HIGH POINT MARKET: No longer a sea of brown

Color returns to upholstery

Gary Evans , Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, October 19, 2009

AT THE MARKET - Brown has left the building, at least in a number of upholstery showrooms here.

The Butterfly chair, in brilliant colors, is getting raves in the Michael Thomas showroom.

While it has taken years, maybe decades, fabric and leather upholstery makers finally seem to be heeding the complaints of retailers that their seating areas "look like a sea of brown" because that's all vendors have been offering.
More likely, factories have been experimenting with blasts of color for the past year or so and have found that product hitting retail is - surprise - selling. So many are going all out this market.
"It has been a sea of brown for the last five years, but that's changing," said John Phillips, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Palliser Furniture Upholstery.
Echoes Sheila Seigel, a principal in Sklar-Peppler and Alan White, "We left brown two markets ago."
"Color is the story this market and we're showing it all out," said Mike Delgatti, executive vice president of merchandising for leather brand Bradington-Young, whose spectrum runs from spa blue to terra cotta to key lime green. "Our best color last market was teal. There was a lot of skepticism that it would sell, but it has."
Other leather colors sprinkled around showrooms include yellows, oranges, gray/slate and eggplant, just to a name a few.
Among the other multi-hued hotspots here, Southern Furniture is continuing a riot of color it started last market, Michael Thomas is doing well with a colorful fabric, and Rowe is sporting a rainbow of colors in its front window.
Norwalk is introducing fabrics in such colors as wasabi green, robin's egg blue and tropical punch, and also has 64 shades of leather in its new Norwalk Colors program.
"Gone are the days when a handful of colors dominated home furnishings," said Reyna Moore, director of marketing at Norwalk.
"Color is the ultimate way to reinvent or wake up space," said Meredith Younger of Younger Furniture. "The use of colors, patterns and textures is what makes upholstery come alive and allows buyers to make their home feel like their own sanctuary.... It is what the furniture industry needs to get its mojo back."

The entrance to Flexsteel's showroom touts Color Outside the Lines, a program featuring four chair styles that are available in 16 leather colors.

Sam Moore's big introduction this market is a new modular program sporting colors that include melon, orange, key lime and red. Three groupings - Margo, Dorian and Claudia - offer 60 fabrics at the same price.
Other colorful displays can be found at Lane and Flexsteel, both of which are unveiling lineups of leather chairs that are available in numerous colors.
Flexsteel's program, dubbed Color Outside the Lines, features four styles of chairs, each of which is available in 16 leather colors and comes with a matching ottoman.
"Color is a major story for us at this market," said Lee Fautsch, Flexsteel's vice president of sales for home furnishings. "We think color can brighten up a retailer's floor and generate greater interest from the consumer."
The new products, which retail for $1,099 for a chair and ottoman, have received positive early reviews here, he said.
"It's all about color, comfort, style and selection," Fautsch said.