Upholstery makers upbeat about prospects
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, April 17, 2010
HIGH POINT —
Stationary upholstery makers are coming to market in a more optimistic mood, believing that the buyers they will see here are feeling likewise.
Most have been getting feedback from their sales forces, or from trips they've made themselves, that retailers are beginning to see more traffic coming through their stores and are feeling more positive.
“I think from what I've seen in the last two months, it's probably going to be the best market we've had in the last couple of years,” said Jeff Day, owner of TLS by Design, which targets the upper-end designer, contract and hospitality business.
Day has arrived here in an upbeat mood, with TLS having scored substantial gains over the past year from buyers who don't want to pay the prices or meet purchase minimums required by big-name manufacturers.
“What I see happening is high-end buyers coming down to the market who still want style, who still want quality but don't want to pay the premiums,” he said. “Where they used to go to others, now they're coming to us.”
Greg Sicard, sales manager for Best Home Furnishings, said, “Everything I've heard has been positive. The sales reps and the dealers we've had in all think that attendance is going to be good.
“I think a lot of dealers are coming with the intention of buying and they are looking for new stuff,” Sicard said, noting that in the past buyers would say they planned to look around before making a solid commitment.
Mike Delgatti, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Hooker's upholstery division (Sam Moore and Bradington-Young), expects this to be “one of the best markets we have had in some time.”
He said business continues to grow, and at a pace that the industry can keep up with.
“Slow improvement is better for our business than a V-shaped recovery because of the supply chain,” he added. “If business spiked, we would all struggle to get materials and the finished goods that we need to support a higher level of volume. That happens to be one of my main concerns as we head into the fall selling season.”
Roy Calcagne, president and CEO of Craftmaster, said, “Dealers feel the worst is over and things are starting to pick up. It's not great but getting better. I see a lot of optimism out there from the people we're talking to. It just feels like the worst is behind us and hopefully things will get better month after month.”
Craftmaster, he said, is going to be very aggressive with its introductions from a price standpoint. “We have a lot of new introductions and probably the most we've had in the last year or so — in all categories. We're really prepared as long as they (dealers) come through the door — and I think they will.”
Richard Graves, vice president of sales and marketing for Southern, said that dealers will be in town looking for new and fresh goods for their floors rather than concentrating on price.
To that end, Southern is introducing a collection called Restoration, featuring exposed elm. “Elm is not very prevalent in the marketplace,” Graves said. “We chose it because of its natural characteristics of knots, wildness of grain and natural color.”
He expects to see an increase in both attendance and order-writing and the best market in the last two or three years — based on the fact that retailers are telling him they're seeing new life in their stores and that inventories are low.
Jeff Young, chairman and CEO of Schnadig International, is getting mixed reports from the field. “Certainly things are better than they were six months or a year ago,” he said.
But he said some stores had good Januarys and Februarys and a poor March while for others it was the reverse.
“So we don't have a consensus out there that a pick-up is actually under way,” Young said. “All the peripheral signs seem to be looking better. But until retailers call me and say they've had three sustained months of good retail, we're still a little cautious.”
Ron Sock, president of Craftsman Leather by Stickley, which handles the upholstery divisions of Stickley and Nichols & Stone, said he was “pretty optimistic about the coming show. There's some positive stuff out in the retail sector.”
He said consumers aren't as worried about job loss and other economic factors as before and have started purchasing again. “I think everybody's finally realizing from the consumer's side that the world's not coming to an end.”
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