Finishes add diversity to accent chair looks
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, May 2, 2011
These Nadia crewel chairs in the Sam Moore showroom show a selection of the two dozen finishes available.
HIGH POINT — Upholstery makers added a wide spectrum of finishes to their accent and occasional chair lines at the High Point Market as another means of making their domestically finished goods more custom.
Hundreds of fabric choices have always been a fortification against imports, but manufacturers seemed to go out of their way to provide "Made in America" products as a way of supporting the U.S. economy.
Exposed wood chair frames often are imported, but adding fabrics and finishes here apparently gives manufacturers claim to being domestic. And the "made in the USA" angle is helping to fuel growth in the chair category.
Several upholstery companies, including Sam Moore and Kincaid, added special chair packages with palettes of finishes for exposed wood and a cascade of fabrics for both exposed wood and fully upholstered products.
Sam Moore's large chair program is available in 25 finishes that allow the collection to pick up on current color trends. The company featured the new collection in a tiered display in its showroom to demonstrate the sales potential in a small amount of space. And better margins on the chairs offset what retailers are finding to be smaller margins on sofas.
But it's the customization thing that gave vendors more to talk about.
Steve Beeker, vice president of sales for Kincaid, said the company is a "great domestic, fully custom resource for 
C.R. Laine’s Bradstreet chair features Benjamin Moore’s Vienna green on a frame the company promotes as “turned in North Carolina.” It retails for $1,605.
this type of product, and it can ship in four weeks or less." Kincaid has a program of 28 frames, 75 fabrics, nine custom finishes and four price points, all on one handle of fabrics.
He said dealers have been asking for a chair program to complement and round out the rest of the Kincaid upholstery line. If consumers can't find a selection on the handle of fabrics, they can go to the fabric walls already in dealer stores and choose from there.
C.R. Laine, known for a fashion-forward palette in fabrics, used a spring green grass finish on a frame covered in a hound's-tooth fabric to demonstrate how color can invigorate looks.
The upper-end upholstery specialist said it can offer any color available in the Benjamin Moore paint line, a strong selling point.
"What's hot for us is our accent chairs," said Holly Blalock, C.R. Laine's creative director. "Chairs have been the thing that has gained momentum in our factory in the last six months. They're buying them in pairs."
Taylor King added Swedish gray as a new finish for market, one of 35 the company offers, applied in seven to 10 processes. A major theme in the company's showroom was Made in America, with product options that include just about everything imaginable and the use of American-made fabrics when possible.
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