Rugs parade fresh designs
By Lissa Wyman -- Furniture Today, August 2, 2004
Atlanta — Last week's rug market here was normal for a summer show, with traffic sparse and new product mainly additions to successful collections introduced in January.
No one called the event a failure. The major buyers were here, and there was plenty of time to plan fall programs. Many vendors also used the slower pace of this show to get feedback on lines slated for winter introduction.
There may not have been many new collections, but that doesn't mean there wasn't new product.
"We introduced 150 designs," said Hari Tummala, a principal of Kas Oriental Rugs. "People come in with high expectations whether it's summer or winter. We don't want to disappoint them."
"For the most part, we saw the same people who come to summer market every year," said Capel President Leon Capel. "That's what we expect at this event, and we certainly weren't disappointed. Light traffic allows us to spend more time with customers."
The rug business got off to a robust start in 2004, but fell off in early summer. Both retailers and vendors look for a strong fall selling season, with even more acceleration after the November elections.
"Home furnishings sales hit a lull early this summer, but our new Warhol rugs hit the stores in the spring and the sell-through has been phenomenal," said Mike Riley, executive vice president of Sphinx by Oriental Weavers. "That certainly helped us increase business over last year."
"We are looking forward to a good fall selling season," said Reza Momeni, president of Momeni. "Interest rates are still historically low and home sales are still strong. That's a positive sign for the home furnishings business."
For importers, profit margins have been an issue. "Because of the weak dollar and the strong euro, margins aren't where they should be," said Couristan President Ron Couri. "However, residential sales continue to be strong. We are looking for a good year."
"Inventory is turning; people are coming back for re-orders; we're going full steam ahead into the fall selling season," said Nader Emami, vice president and general manager of Feizy Rug Imports.
In style, contemporary defined this market.
"The contemporary market is probably less that 15% of the total business, but it is certainly the category that everyone is talking about now," said Jeff Meadows, vice president of Shaw Living, the rug and textile division of Shaw Inds.
Shaw made a major contemporary statement with its new Impressions collection. "Rather than having a few contemporary designs in several different lines, we decided to make a full statement in a single collection," Meadows said.
Contemporary design also is creeping into Shaw's Kathy Ireland rug program, he said, noting the extremely popular line has featured traditional styling until now. At this market, bamboo rugs were added to Ireland's Jardin du Jour garden-room line, and Meadows hinted there would be additional contemporary Ireland woven rugs.
In the past five years, Trans Ocean Imports increasingly has focused on contemporary styling. "We certainly have the contemporary niche covered," said President Charley Peck. "We've been going after it year after year, but now we see the entire market shifting in that direction."
"We feel very strongly that the share of market for contemporary will continue to increase," said Ed Vairo, head of creative marketing for Nourison. "Today's consumers are more sophisticated and less circumscribed by what their mothers and grandmothers had. They have more confidence in their own choices."
Vairo said contemporary currently accounts for about 15% of industry sales. "I don't see the proportion every attaining the 50–50 level, but I do see the continuation of incremental growth up to about 25% to 30% of total sales," he said.
"We are seeing much more development in contemporary styling rather than traditional patterns," said Central Oriental President Mark Ferullo. "It's hard not to get excited about contemporary, but all of us have to take a close look at the situation. We can't let 20% of the industry drive our entire business."
The summer market allows vendors and key customers to work together on product development.
Sphinx was previewing some of the National Geographic styles that formally will be introduced this winter. "Customer feedback is extremely valuable," said Jonathon Witt, vice president of marketing for Sphinx by Oriental Weavers. "It certainly helped make January's Andy Warhol collection a huge success."
Feizy's Emami said retailers expect suppliers to be ready to deliver when product is introduced. "We can't show them a bunch of samples, go back and produce them and then deliver them six months later," he said. "Our challenge is to provide merchandise in a timely fashion. In order to do that, we have to be confident our new products will sell. That's why it's so important to listen to our customers."
