Licensing: Big names still in demand
By Heath E. Combs and Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, March 1, 2010
HIGH POINT —
Licensed furniture collections have gained steam in recent years as sources seek to leverage the power of established names in the marketplace.
From well-known individuals such as Paula Deen, Martha Stewart, Jane Seymour and Ernest Hemingway to revered institutions such as the Smithsonian and James River Plantations, the furniture industry draws on a broad swath of powerful names to reach consumers these days.
According to John Jokinen, president of E.J. Victor, licensing partners help companies reach new consumers and also fill untapped market niches.
“And if it brings opportunity you're not filling from a design standpoint, it offers a chance to expand your business,” Jokinen said.
E.J. Victor has developed licensed collections with fashion icon Ralph Lauren, Texas designer Carol Hicks Bolten and the Preservation Society of Newport County, among other programs.
“It doesn't hurt that people are known in the industry and have made a name for themselves through various markets,” Jokinen said. “That lends credibility to a line. In the views of the consumer, you have a known entity they are comfortable with.”
With its Julia Gray license, E.J. Victor sought to soften its bedroom designs since that category of furniture is most often purchased by women, Jokinen said.
“We think she brought to us a feminine touch that was needed to augment our line,” Jokinen said.
With Ralph Lauren, the company gained new domestic and international accounts due to the global recognition of the name.
“It's been a powerful magnet in terms of customer appeal,” Jokinen said.
The most successful licensed collections involve a strong collaboration between suppliers and licensors, industry executives agree.
E.J. Victor's Ralph Lauren furniture designs, which feed off the latest fashion offerings from its partner, vary from year to year, Jokinen said. There is an expectation that new product must be introduced over the life of a collection to keep it vibrant and salable, Jokinen said.
Manufacturers also must live up to mutually agreed upon goals for display and sales, he said.
Jokinen said he has a long list of potential licensors looking to develop new furniture programs. E.J. Victor gets approached almost on a weekly basis by groups hoping to do licensed collections.
“The hardest thing is figuring out where it makes sense,” he said. “Some are just names and want you to do (all of the) styling. Those probably have a rougher road in terms of acceptance. Those with more input in design are generally more successful.”
At February's Las Vegas Market, AICO introduced Michael Amini & Jane Seymour — A Design Collaboration, its first major licensed collection.
The collection features 150 SKUs of case goods and upholstery in three distinct style themes. They include the casual traditional Cobblestone Road, the opulent traditional Palace Gates, and Hollywood Swank, a contemporary transitional group with retro design influences.
AICO and Seymour have been working on the line for a year, and AICO officials said they are pleased with the level of talent and commitment that Seymour has brought to the process.
“We found a collaborator, an artist, an author and someone with some notoriety as an actress,” said AICO President Larry Rinaldi. “The connection is to try to be in touch with the consumer a little more. Jane has been doing this with a number of products over the years — she has the public's trust and respect.”
Seymour's persona, Rinaldi said, provides dealers with a story for their floors that reflects her design talent and personal taste in furniture. The collections take a whole-home approach, but often have a piece that stands out, such as a leather mansion bed in Hollywood Swank, or a colorful buffet hutch in Cobblestone Road.
“Sometimes a single item may not sell every time someone makes a purchase, but it helps to sell every collection because it's a focal point on the floor,” Rinaldi added, noting that presentation and signage are key parts of the sales process that AICO remains involved in at the store level. “Sometimes it is that one ingredient that makes the whole thing click.”
For Hickory Chair, licensing has long been a cornerstone of product design and marketing.
The company introduced one of the furniture industry's first licensed collections of traditional antique reproductions in 1931 when it teamed up with Dorothy Robinson, a descendant of Henry Weidner, the first settler of the Catawba Valley in North Carolina.
And Hickory Chair's James River Plantations collection, launched in 1941, is the longest-running licensed line in the industry.
Stylistically, licenses give Hickory Chair greater credibility with consumers, according to Laura Holland, director of marketing services.
“Being in the high end, we try to be on the fashion edge,” Holland said. “If it is a product category that is important to marketplace, we feel best served to hire (someone) who understands the market.”
Among the company's current licensing partners are design notables Alexa Hampton, Mariette Himes Gomez, Suzanne Kasler and Thomas O'Brien.
With all of its licenses, Holland said, Hickory Chair strives to keep collections focused and current. For the decade-old Thomas O'Brien license, for example, the designer travels to the company's Hickory, N.C., offices several times a year to look at prototypes and discuss design trends.
“It is truly a reflection of his aesthetic and taste,” Holland said. “That's what makes the pieces special.”
With the James River license — of which vintage pieces often can be found commanding high prices on eBay — the range of product available through the licensor has allowed the line to continually evolve. In the 1980s, when Queen Anne styles were dying and Chippendale was taking over, James River began drawing new design inspirations from plantation homes to adapt, Holland said.
Chromcraft Revington launched its first major licensed collection — Southern Living Home Collection — in April 2009. The line features three whole-home collections: Blue Ridge Retreat, an oak collection with American traditional design influences; Shenandoah Valley, a rustic farmhouse group made with ropey cherry veneers; and Urban Heights, a contemporary collection made with cherry veneers.
With each collection, Chromcraft has teamed up with the magazine's design staff to develop product targeted to the regional tastes and design sensibilities of its 2.8 million subscribers.
“It has given us more credibility in the marketplace because of the name recognition of Southern Living,” said Mike Hanna, Chromcraft's senior vice president of sales. “It is a lifestyle reinforcement mechanism that Southern Living offers through their magazine.”
All three collections are now on retail floors.
“Under these economic conditions, we are pleased with what's happened,” Hanna said. “We have a number of dealers that have made major commitments to us from a dollar standpoint and a floor space standpoint. We are pleased with where we are.”
A fourth collection is planned for April. Tentatively called Wellington Crossing, it will be a transitional group in pecan veneers.
Hanna added that the whole-home format appears to be resonating with many customers.
“There are a number of dealers that seek a wholehome approach and, in some ways, this makes their challenge easier because we offer it,” Hanna said. “If your styling is right and your pricing is right, it's a win-win.”
Universal Furniture currently has two licensed collections — Better Homes & Gardens and Paula Deen Home. Like Southern Living, the Better Homes line targets the needs and interests of magazine readers. Paula Deen is a celebrity-based collection influenced in large part by the lifestyle of the famed cook and TV personality.
Universal executives say that, in both cases, these partners have close ties with their audiences that help determine the styles of furniture that will resonate most with potential customers.
“A good licensing partner will help you understand the end consumer better than you would on your own,” said Don Essenberg, Universal's vice president of sales for the West Coast. “A good licensing partner helps you deliver the furniture (the consumer) wants to buy.”
Essenberg said both collections are doing well at retail, which is one reason the company plans to add to both this year. There will be a new Paula Deen Home collection in the fall and new Better Homes and Gardens collections in the spring and fall.
“Licensing is 40% of our business and the trick is to grow all the different businesses we are in,” Essenberg said. “You have to give them each the right attention from a product development, marketing and sales perspective.”
Bernhardt remains active in the licensing realm with Martha Stewart Furniture and the Smithsonian Collection. Martha Stewart, which dates back to 2001, has eight collections of case goods and upholstery and new offerings planned for April and October. Smithsonian, launched in 2006, has three individual case goods collections and a new version planned for October.
The collections also take a whole-home approach, but often have a signature or iconic piece aimed at capturing the consumer's attention.
For Martha Stewart, it may be one of her favorite chairs. In Smithsonian's American Archive, it may be a piece such as the Campeachy leather chair and ottoman, which is based on an early 19th-century piece that Thomas Jefferson discovered in New Orleans.
“While those may not sell as well as a bed, the understanding is that this is what makes the collection the way it is,” said Heather Eidenmiller, director of brand development.
She added that while consumers may only buy a single piece, the collection format helps them see how different coordinating pieces can work together.
And a name like Martha Stewart, who has a furniture design team that works closely with Bernhardt officials to develop the line, also gives consumers the added confidence they may need to decorate their homes.
“They believe in her design aesthetic, so they say, 'this is the way I need to do it, ' ” she said.
The Smithsonian, by comparison, leaves much of the design work to Bernhardt. However, museum officials are instrumental in researching furniture from a region or time period that helps bring the collection to life. They also play a big role in the marketing of the collections, Eidenmiller said.
Chrissy McCormack, vice president of sales at Miles Talbott Furniture, said licensing agreements allow her company to do two things: round out existing collections and reach a group of customers it may not already sell to.
The company's licensed programs include the Shabby Chic look of designer Rachel Ashwell, the urban sophistication of restauranteur B. Smith, and the comfortable, classic styling of designer Joe Ruggiero.
McCormack said sales training is about the same for licenses as for the company's own designs. But a well-respected name designer can take the message one step further, meeting with reps to outline the vision of the line and its key features.
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