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Upholstery ekes out gain with style, details

Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, November 7, 2011

Details were key to better upholstery sales at market, with touches like the optional monogram on Drexel Heritage’s Chapman chair.HIGH POINT - Fabric upholstery manufacturers reported a slight uptick in business at the October market, but said they had to work for every sale with new styles, sharp pricing, and products offering extra details, details, details.
     "It's been building. We believe in momentum and find the market better, especially international, but all over," said Alex Shuford, vice president of sales and marketing for Century Furniture. "We've been very aggressive. It's a great time to get market share."
     Sales teams stayed busy, which could reflect gradual improvement at retail after all the orders are in and tallied. Some manufacturers said business is still up and down depending on the week or month, but the downs aren't as deep and the ups are incrementally higher.
     But higher-end vendors said retailers weren't falling all over themselves to fill the pipeline. Instead, they were after different looks - with details like multiple selections of nail head trim and interesting fabrics that include colorful ethnic, tribal and bohemian designs.
     "You have to do something to stand out. It's a very competitive world," said Denise Alala, vice president of design for Drexel Heritage.
     One of Drexel's standouts was a sofa covered in a rustic leather from Moore & Giles with a look that hovered between the bark of a birch tree and peeling paint on a summer cottage.
     At Lee Inds., Marketing Manager Bondi Coley said the company is offering exclusive fabrics from mills in Belgium, Italy and the United States. This market included the well-received Lee Lux program featuring 10 heavy and exclusive linens from Belgium.
     Thomasville gave buyers two directions to go with its Spellbound, a Hollywood glam updated traditional, and Gizelle, a soft, flowing look with clean, exposed wood that departs from the company's frames featuring carving.
     "Our upholstery business has continued to grow," said Jane Roberts, vice president of merchandising.
     Vendors in the promotional to mid-range segments of the industry also had their work cut out at market and were touting delivery, customization, materials and cost-saving methods for shipping and delivery as gateways to sales.
     John DeFalco, senior executive vice president of Primo International, and Toby Konetzny, vice president of marketing for Coaster America, both said their companies were working to get more products into each container to offset the rising cost of transportation from offshore resources and compete with domestic producers.
     Coaster also is offering extra value by adding extra padding to sofa arms and is providing better frame construction for a heftier feel, Konetzny said.
     "It's important to have the styling, better fabrics like linens and better construction," he said.
     Likewise, Primo is adding value to products with better fabrics and features that included slipcovers and memory foam and a licensed collection from Kathy Ireland called Studio Sleeper.
     Flexsteel, Rowe, Broyhill and others introduced various renditions of upholstery that lets consumers select the options they want. Broyhill's new VIP Custom Upholstery, for instance, shaves $100 off the retail price point of $799 in a special-order program while allowing consumers to select from 20 cut-and-sew fabrics on five frames with an assortment of pillows.
     Likewise, Ron Tetter, vice president of promotional producer Affordable Furniture, said the company is packing value into its goods by using U.S.-made mechanisms and other components that dealers are familiar with as a selling tool against offshore parts that are sometimes less substantial.
     The company also is capitalizing on the value offered by bonded leather by offering some of its best selling fabric pieces in the leather substitute.
     "They've been very strong this market," said Teeter. He added that the company also is strengthening its domestic manufacturing by investing in high-tech sewing equipment that will allow it to do some of its own cutting and sewing, in addition to using offshore cut-and-sew kits.

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