despite a slower-than-average market, stationary upholstery makers with a story to tell said they wrote business here.
Buyers were drawn to manufacturers who pulled out the stops with impressive-sized introductions, and to producers who restructured their lines.
With limited open-to-buys, swelling inventories and little time to tour showrooms, merchants shopped for too-good-to-pass-up bargains and fresh merchandise for their floors.
Overall, the emphasis in stationary was on casual — "comfort food" furniture for cocooning homeowners worried about everything from Sept. 11 to the sniper shootings to their shrinking retirement nest eggs. That included slipcovers but also cottage looks, so abundant in market showrooms that the cottage fairy must have flitted about.
One bright spot was Alexvale, with a completely revamped line. Ron Smith, vice president of sales and marketing, said midway through market that attendance was up 20% from last October and business written was up 30%. The remake of the line included new shapes, details, fabrics — and color everywhere.
"The response from dealers is that there is a whole new Alexvale," Smith said. "Dealers are excited that this has been a dramatic turnaround."
The company's focus this market was on slipcovers in florals, velvets, linens and other fabrics to hit the $1,099 retail price point. For an upcharge of about $500 retail, the consumer could buy a fully upholstered sofa with a slipcover.
"I think it's different, more than anything," said Smith of the slipcover look. "People have just gotten tired of chenilles and microfibers, which have been the buzzwords" of earlier markets, he said.
Also upbeat was Canadian producer Décor-Rest, which remodeled its showroom here and brought out a line that Ron Penney, in charge of export sales and marketing, described as attuned to the States.
"We expanded to what America wants rather than Canada," he said.
Décor-Rest's intros leaned toward "lifestyle transitional." Penney said the company wants to capitalize on the "cutesy, casual country look" that appears to be spreading from East to West.
He said the company has grown 17% in the past year, with much of that coming in the United States. Décor-Rest has been strong in the $799 to $999 price points, but is using manufacturing efficiencies to hit $599 without sacrificing quality.
But the most important thing is innovation, Penney said. "This is not a market for followers anymore," he said. "If you try to be a copier, you're not going to make it."
Lane drew a crowd to its new stationary line that included 15 frames to hit the $699 to $999 price points. The main attraction was the Country Living Collection of case goods, upholstery and occasional.
"We have three different looks (in Country Living). We wanted to show that country can be a lot of different things," said David Wormald, merchandise manager for leather and upholstery. The collection includes looks designed to fit New York lofts, farmhouses and suburban homes, he said, with upholstery styles ranging from a country metro sectional to an English-style settee.
La-Z-Boy, with abundant offerings in stationary, took some numbers upscale. Adina, a contemporary sofa with a silk-like cover and artfully curved arms, was displayed in a collection that included animal prints, red leather and a seafoam contemporary chair called Nora. The offerings also included a cherry red grouping in microfiber.
Another big push in stationary for La-Z-Boy was in a farmhouse style collection called Penelope, which used a feather filling. The group has patchwork fabrics with cushions that reverse to florals, and ottomans whose covers reverse to the same. The sofa in the group retails for about $1,195.
Another front-of-the-showroom cottage offering this market was Potting Shed, a hit for Cochrane.
"It has really been good," said Bob Eller, vice president, sales and marketing. He said the company has signed on new customers for Potting Shed and will expand it next market.
Schweiger's new collections includes upholstery, accents and tables, designed to provide bigger-ticket sales to retailers. That approach has accounted for much of the company's 40% sales gain over the past year, said John Buckman, vice president of sales and marketing.
"The tickets on most of our groups are in the $3,000 range," he said, versus what he said was a retail sales average of $1,500.
Buckman expects 20% growth for the upcoming year, from both new and current customers, and was picking up new clients at market.
"I don't mean the mom-and-pops, although there's nothing wrong with them," he said. "They're multi-store customers. This has been a good market for us."
