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Solutia exits acrylics

Move likely to raise fabric prices

By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, January 30, 2005

St. Louis — Solutia, producer of Wear-Dated acrylic fibers, said last week it is getting out of the acrylic business.

Price increases for upholstery fabrics are likely as mills search for new suppliers or change to alternate fibers in some of their products.

Wear-Dated acrylic is widely used by U.S. domestic mills and covers a great deal of the nation's upholstered furniture. It is used in a number of performance fabrics, including Sunbrella by Glen Raven, which has been developing alternative sources over the past year, according to Suzie Roberts, Glen Raven sales manager of residential fabrics.

La-Z-Boy Chairman Pat Norton said he was concerned about whether manufacturers would have to back up Solutia's two-year and five-year Wear-Dated warranties, which are longer than most furniture producers' own warranties.

"My concern is that Solutia acts in an ethical manner," Norton said. "They certainly have the privilege of stopping their business, but they have a responsibility to support the warranties. Millions of pounds of acrylic were purchased on that basis."

Two of La-Z-Boy's top fabric suppliers, Culp and Quaker, are big users of Solutia acrylic, and "a ton of our product is covered with these fabrics," Norton said.

The good news for the furniture industry is that Solutia has said it plans to support the Wear-Dated warranties, at least for product that is already in stores, in consumers' homes or on order by consumers. For product that's not already at the consumer level, however, the warranty was eliminated effective Jan. 25.

Rob Culp, chairman and CEO of fabric supplier Culp Inc., said fabrics containing acrylic represent about a third of the company's sales and half its upholstery fabric sales.

"To our knowledge, Solutia was the only Acrilan supplier in the United States; therefore, all of us will now need to source acrylic yarn from international sources," Culp said.

"Solutia has agreed to work with us for a few months as they phase out of the business," he added. "New yarn orders are at a higher cost, and our understanding is that the plant will shut down for good some time in mid- to late April."

Culp is lining up offshore sources, but that yarn is more expensive, he said.

"Unfortunately, in order to mitigate the impact of this situation, in the short term we do expect to implement a price increase in our upholstery fabrics segment," he said.

Culp's mattress fabrics, which don't use acrylic, are not affected.

The Wear-Dated warranty has significant consumer awareness.

Larry Liebenow, president and CEO of Quaker Fabric, said, "It is unfortunate that the Wear-Dated program presumably will go away, in some fashion, but beyond that it is a great disappointment to the whole industry (that Solutia is stopping its acrylic production), and it will require everyone working closely together to successfully manage the transition."

Liebenow added, "China is not a reliable source, but there are other alternatives and we've been working on alternatives for some time. We will dedicate our resources to making this transition as smooth as possible for our customers."

Solutia, which is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has been losing money on acrylics since 1999, said company spokesman Dan Jenkins. It is pulling out of the business as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan.

Solutia will continue its other businesses, including nylon carpet, which is not acrylic-based.

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Solutia to quit acrylic business

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