High Point — Designers keeping abreast of the latest lifestyle trends have never paid much attention to recliners. About all they've needed to do is see which shade of brown is the season's hottest color.
But when those design hotshots weren't looking, some of those stodgy reclining chairs have become just a bit trendy.
Don't misunderstand, brown recliners are still the norm, but manufacturers have been able to sneak in a few cutting-edge fabric colors in recent months. And several of them have actually been placed on retail sales floors.
"Color is coming back," said Paula Hoyas, director of upholstery merchandising at La-Z-Boy, the recliner category sales leader. "It's a great way for a dealer to add some spice to a floor that is dominated by neutral colors."
Of course, we're not talking about 1960s psychedelic colors or '90s bold stripes here. But colors like persimmon, paprika, aubergene and graphite have found their way onto chairs — and many executives believe more of the same is on tap.
"The earth tones continue to generate the bulk of the business, while the bright colors prevent the floors from looking bland," said Bob Young, merchandise manager for recliners at Lane.
"We've introduced many new colors in response to dealers' requests to brighten and freshen up their floor displays."
Young and other executives said red is by far the most popular of the non-neutral colors, but they say there still is considerable interest in a variety of shades of blue, green and yellow, in particular.
"The suedes are making consumers more comfortable with brighter colors," said Kevin Armstrong, director of reclining chairs at Berkline. "They know they can clean them ... so they don't always insist on a darker color that might hide stains better."
Armstrong said Berkline has had some success with colors like paprika and other colors from the blue family, while Young says red is the bright color of choice among Lane's retail customers.
"The reds have generated the best volume, while some of the others look good, but have not been volume generators," Young said.
Don Hunter, senior vice president of major accounts at Catnapper, said his company, which is known primarily as a low-cost, high-volume producer, has had success in recent weeks with a fabric color that's called graphite.
Graphite may look like gray or gray/blue to you, but you're not about to read that word in any of the sales training materials or hear it in any Catnapper-run sales presentation.
"In a previous life, we would have called it gray — which would have been the kiss of death," Hunter quipped.
He agreed that dealers have welcomed several of the brighter colors in their quest for a more lively display on their sales floors, but he cautioned that they can't forget the neutrals that still generate the most volume.
"You can't get too edgy and floor models that don't generate any volume, but on the other hand, it gets a little boring with all those beige recliners," said Hunter.
Striking a balance
Ken Salm, senior vice president of sales and business development at Douglas, said retailers and manufacturers often struggle to strike a balance between the meat-and-potatoes colors, which generate more than 80% of sales, and the more flashy colors, which may do little more than gather dust.
"For years, we've been fighting the sea of beige and before that, it was a sea of navy," Salm said. "We've had some success with color, but it's still a small percentage of business."
Chuck Tidwell, product manager at Franklin, said those boring product displays are a big turn-off to two demographic groups the furniture industry needs to reach — women and the under-35 crowd. Both groups probably grew up thinking all recliners look like the "bubba" chair where their father watched the evening news.
"It seems like the brighter colors are catering to the younger generation," said Tidwell. "And it's a more desirable color palette that women seem to like."
So where is this trend headed? And what will be this year's hottest new colors? Producers say they're keeping their eyes on apparel.
"We are all watching apparel trends, particularly women's fashions," said Young. "And we're searching for the next bright color, like red, that will sell well."
Young and most other executives were reluctant to make guesses — although teal got a couple of votes — but they all agreed that more color will be the rule in both retail and wholesale showrooms.
"A dealer can always sell vanilla and chocolate, but the consumer needs to see what other flavors are out there," said Hoyas.
