Fun colors add punch to youth
By Jane Kitchen -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2006
High Point — White Victorian girls' groups may consistently be the best-selling youth collections, but many of today's consumers are looking for something with a little more punch. With kids having more and more input as to how their rooms are decorated, colors like pink and turquoise are showing up on manufacturers' floors, and elements that enchant young girls — whether they're 5 or 15 — are increasingly important.
At the recent winter furniture market in Las Vegas, Good Cos. showed a new Dollhouse collection that was a huge hit for the manufacturer. Featuring sweet touches like satin window panels, hand-painted flowers and blush highlights on top of a buttermilk finish, the collection uses elements of play, and is designed to appeal to little girls — and the little girls inside moms everywhere.
Custom options
Domestic manufacturer Dakota Kidz unveiled several new colors in Las Vegas, including a Bubblegum Pink, Buttercup Yellow and Robins Egg Blue, to add to its impressive range of 25 colors and finishes.
"We're a large, custom-order factory that's capable of doing a ridiculous amount of options," said President Todd Block, adding that the company's sales were up more than 70% last year.
Case goods manufacturer Vermont Tubbs also has made a name for itself in part due to the many finish options available, including 24 paint colors and nine stains. The domestic manufacturer recently added eight new colors, including Vermont Spruce, Sea Green, Fun Plum, Avocado, Turquoise, True Blue Navy, Grape and Ipswich Sand.
"Colors are definitely hot right now," said President Bo Harris. The new Avocado and True Blue Navy colors are very popular, he said, but one of the hottest colors is a bright tangerine. "It's a great seller," said Harris. "It's an exciting color, and people love it."
In order to offer so many choices, manufacturers like Vermont Tubbs build everything to order, which means practicing lean manufacturing practices, said Harris, who reports his company's lead time on orders is just three-and-a-half weeks.
"It gives retailers and customers a wide variety of choices," said Harris, "and retailers don't have to floor everything."
Appealing to kids and parents
Harris said he sees a lot of the "fun" colors used on kids' beds, but that color is also used for accent pieces or on entire collections. And he added that some of those "fun" colors appeal to kids and parents.
"If kids come in with mom or dad and fall in love with the color, it's a pretty good sales tool for us," said Harris. "But you certainly have to balance that with mom or dad liking it as well — it's got to be versatile enough to grow up with the kid."
Certainly for case goods collections this is a must, but for accent pieces, color can be even bolder. Zocalo's trendy Z Generation has plans to launch a line of leather-upholstered cubes for kids' rooms at the upcoming spring furniture market in hues like pink, bright orange, teal, blue and white.
"They're super-bright, fun colors," said Director of Marketing Danny Olivas. "And fun accent colors really help set the stage."
Z Generation also has looked to colors that appeal to kids themselves — in its case, colors with extreme tween and teen appeal. At the fall furniture market, the company introduced a pink leather bed it called Ariel, which was the hit of the show.
"We really fell in love with it — it seemed right," said Olivas. "And everyone has flirted with that bed — everyone loves it."
For inspiration, Olivas said he looks at all kinds of trend magazines.
"We choose colors we see in the marketplace from automotive to fashion," he said. "And we're seeing a lot of color."
