Upholstery Power: Category fires up retail sales

January 14, 2013

Say hello to the Power of Upholstery. With the launch of this new section, Furniture Today is highlighting one of the "drivers" of the furniture industry bus and is expanding the publication's editorial coverage to reflect the category's strength on the retail floor.
The economic outlook for upholstered furniture is more than just a little positive. In 2012, consumers spent more than $12.7 billion on stationary and sleeper sofas, and the figure is expected to grow by 22.5% over the next five years. That is a substantial expenditure and a significant increase by any measure.
In future issues, The Power of Upholstery will include stories about everything from trends to mechanisms to fabric. We'll research as many of the product innovations and creative strategies as possible, and we'll visit factories, photograph showrooms and interview product designers from Las Vegas to High Point and beyond. We're delving even deeper into all things upholstery, and our audience will find even more research data and market information to add to the ongoing educational mix.
But we'd also like your help. As we kick off this new section, we'd like to ask our readers to participate as well - send us your ideas, your best practices, and if you dare, your mistakes. Let us know what you're seeing from your end and make us aware of things that might slip under our radar.
In recent conversations, many of you have said that you wish furniture manufacturers would come together as a collective whole, empowering the industry by making each member more powerful. This is your chance to help us facilitate that evolution.
In exclusive research compiled by Furniture/Today and Apartment Therapy, consumers weighed in on what they want for their homes. A 28-year-old from Florida said, "Something I can't live without. I'll know it when I find it." A 25-year-old added, "Colorful elegance, combined with functionality." And a 35-year-old provided specifics, saying "Beautiful, affordable accent chairs. I feel very strongly that I should be able to find an awesome, modern or unique chair for around $600 to $800."
Think about it. Wouldn't it be great to have consumers as thrilled about a furniture purchase as they are about the latest version of the iPhone? Yes, the Apple excitement factor is a carefully cultivated marketing strategy, but there are a lot of equally brilliant minds in the furniture industry. What happens if all of that intelligence quotient is multiplied instead of divided?
Style. Price. Function. It's not rocket science, but different companies are masters at different pieces of the puzzles, and only when everything interlocks does the big picture become apparent. Don't worry - we'll assemble the puzzle on our table. We just need you to help provide all of the pieces.

Posted by Cindy W. Hodnett on January 14, 2013 | Comments (5)

March 8, 2013

In response to: Upholstery Power: Category fires up retail sales
Cindy commented:

@Oscar, which piece in particular are you referring to in your response?

February 24, 2013

In response to: Upholstery Power: Category fires up retail sales
Oscar commented:

I love this piece of furniture I can not unrdestand why no one less has commented about it. I saw it at the Tent design festival in London. I was amazed by its pure and simple clean edge design, not to mention the funky way the draws close. I wish there was more information on this guy so I could find out what his influences are.

February 22, 2013

In response to: Upholstery Power: Category fires up retail sales
Abdullah commented:

I purchased a Samsung USB 2.0 8x dvd weritr external optical drive nearly a month ago. It was installed to a usb slot with 2 usb slots necessary to make it function. Next was to install the external slim DVD weritr C/D that came with the unit. absolutely nothing happened, except the unit's drive sped up until I finally rejected the c/d.( Lucky for me, I engaged a tech weritr (This guy worked with Paul allen and bill gates in arizona, before the company became a success) to help me install this weritr, and he could not complete the installation using the weritr disk supplied by Sam sung. The computer that was to have the installation was an Acer aspire note book recently purchased. (meaning there were no glitches with the computer from previous use.) At this writing, I have a new Sam-sung USB weritr that has never been used, and to the best of my knowledge, is most likely not to be returned because of time restrictions. I am just a consumer, but the tech person is a professional who can be reached at sandy [...]. My frustration level with this product has gone past full tilt boogie, but I may just try it again in the months to come, when I cool off sufficiently. In the mean time it just clutters up a space on the back of my desk. I am no longer order prorifials from after markets, as most do not function to any level of satisfaction. TG

January 22, 2013

In response to: Upholstery Power: Category fires up retail sales
Cindy commented:

Mr. Mark,
Thank you very much for your comments. My apologies for the delayed response -- we're in pre-market mode and meeting many deadlines.

Ironically, I just today had the pleasure of enjoying a few moments in an authentic Milo Baughman recliner. From the way it effortlessly moved to the beauty of the design, the chair was still, after all these years, outstanding. We'll be covering this in an upcoming issue, and I hope you'll offer your thoughts on the story.

With regard to fabrics, I'm continuing to meet a lot of the fabric folks in between markets, and I've seen some beautiful samples. We'll try to include as many of those as space and time allow, but feel free to share interesting products you come across. Unfortunately, there is never enough time to see everything.

Again, thank you for your continued input. (And just fyi, photos of a couple of curved sofas landed on my desk recently. I'll definitely try to include some information in upcoming stories.)
Best regards.

January 15, 2013

In response to: Upholstery Power: Category fires up retail sales
Robert Mark/Chadds Ford, PA commented:

Cindy congratulations on trying to bring some real life into this publication which is becoming more and more irrelevant because the industry within the US has made itself more irrelevant.

Your 25 year old from Florida is correct in wanting furniture she "can't live without". But the management of the furniture manufacturers are mostly men and they cannot understand this. 30 years ago you could find new exciting design. Today the stores are all boring included the ones constantly touted. None of the manufacturers are willing to invest in new design and new directions. Shoppers in furniture stores or online are bored.

Your 35 year old who wants "awesome, modern or unique accent chairs in the $600. to $800. range is absolutely correct that such items should be available. But they are not. Today there are no accent chairs that bring anything NEW to the market. They are all recycled from the past or frustration for form designs which are not even ergonomic.

This industry has no one but itself to blame for moving from domestic production to offshore mass production where things have to be bought in container quantity, so the designs have to be vanilla to protect the investments of the buyers.

Upholstery is the easiest thing in the furniture industry to make unique and exciting. So why do Southern manufacturers insist on making 99% of their production as rectilinear boxes? They hate curves because curves are more difficult to make. But curves sell upholstery whenever they are used.

They also gild the lily when it comes to accenting details so that items are over designed. How many more variations of lawson looks and shabby schlep do we need? Saarinen and Bertoia are two examples of designers who really redefined what upholstery could be. Where are such designs today?

It is apparent that US upholstery manufacturers are not interested in bringing truly new looks to the market place. Even Thayer Coggin, now run by Thayer's daughter, keeps clinging to the past of modern design instead of moving forward into the 21st century. Her father and Milo Baughman broke design barriers to create classics.

Another problem to investigate is why the affordable upholstery fabrics are so boring. We used to have a lot more experimentation when fabrics were woven or printed stateside. With new dye sublimation processes all this could be changed. But why is it not happening?