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For fabric suppliers, hospitality's nice

Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, May 11, 2008

With the home furnishings marketplace generally in the doldrums, there is a group of decorative fabric suppliers that are seeing a plus side of the business — those in the hospitality market.

Though the product names are similar — often the same — the requirements of the hospitality world are much more stringent than those of the residential marketplace.

Flammability is a key concern and standards are in place for a plethora of products, unlike in most of the residential arena. And performance is critical, and must be matched with aesthetics like soft hand, malleability, and indoor/outdoor performance.

Nonetheless, the two segments of the decorative fabric world are coming to share a focus on eco-friendly, sustainable and recyclable materials. Also becoming common in both spheres are features of fabrics that make them antibacterial, antimicrobial and a few other antis that remove health hazards from fabrics covering furniture or bedding or windows.

But most of all, suppliers and hospitality specifiers agree, it is the design and construction qualities that make the fabrics work for the hospitality arena. The green and health benefit elements take a back seat to the price considerations. And pricing for the hospitality world is definitely more than a couple of notches above that of the furniture and home textiles world.

The fabric guys also cite another plus in favor of hospitality. Even though there is much offshore production, they are warehousing fabrics and textile products in this country to be on call for key accounts with specially programmed products.

Sounds like a great opportunity for more of the folks in the fabric world, as well as for many furniture industry suppliers, that are bemoaning the state of the residential market at retail.

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