Vendors hopeful as Showtime opens, but say buyers cautious

High Point fabric show runs through Wednesday

Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, December 6, 2010

Chihuly, a new fabric TFA is introducing at Showtime, has colorful baubles on a dark ground, evoking the feeling of artist Dale Chihuly’s blown glass.

HIGH POINT — Vendors preparing for the winter Showtime here, which opened Sunday and runs through Wednesday, expected attendance to be good and the attitudes of fabric buyers to be on par with the rest of the industry - still extremely cautious.

"Everyone's so gun shy," said Catherine Morsell, director for the International Textile Manufacturers Assn., which hosts the semiannual fabric show here. "But there are lots of opportunities for new perspectives, trends and exciting things."

She said registration is consistent with previous shows but noted that it's difficult to accurately predict attendance because many people register at the door, knowing their names are in the ITMA's database. Exhibitors expect attendance and buying to be OK, but expect that upholstery manufacturers will continue to make selective, short-term commitments on buying fabric until sales at retail start showing a sustained and consistent growth.

This market also is expected to be abuzz about the latest price hikes in raw materials, principally cotton, used in making fabrics. But despite the pricing situation, most vendors have high hopes for this week's market.

"We've been checking, and bookings are in line with previous Showtimes - and maybe a little more," said Parks Neisler, vice president of Dicey Mills.

He said that, with lead times becoming more important to manufacturers, being a domestic mill based in North Carolina has put Dicey in a better position to increase its market presence. He said the company's emphasis at the show will be on contemporary and transitional designs, styles he thinks are "getting stronger and stronger."

With retail still sluggish, Neisler said it's hard for a mill to order raw materials on a consistent basis.

"Hopefully, we've seen the worst. Slowly but surely it's picking back up again and that's all sectors, not just the furniture business. I feel a lot better than I did two years ago."

"We're expecting strong attendance based on the appointments we have scheduled - which we're glad to see," said Zack Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing for Valdese Weavers. "We have a very normal product range in terms of the number of SKUs that we're launching, with the exception of Circa 1801, which probably has 50% more product this season over the June (Showtime) launch."

Robert Cox, vice president of sales and marketing for Mississippi-based Gum Tree Fabrics, said upholstery manufacturers "came out of the High Point October market with some pretty high expectations" that haven't panned out because of soft retail sales.

But he said he believes there is pent-up demand for furniture and that retail is starting to show signs of life, however small. And next year's tax refund season could give the industry a lift as people use their government checks to purchase home furnishings, particularly in the lower price points.

"We do anticipate that push in the spring and have tried to build some inventories as a result," Cox said.
Michael Day, vice president of New York-based Textile Fabric Associates, an affiliate of Swavelle/Mill Creek, said appointments "are pretty much the same. They look good and we're pretty upbeat about that."

But factories are still playing it safe, he said. "I don't think anyone is putting in their full amount of introductions. They're very cautious about how many SKUs they put in. At the first of the year we saw a pretty good spurt because we came off such bad, bad times and people had to put in new looks. Then it got soft again."

Despite the softness, Day said "the numbers are up. It's on a positive note but not on the strength of the first two quarters."

The company's emphasis will be on making the line "fresh, fun and whimsical with clean colors. Because our line is a little more high end, we're not going to get the sofa but we are going to get the decorative chair and the pillows that actually pop the line. I think we've come across strong with that in the line."

Likewise, Se7en, part of the Burlington Technologies group, has formed a sales and marketing collaboration with Chinese company Paragon Global to source body cloths from China to mate with Se7en's accent fabric line.

Mike Durham, Burlington group president and CEO, said the imported cloths will make the company more competitive. And since Se7en is domestic, it can coordinate and customize decorative fabrics for chairs and pillows with the body cloths for sofas, and offer thousands of SKUs for just-in-time manufacturing, and in small quantities.

He said the import-domestic combo "seems to be really resonating with customers."

Bob Patton, vice president of fabric source P. Kaufman, said the company has its line ready to show. "Because (the April) market is early this year, a lot of furniture manufacturers are wanting to look early. That's perfect for me because I'm ready."