Don't overlook pet owners, eco-conscious consumers
Susan M. Andrews, Fabric Editor -- Furniture Today, April 25, 2006
In our industry's well-intentioned but often poorly executed quest to better connect with consumers on some level beyond price, may I suggest we consider appealing to pet owners and the eco-conscious.
Here's my rationale: Performance fabrics, with their resistance to fading and extra durability, are a natural added value for consumers who live in or retire to sunny places with outdoor lifestyles. But while those lucky consumers are an important market segment, a whole lot of people don't live in sunny places with outdoor lifestyles.
Lots of consumers, on the other hand, do live with pets — many of them funky-smelling, muddy-pawed and aging (the pets, not the consumers) — which means they will appreciate the benefits of stain and soil resistance, easy cleanability and extra durability that come with performance fabrics.
If you don't believe pet-loving consumers will spend extra for technology that improves the quality of their lives, consider this: According to the American Pet Product Manufacturers Assn., 63% of Americans own at least one pet. Not only that, a significant number of married couples are choosing to have pets instead of children, and those families have an average of four pets in their household.
Bottom line: Americans in 2005 spent an estimated $36 billion on pet products, which is more than twice the $17 billion they spent in 1994. It's a growing market segment, and textile science can help you get your share.
Another study, this one by the National Assn. of Home Builders Research Center, found that an increasing number of consumers are interested in buying "green," but they aren't getting the information they need to make it happen.
Furniture and fabrics produced with a "green" manufacturing story — or at least without damaging the environment — can be a vehicle to getting the attention of these consumers. And they are valuable consumers because the center surveyed consumers who planned to buy a new home or spend more than $10,000 fixing up their current home.
Almost half of them, 46%, said they were eager to include environmentally friendly products, but said they aren't hearing enough about available products. Let them hear about it if you are selling goods with an environmental story.
Some companies in our industry already are working on this. Producers of faux leathers like Valley Forge Fabrics, which launched the Valtekz line of performance composite materials, and Ultrafabrics, which produces Brisa, a performance faux leather that breathes like fabric, can boast of production that is far gentler on the environment than the tanning and finishing of leather made from animal hides.
Another plus is that these performance fabrics and faux leathers can be cleaned with soap and water, so consumers won't have to use toxic solvents for aftercare.
In addition, case goods manufacturers such as South Cone, Copeland, Harden Furniture and E.J. Victor are involved in efforts to use wood mainly or entirely from responsibly managed forests.
Let's all help get the good word out.
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