Of knock-offs and confused consumers
Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, April 22, 2007
Furnitureland is being buffeted by a host of challenges, both internal and global, but it seems the upholstery segment is having more than its share of troubles and controversy these days.
I'm hearing from more and more fabric suppliers who have become victims of a diversionary tactic by cut-and-sew suppliers overseas. Here's a typical scenario: An American upholstery mill contracts with a Chinese textile mill for pattern X, that then is to be shipped to a specified cut-and-sew factory.
The process works pretty well until the fabric becomes a major winner. After the first couple of reorders, the U.S. mill stops getting orders, which at this point are being sent directly from the cut-and-sew facility. Months later, during conversations with a U.S. upholstered furniture maker, the fabric mill's executives are surprised to find the particular fabric is one of the maker's best items.
What has happened is that the folks at the cut-and-sew facility have had the fabric knocked off, taken the profits, and left the U.S. mill out in the cold.
And now we also have a new twist in the leather scenario. Bonded leather has jumped into the marketplace with both feet, adding to the many levels of leather quality being offered to the American consumer.
Use of bonded leather, a mélange of stuff including glue and polyurethane, can bring the price of a sofa down dramatically compared to conventional leathers or even bycast formulations. Nothing wrong with that — if it's honestly advertised and sold as bonded leather. How carefully consumers read the fine print, and how many retailers will attempt to bury the bonded leather designation in their copy, is a matter of speculation.
We've already been through the era of retailers, including some major style-setters, trying to use leather/vinyl combos for price advantages.
No wonder consumers are confused!
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