Bed There, Done That
The domestic version of the 10 Most Wanted List is in. Consumers are looking for sofas, recliners and beds; end tables, kids’ furniture and casual dining pieces; upholstered chairs, cocktail tables, entertainment centers and sleep sofas. And they want to buy them. Now.
According to a survey released here during the furniture industry’s twice-annual fashion week last month, Americans are interested in purchasing new furniture. But they can’t find pieces they like.
Just as the latest crop of curio cabinets, leather loungers and swivel gliders was being unveiled to store buyers, America’s Research Group was telling industry members that one-third of furniture shoppers are not finding what they want. Customers are either unwilling to trudge from store to store or are bored with the lack of new designs. So they are putting their money back into the household budget to use for other things, the pollsters said.
In fact, manufacturers already are on the case: Many have brought in well-dressed reinforcements--big names from the fashion industry like Bill Blass, Nautica and Eddie Bauer--to create new collections that they hope will put the buzz back in the furniture business in the new year.
“This industry needs a major wake-up call to see if anyone is at home,” said Britt Beemer, founder of America’s Research Group, a South Carolina polling firm.
His company polled adults who said they “definitely plan to purchase [furniture] in the next year.”
Furniture folk have been living with lackluster sales since the 1980s. Baby boomers now in their prime are said to be spending money on high-tech toys, not furniture. And twentysomethings are known to pooh-pooh anything that smacks of the style of furniture sitting in their parents’ living rooms.
And so many manufacturers have sought the status of designer labels. Decorators such as Mark Hampton, Mario Buatta and Jacques Grange, and fashion designers such as Ralph Lauren and Alexander Julian, have succeeded in transferring their distinctive identities to collections of home furnishings.
During 1997, there were more, from the outdoorsy casual style of Eddie Bauer for Lane Co. to the more formal pieces by Blass.
“It’s got to be one person’s point of view,” said Blass, who introduced his first furniture collection for Pennsylvania House. “It’s my taste I’m selling here. This business has got to change. It has not addressed the needs of the public. They no longer want rooms of dark brown furniture.” As an alternative, he’s offering a campaign chest with a black leather-like crackle finish and an 18th-century English-style chest with a marble top.
Traditional furniture stores, smarting from the success of specialty retailers of the new casual chic, such as Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn, are hoping brand names will bring additional cachet to their wares.
“By tying in with established names in the apparel industry and design world, many furniture manufacturers gain that added entree,” said Joseph P. Logan of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn. The trade group estimates that furniture shipments during 1997 rose about 5%, about the same as the previous year.
