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FR issue attracts little retailer interest in Vegas

David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, February 11, 2007

An issue that helped launch the largest introduction of bedding products in history was, strangely enough, virtually a non-issue in Las Vegas Market showrooms.

Vegas was the last major bedding market before a federal open-flame mattress standard goes on the books in July. Thus, bedding producers of all sizes rolled out a variety of new fire-resistant bedding lines in Vegas.

Those FR lines will bring higher retail prices, but those price hikes generally will be incorporated into remerchandised lines and will be difficult to discern on retail floors.

The FR issue has reverberated through the manufacturing and supply sides of the industry for years, bringing forth a wealth of new products, challenges and opportunities, and you'd think the launch of major FR lines would be a big deal at market.

But it wasn't, said producers I checked with.

They said retailers are confident their vendors will take care of the details.

I realize it's the producers who are responsible for adding FR protection, and I know they take that task very seriously, but I still find it strange that retailers seem so uninterested. We've written hundreds of stories on FR developments in the past few years. Now the new FR lines are finally here, and retailers don't have many questions for their vendors.

As we reported during the Las Vegas Market, retailers face fines of up to $8,000 per unit sold if bedding they sell doesn't meet the new federal standard. And retailers will be committing a prohibited act if they sell sets the manufacturer does not intend to go together, and those sets fail an FR test.

Retailers need to learn all they can about FR. I think they squandered a prime opportunity in Las Vegas to do that. Maybe their good intentions to learn about FR got lost in all the bedding excitement in Vegas.

The onset of the new FR standard did have a major impact in Las Vegas: It put the entire industry on the same introduction cycle. Never in history did so many bedding majors roll out so many new lines at the same time. It made for a feeding frenzy, as buyers were treated to tasty new bedding offerings in dozens of beautiful showrooms.

Now with a uniform start date, and now that virtually every bedding major is participating in the Vegas market, expect to see the cycle play out in six-month increments. July will mark the next major round of bedding introductions, adjustments and promotions.

Bedding producers raved about the strong traffic they enjoyed in Las Vegas. For a few days, Vegas was the center of the bedding universe. It was a heady experience for all of us.

Contact David Perry at dperry@reedbusiness.com

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