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Leather sources focus on premium offerings

Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, November 7, 2011

HIGH POINT - With bonded leather and other faux leather covers dominating opening price points, many leather resources focused on middle and upper-end goods at market in hopes of repositioning leather upholstery as a premium product category.
     Executives said they saw considerable interest in sofas retailing for $1,199 to more than $2,000, which they said was a positive indicator that should lead to improved retail margins even if it doesn't create huge amounts of store traffic.
     "That $799 business (for sofas with genuine leather covers) is gone, so the consumer who wants real leather has to be stepped up," said Brian Parker, president of Kuka Home. "And with fewer people coming through the door, you have to get the largest ticket possible."
     Parker and many other executives believe that allleather products represent the means to achieve that goal, and by no coincidence, those were the items that sold well at market.
     The biggest market winner at Leather Italia, for example, was a $1,799 sofa with traditional styling and an elegant The upper-end Bridgeport sofa, which retails for about $1,799, was a market winner for Leather Italia.hand-wiped leather cover, while Chateau D'Ax found a winner with a contemporary modular sectional retailing for about $3,899 and W.Schillig scored a hit with a sectional retailing for about $4,499.
     "There's no bottom to the low end, and that's not where we want to be," said Harry Cierler, director of North American operations for Chateau D'Ax. "We were very happy with market."
     Leather powerhouse Natuzzi Group also reported a successful market, in which the company's three brands were remerchandized in hopes of making each a distinct product line with no overlapping styles.
     "We came to market with a new strategy and a new energy ... and it worked," said Joe Mussallem, president of Natuzzi Americas. "We wanted to elevate the customer's perception of the product, and deliver a clear message all the way through."
     Although the Natuzzi Editions line, the company's largest brand, had all-leather sofas that retail for as low as $899, items with price points at or above $1,000 were the most popular at market, he said.
     His thoughts were echoed by Mike Delgatti, president of Hooker Upholstery, which includes upper-end leather resource Bradington-Young.
     "We emphasized our custom order capabilities, our better leathers, and the made-in-USA story," he said.
California-based Elite Leather also had success with its domestic-made products, especially those that employ lighter and brighter leather colors.
     "We had a good market," said Gabrielle Galardo, vice president of marketing. "We put a lot of emphasis on color this time, and the response was great."
     Color also was a big part of the success story at Comfort Design, which reported positive reaction to two metallic leathers and several lighter leather colors from the blue, yellow and off-white color families.
     "Our new product acceptance was terrific," said Phil Cooper, executive director. "We couldn't have been more pleased."
     Even vendors such as Man Wah/Cheers that have strong lineups at opening price points reported success with higher-priced items. In Man Wah's case, a four-seat home theater configuration retailing for about $2,999 was a market winner.

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Leather resources step up price points

Oct 26, 2011

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