Talley: High standards, decades of contributions
Joan Gunin, Leather Editor -- Furniture Today, March 11, 2007
Hugh Talley has hung up one of his many hats. A chemist by trade who's dabbled in plastics, furniture, firefighting and foam, he's shared his smarts with the furniture industry for over 35 years.
Joe Ziolkowski, executive director of the Upholstered Furniture Action Council, calls his friend of 40 years "one of the best-known people in the industry." True, says furniture veteran Les Flippo, but "Hugh has done a lot of things for the industry that very few people know about."
Well, I'm here to fix that.
Talley, 71, has stepped down as chair of the American Home Furnishings Alliance's Joint Industries Fabric and Leather Standards and Guidelines Committees, a post he's held since its fabric-only infancy in the '70s, before also taking on the leather component with equal vigor 20 years later.
He's got the job done because he's that kind of guy — clever, decent, homespun.
As Talley tells it, he "fell in love with the business" once "Mr. (Lawrence) Schnadig" asked him to head a new fabric committee in 1971. "The industry was fighting seam slippage of olefin yarn," Talley says. "Seams were opening."
Talley, then a chemist at Schnadig's plastics plant in Montoursville, Pa., had worked in fabrics in his native Mt. Airy, N.C.
His work led to the development and implementation of standards and guidelines for woven and knit upholstery fabrics, under the auspices of the former American Furniture Manufacturers Assn., now the AHFA.
Those committees, comprised of manufacturers, suppliers and others, now meet twice yearly to review testing and performance criteria. Under Talley, fabric standards were upgraded six times and a leather booklet created.
Bill Reichel, fabric purchaser for Flexsteel and fabric committee co-chair, calls Talley "the perfect go-between for manufacturers and suppliers ... and about as fair a man as I have ever dealt with."
When the Consumer Product Safety Commission was pushing for upholstery fire-safety regulations in the 1980s, Flippo says, "As a chemist, Hugh provided me valuable information (for) a presentation to the National Assn. of State Fire Marshals in Washington. Without Hugh, I would have never been able to do it. As a result, the fire marshals agreed we were doing the right things and let us continue." The CPSC also accepted UFAC's voluntary standards.
Heather Bolick, former leather panel co-chair and now a buyer for retailer Cardi's in Swansea, Mass., says of Talley, "His knowledge enables him to be a credible source and his input is highly valued."
While no longer calling the shots on standards, Talley continues with UFAC, the American Society for Testing Materials, the National Fire Protection Assn., and as an expert witness for upholstery flammability litigation.
An irreplaceable industry asset, the plainspoken Talley says modestly, "I like to think I have participated in making things safer."
Well done, Hugh.
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Talley: High standards, decades of contributions
Mar 12, 2007
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