Exec aims to revive Ralph Lauren furniture
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, 11/10/2008 12:00:00 AM
NEW YORK — Rebuilding the furniture segment of its home furnishings business is one of the key opportunities for Polo Ralph Lauren, according to the company's new president.
Frank Guzzetta, president of Ralph Lauren Home since August, said the design and licensing organization could see “a sea change in the furniture business” if all goes according to plan.
Lauren is in negotiations with a successor to Henredon, the longtime furniture licensee, which decided earlier this year not to renew the relationship.
Guzzetta said the potential new licensee is a smaller, high-end company “that can work more closely with us and do things that we couldn't do in the past. It can react quickly to our needs. The issues of quality are critical, as well as things like multiple finishes. And they can help us in the high end of the furniture business.”
He said the home furnishings business of Polo Ralph Lauren, including furniture, has opportunities in accelerated product development and distribution expansion.
In an interview with Furniture/Today, Guzzetta, a veteran retail executive and most recently chairman and CEO of Macy's North, detailed some of Lauren's key objectives.
He said department stores — the mainstays of the more promotional division of the Lauren brand, called Lauren Ralph Lauren — pose a challenge. “They haven't been growing. To succeed, we have to operate in different channels,” he said.
Opening Ralph Lauren Home stores is another priority, especially to sell furniture in the company's mid-range price division.
“Ralph (Lauren) would like freestanding home stores and is passionate about it. His challenge to me is to make it happen,” said Guzzetta.
Rugs, which are licensed to Karastan “could use a tremendous reenergizing,” he said. “They got lost when the furniture business started to go away. It will get moving again when we get the other pieces moving.”
He also said that suppliers and retailers have to work together to do a better job in retail presentations.
“We've got to cut through the roadblocks,” he said. “Getting stores to look better and improve the selling help is a big challenge.”
