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Awesome ottomans

By Joan Gunin -- Furniture Today, August 8, 2004

High Point — No longer just a prop to support tired feet, leather and microfiber ottomans have become a hot accent item.

The once lowly footstool has become a versatile room accessory, offering a place for extra seating, hidden storage and even tabletop entertaining. The range of style options also has exploded: freestanding or matching; poufy or flat; round, square, rectangular or cubed; with or without hinges or casters; and more.

In addition to furniture retailers, designers, specialty stores and boutiques also are doing well with these distinctive pieces, finding them a great way to create add-on sales.

"The overall trend is a big thing for us," said Gabrielle Galardo, marketing manager for Elite Leather.

Prominent retail displays of oversized ottomans prove "what started as an add-on piece is now a separate buy," said Murray Eastern, Omnia Leather's director of sales and marketing. "Some of the major retailers really attack this business."

"It's almost the perfect retail ticket add-on," said Michelle Rosson, director of marketing and merchandising for Thomasville's upholstery program.

Ottomans have become a huge part of Thomasville's business "and are growing every day," Rosson added.

She credits the footstools' popularity to Oprah Winfrey's recent admission, "I have ottomans all over my house."

Thomasville accentuates its ottomans with lots of decorative "bling-bling," Rosson said, such as claw feet, nailhead treatments and shapely curves.

"It's not just a utilitarian thing to sit on," she said. "It really is jewelry, and we are loving it."

Thomasville markets its ottomans singly as freestanding units and as "bunched" pairs that fit under a cocktail table.

Leather upholstery producers consider ottomans part of a bigger accent furniture trend that's gaining momentum in the marketplace right now. Among the upholstered items enjoying strong sales are barstools, footstools, exposed wood chairs, fireside chairs and upholstered benches.

Of the 165 different items Leathercraft introduced at the April High Point market, less than half were sofas, said President Jack Donahoe. That number would have been much higher in the past, he added, when upholstery business was being driven primarily by sofas.

Perfect timing

"The sofa business has gotten to be a 'no man's land of value,' just tonnage by the pound," said Donahoe. This, in turn, "has opened a whole other part of the business — decorative leather accessories. While big-box retailers have pounded sofa pricing to death, we have found a substantial business in the accessories."

Unlike "by-the-pound" competitors, Leathercraft can offer ottomans in any size, shape and style, in a choice of 24 leathers, due to its customization capabilities.

"We've enjoyed a very good business with ottomans," Donahoe said. "It is a phenomenal upper-end business marketed through custom order and boutique, not mainstream retailers. They are buying items and uniqueness. We have focused on these boutique items out of necessity."

Supporting Donahoe's theory of differentiation, Bradington-Young President Scott Young said, "People are seeking something other than another plain cocktail table. An ottoman can be a conversation piece."

He has already sold "a gazillion" storage ottoman units, he said. "We sell 20 of those a week, at an average wholesale price of $699."

Made of solid mahogany, with two storage drawers in the base, a typical unit weighs 150 pounds. The wood bases are imported and then covered in Bradington-Young's own tufted leather.

"We have two full-time upholstery workers at our Hickory plant who build nothing but cocktail ottomans," Young said.

Making a statement

Century also has been doing well with ottomans sporting decorative leathers, trims and welting.

"Anytime you can dress it up, you get credit for it," said Phil Brown, merchandise manager for Century's leather and chair programs.

Century has seen success with a four-piece cube that fits together into a single unit, rustic/casual California looks and exotic and embossed leathers.

"We'll use a basic leather on the base but dress up the top," much like the icing on a cake, Brown noted.

As a young mother, Natalie Marzilli, vice president of marketing for Canadian-based Décor-Rest, sees value in using a soft, cushy ottoman in place of a hard-edged angular, glass, chrome or wood cocktail table.

"It adds warmth and color to a room that a wood cocktail does not," Marzilli said. "You can put your feet on it or still use it as a cocktail table and it's child-safe. There are no hard corners, so it's great for children to jump on."

Décor-Rest's ottomans are available in either fabric or leather, although "leather seems to be more popular," she said. "Fabric adds contrast and color, but leather is better suited to cleanability."

Cubed comfort

The bulk of American Leather's ottoman sales are cubes, many outfitted with casters or removable serving trays. They are priced from $450 to $500 retail for microfiber or leather, respectively.

Cary Benson, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, said such ottoman pieces do exceptionally well in space-deprived metro areas because they can do double-duty for seating and storage.

American Leather's Ultrasuede cubes also can provide a rich shot of color in vivid hues of lime green or bright red.

Stickley, which also has noticed growing interest in ottomans, plans to follow up its April introduction of an elegantly tufted ottoman by adding multipurpose leather cubes to its new Craftsmen Leather by Stickley collection.

"We get requests from our lifestyle dealers to create some items," said Rod McLean, vice president of sales and marketing. "We are showing them bunched together. They offer great versatility and additional seating in the room. It rounds out the setting."

W. Schillig U.S.A. also has found a nice niche with its leather patch cubes.

"Stores like the add-on accessory business and consumers like them because they're versatile, for sitting or serving food," said Ursula Korch, business administrator for W. Schillig U.S.A.

Schillig is doing particularly well with the ottoman offerings in its Ergoline home theater seating groups, Korch said.

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