Mills offering more organic, recycled fabrics
Crosses over into residential
By Joan Gunin -- Furniture Today, September 1, 2008
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — The eco-friendly movement is gaining traction in the upholstery fabric arena, as mills receive a growing number of requests from their customers for green options.
The movement, pioneered by contract sources, has crossed over into residential upholstery during the past few market cycles. In residential, fabrics made from materials such as organic cotton and hemp are being offered as an alternative for upholstery manufacturers to consider when choosing covers for their new frames.
While some manufacturers are reluctant to spend up to 50% more for an “organic” product, price is not always a deal-breaker: the key is how it looks and feels, and whether it will sell.
As Parks Neisler Jr., vice president of Dicey Mills, sees it, “The (typical upholstery buyer) looks at the coloration and the pattern first. If it's eco-friendly and economical, that's a big plus. But customers don't come in specifically looking for it (eco). They are not buying it because it's eco; first it has to look good.”
Although some customers are genuinely committed to supporting the environment, others just want attractive product, he said.
About 90% of Dicey's Eco-Friendly line features 100% recycled cotton made from recycled T-shirts and blended with olefin, with a smattering of chenille, polyester and poly-chenille yarns.
Dicey's green program has evolved into three other areas since its inception this year, including a Pure Organic collection and fabrics made from recycled water bottles. Its newest offering is 100% eco-cotton, which features smaller, finer, luxurious denier yarns “for that customer that wants full-out environmentally safe products,” said Neisler.
Dicey's eco-entries are not any pricier than ordinary fabrics, Neisler said. “(Producers) are not paying an upcharge because it's eco.”
Another reason the assortment is “going over well,” he said, is because it's made domestically.
At Weave Corp., the new Greenweave line introduced in June at Showtime is doing well. The offerings features a variety of organic, sustainable and recycled bamboo, hemp and cotton fabrics as well as a line made of 100% post-consumer recycled polyester made from plastic bottles.
“Both our Greenweave natural and recycled products have been received extremely positively by our customers. Some of our jobber customers have introduced their first collections already,” said President Roger Berkley.
As for pricing, Berkley says customers have the same expectations for environmentally friendly product as for regular product: it must be beautiful.
“Customers are willing to pay a higher price for environmentally friendly fabric if it is stunning,” he said. “The fact that the fabric is also environmentally friendly makes the fabric even more attractive. Our pricing is competitive.”
Berkley added that based on the response that Greenweave has generated so far, “we expect that the area of environmentally friendly products will grow.”
At Sunbury Textile Mills, Terri Ann O'Sullivan, director of sales, regards the movement toward green in home furnishings as “a process, not a result.”
Sunbury's eco-friendly offering, Next, features a yarn made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic water bottles.
The well-received collection is priced $1.50 to $2.50 per yard higher than other fabrics in the line, O'Sullivan said, “as is everything that is new and better for the universe.”
According to Sullivan, the green movement in fabrics is being driven by the contract industry. “That's the driving force behind this push.”
About one-third of Sunbury's business comes from the contract side.
At Valdese Weavers, bamboo, hemp and other natural materials are featured in its eco-program, Valor. The company also attaches tags to its fabrics promoting their environmentally friendly nature.
In addition to natural or recycled fabrics, some companies offer an environmentally friendly finishing agent.
Greenshield, from G3 Technology Innovations (G3i), is a high-performance, eco-friendly fabric finish that's new to the upholstery industry.
“We are just now beginning to put efforts into exposing the GreenShield brand to the residential furniture industry,” said Paul Bennotti, vice president of marketing and business development for G3i. “We have had tremendous response from the commercial market — which reinforces our belief that the textile industry is looking for greener and safer products for textile finishing.”
Victor Innovatex, a vertical mill, is applying GreenShield — a nanotechnology-based stain and water repellent —to its Eco Intelligent Polyester fabrics in-house, providing a Cradle to Cradle Silver product.
Absecon Mills, which also utilizes GreenShield, has the coating applied to its fabrics by an outside finisher, said spokeswoman Gaily Von Schlichting.
GreenShield is featured on 75% of Absecon's fabrics, including its latest entry, the Retrospective collection, featuring polyester and some cotton blends.
Offering anti-stain, water repellant, anti-bacterial and fire-retardant properties in an environmentally responsible way, Absecon's recent introduction of GreenShield at the NeoCon show drew a great response, Von Schlichting said.
In addition to GreenShield, Absecon's line includes some fabrics made of Marquesa Cottonesque, a yarn from American Fibers and Yarn derived from industrial waste.
Canadian-based Lady Fabrics represents one of the first mills to have certification with Okeo-Tex, a standard for assessing levels of harmful substances in textile products.
“We saw this (green) several years out, said Fred Hanes, director of new business development. “The A&D (architecture and design) market (is) five or six years ahead of residential.”
“The consumer base globally has forced everyone to look at their daily business,” Hanes said.
