Southern to launch Ferrare line
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2005
High Point — Southern Furniture plans a soft launch next month of a licensed upholstery collection with model, author and talk show host Cristina Ferrare.
The line, which will include four or five upholstery groups at the April market, will complement the Cristina Ferrare Home Collection of case goods introduced by Magnussen Home Furnishings in October 2003. The upholstery line is expected to expand to seven to nine groups in October.
The Ferrare upholstery will include sofas, chairs, accent chairs and ottomans, and will be priced in the upper range of Southern's line, said Parker Goss, vice president of sales. Initial styles will be a dressy traditional, some with wood trim, and not overly formal, he added. They will complement Ferrare's European traditional case goods, the first styles developed by Magnussen. Price points for a sofa are targeted at $1,499 to $1,999 retail.
In October, Southern will add some Art Deco and contemporary styles to follow the Ferrare wood introductions Magnussen will make in April.
The upholstery "will have blend-down cushions, expensive tassels, silk and so forth that will take it up to the next notch," Goss said. Southern President Ken Church added that the new collection "will not be collage, but will include some wonderful base cloths with fantastic pillows."
At market, Southern will show its Ferrare intros with Magnussen case pieces and will make the upholstery available to Magnussen. In addition, the companies will share account lists for cross merchandising.
Ferrare will be Southern's fourth collection, joining Antiques Roadshow, French Flea Market Finds and Gluckstein Home. Church said the latest addition continues the company's focus on developing a family of brands "that provide real variety and great credibility from the licensing side.
"We're excited about Cristina because she's somebody who has the real know-how," he said. "She's not just somebody with a pretty face who comes along and authenticates something. She knows how to develop it. She's very involved in all the styling and fabrics."
Ferrare was a 1970s and '80s supermodel, and on TV was a co-host of AM Los Angeles for five years. She also hosted a two-hour live show on the Family Channel, and wrote a New York Times best-seller, "Okay, So I Don't Have a Headache: What I Learned (And What You Need to Know) about PMS, Hormones, Stress, Menopause — and Sex."
Magnussen shifts focus
03/17/2010Southern to launch Ferrare line
03/28/2005Magnussen honored at gala
03/17/2010Magnussen dropping Cristina Ferrare line
10/28/2006
