Configurable upholstery attracts growing interest
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, March 10, 2008
High Point — Configurable upholstery is part of a strategy that manufacturers and retailers are using to slow the flow of imports.
The shape of upholstery pieces and the ability to adapt to the way today's consumers are living is emerging as another tool in customization, the element that some manufacturers see as the way to keep U. S. upholstery production from moving offshore.
This approach means offering groups with components — right and left arms, armless sofas and loveseats, wedges, etc. — that can be put together to fit living spaces, moved around and even minimized when space is downsized.
And one of the things driving a large portion of configurable sales are large rooms that need seating that can go on forever.
At the fall High Point Market, high-end producer Century Furniture showed how to put sectionals together to make what Ed Tashjian, vice president of marketing, describes as "an endless sofa" that measures 20 feet.
Tashjian said sales for such groups are driven by consumers' need to fit space and purpose. For instance, one consumer might need a classic look that can be configured for a formal room designed for conversation, while another is shopping for a home theater room that lends itself to deep-seated lounging furniture, a conversation pit, chaises and places to put the feet up.
Adaptable answers
Whatever the application, furniture has to be adaptable.
"One of my favorite Frank Lloyd Wright quotes is that 'Mankind creates most nobly when its limitations are greatest,' " Tashjian said. "A room never offers opportunities. It usually offers limitations — the size of the room, the color of the room and the light source."
Encouraged by its sales staff in states like Florida and Texas, C.R. Laine is introducing "two of the biggest frames we've ever done" at the April market, said Holly Blalock, marketing director. One frame, she said, is a curvy, inverted, camel-back look that can be made into a large sofa or a sectional by combining pieces.
"The other is a pit group that you can turn into the biggest sectional you ever wanted to create with armless pieces," she said.
Consumers want "yin and yang these days," Blalock added. "They're either looking for really small pieces or over-the-top big pieces. They're tired of the rolled arms and basic shapes — especially at our price point.
"I think it's an opportunity for made in America, hand crafted and unique. It's the tune that's playing for us as domestic furniture manufacturers because we can think through the whole custom project and how it can be placed and (have the order) be things we can make one at a time."
Paul Martens, general manager/creative director of marketing for Palliser, said the Canadian company has been producing its configurable collection, Elements, for several years with good results. It has just begun shipping the latest of six groups in the line with Alulla.
Staying competitive
"We're looking for ways to make our domestic factories profitable by creating a unique product," said Martens.
If a product is truly unique, he said, it faces less competition from low-priced imports. "It's too complex for people to bring in."
Martens said component seating sales are driven more by retailers than by any demographic group.
"It's not the demographics. It's the kind of retailer. The mass merchants (like) Penney's are not specializing in custom-order business. It's a totally different retailer than the big-box stores.
"You need a sales associate who is trained and knows how to sell," he said.
And because of the modularity, number of pieces and more than 300 fabric and leather choices in a line such as Palliser's, the product is not as price sensitive.
"It's not like it's across the street at $499," he said. "You can't do that with this product."
University Loft develops all kinds of configurations for student accommodations, condo projects and hotels like La Quinta. The company is "trying to roll some of that (approach) over to the retail side where sometimes one size doesn't fit all," said Ted Jarnagin, director of retail sales for the company's Loft division.
When Loft introduced a home theater bed with an upholstered, sofa-type back — a strong seller — one of its retailers suggested that the company include some armless pieces and turn it into a big pit group.
"As an industry, we have diminished the average ticket selling price so that even if a retailer is delivering the same number of pieces in a week, his average dollars are going down," said Jarnagan.
"So what we have to do is show him ways to add to that ticket. And the best way to do it is with more pieces."
Keeping pace
Designer, manufacturer and former retailer Normand Couture said consumers know they have a lot of options they didn't have before the Internet.
"Nowadays, with the computer, there's so much choice," he said. "To me, customers are ahead of the pack. They know more than the store owners. We all think we're smart because we're in the furniture business and think the lady who comes in the store is an idiot and knows nothing.
"But she's looked at tons of magazines and listened to tons of homemaker shows, so she knows more. She's been doing her homework."
Some of the new modular designs not only stretch themselves out but also take different directions.
For example, upper-end producer RC Furniture's Las Vegas introduction, Ari, includes L wedges that fit the back and arm of its corner sofa pieces, allowing users to sit facing in multiple directions. Kim Dinonno-Hoerr, assistant to owner Renee Cazares, said the company took a note from the contract industry whose designs often compartmentalize space to give different users their own module.
"It's just like Lincoln Logs," she said, describing the Ari group. "You put one after another. You hook on another piece and you can continue in another direction.
"It crosses the line and works well in contract as well as the retail environment."
