What residential can learn from thriving contract sector
Susan M. Andrews, Fabric Editor -- Furniture Today, March 25, 2007
While most of us are in High Point this week to buy, sell or report on residential home furnishings, it would be foolish to ignore the growing crossover between the residential and contract segments of the domestic industry. After all, contract today looks fat and sassy, while the residential side is scratching and clawing for scraps of a pie that sometimes seems to be shrinking.
Some domestic fabric producers can attest that serving the contract market's demand for high-quality, high-performance, eco-friendly fabrics that are available quickly has helped keep their businesses thriving, while some of their brethren have been crushed by low-cost foreign competition.
Let's look at some points of crossover between residential and contract, and perhaps glean some benefit from how they do it on the "other side."
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Hotel design is influencing consumer taste.
We've all seen the "hotel collections" being marketed in catalogs and stores. Industry veteran Jay Dash, CEO of sales and marketing consultancy Jay Dash International, says this reflects "the contemporary and retro looks that have become so popular at American hotels in recent years."
Millions of hotel rooms are redecorated regularly, and while most of them don't look that great, affluent consumers are developing a taste for the beautifully designed, jewel-box rooms they're enjoying at small, exclusive, boutique hotels — and they want that look at home. Many furniture makers have contract divisions that sell to hotel chains, and perhaps residential design should move closer to contract design. -
What's de rigueur in contract can be something special in residential.
Those small, restrained patterns that are taken for granted in contract applications are frequently selected by upscale residential merchandisers and designers especially for their subtle sophistication. Also, low-pile fabrics like flock, other microdenier velvets and tightly woven plains are moving from contract to residential. Maybe it's time to kiss the floral chenilles goodbye. -
Innovation in contract drives demand for performance and eco-friendliness in the residential segment.
The contract industry must follow much stricter guidelines for environmental impact and flammability, and they have invested in innovation to meet those demands, creating products and programs to ease the pressure on overburdened landfills and provide safer outcomes in case of fire. These issues are gaining momentum with consumers, and ignoring or downplaying them will make us look bad.
Consumers are willing to spend a lot of money on things they value. Let's take some lessons from the contract side — with its glossy hotel rooms, cruise ships and casinos — and build in added value that's not just code for "even fancier but still cheap."
Then residential furniture, which already brings comfort to the heart of a home, can shift away from being a commodity toward being something consumers truly value.
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