Leather furniture resources report vigorous market
By Joan Gunin -- Furniture Today, February 4, 2007
Las Vegas — Leather upholstery resources were pleased with their quick out-of-the gate start at last week's market here, and said it resulted in brisk order-writing.
"I seriously cannot remember a market where there were this many people in our showroom at one time," said Evan Ritchie, distribution manager for Emerald Home Furnishings.
Executives at Zarkin Leather and Barcalounger said this market was an investment in broader opportunities for the future. "It's an investment you don't make back immediately but it is important to building the brand," said Wayne Stephens, president of Barcalounger.
Mexico-based Zarkin Leather is a one-time High Point regular that showed here for the first time with sofas at retails of $999 to $1,999.
The vigorous market here prompted several suppliers to update business plans. John Hoff, president of Palatial Furniture, now intends to open a California warehouse to serve his burgeoning West Coast customers.
"We have different products for different clientele on both coasts," Hoff said. "We have also strengthened our designer trade."
North Carolina upholstery maker McNeilly Champion, showing here for the first time in a shared space, is mulling a larger space for the future. It showed a modest club chair program here due to space constraints, said Joel Jackson, national sales manager.
Other newcomers to market included Mantellassi from Forli, Italy, which launched its America's Division here headed by Tom Kopke. The line will focus on clean, contemporary top grain looks rather than the beefy, more traditional looks coming from China.
Stylution, adding upholstery to its Asian-based mattress business, showed a series of collage looks on downscaled frames priced from $999 to $1,499. "We had six runaway winners and we are very pleased," said David Wormald, upholstery manager.
Craftmaster also was encouraged by its debut here, bringing along its first Chinese imports.
"We are focusing on those retailers who do not go to High Point," said President Roy Calcagne. The lower-priced division of Universal is expanding its sales force, he said.
The rechristened Kathy Ireland Home by Omnia, the company's first licensing venture, showcased leather/fabric collage looks with 45 new fabric covers.
California-based Moroni continued to expand its contemporary niche, while Broyhill, Flexsteel and others reworked some sofas from High Point in new leather covers and colors.
"This market was attended by customers from Ohio and west, but attendance from the Eastern seaboard and the Southeast was thin," Lee Fautsch, Flexsteel's vice president of sales, home furnishings.
Best Home Furnishings smashed the attendance records it set at the July 2005 inaugural market, said Greg Sicard, national sales manager.
LeatherWorks, meanwhile, launched a stationary line as a companion to its Local Motion Only.
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Upholstery makers have hopes up high
Feb 6, 2012 -
Upholstery Holds its Own in Tough Economy
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