Nourison’s David McCarty shows one of the company’s new products.

By Deena C. Bouknight
High Point, N.C.—Ken Smith, national director of the Furniture Industry Practice for BDO Seidman, conveyed on the opening day of the Fall International Home Furnishings Market here that this has not been a “stellar year on a whole.”

However, Smith said that although sales might not be as robust as retailers would hope, he believes “savvy” retailers came to High Point looking to enliven their stores with unique designs.

According to the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA), many retailers were focusing this market on their youth categories. With more than one-fifth of the U.S. population under 15 years of age, the youth category is sprouting. In fact, some reports say sales may reach $5.7 billion in 2010, a 24.5% increase over today.

“Most interesting,” said AHFA vice president Jackie Hirschhaut, is the fact that “finding [home furnishings] that satisfy their children’s sense of style ranked above meeting their parents’ own design tastes.”

In the highly competitive rug market, exhibitors were conveying energy in their High Point showrooms in an effort to capitalize on current trends. Although not abandoning their traditional base of products, several companies are putting an emphasis on bold designs that will work in a youth setting, or in transitional and contemporary rooms throughout a home.

Both Company C and American Cottage unveiled a kaleidoscope of colors; Company C came out with blocks of color around colorful stars in its Starry Round hooked wool rug while American Cottage’s Transitional collection rug is handmade of 90-loop hooked wool and features dozens of hues.

Father and son owners of The Rug Market, Mike and Aaron Shabtai, said it is all about color when it comes to attracting a youth market and a fashion-oriented consumer.

“We usually look at color themes first,” Mike said. “We’re selling a lot of browns and greens, cream and green.”

Kids especially are drawn to such styles as the Bergamo, a thick shag effect, or Coral, a longer, thinner and very iridescent shag in 12 colorways. “They look at color, texture, and the way it feels,” Shabtai said.

One color The Rug Market and others are experimenting with is a deep eggplant. “We don’t know how it will do, but we are offering it to our customers,” he said. “Animal skins as well are very appealing.”

“Our main customer is the shopper who walks into the store and has a piece of fabric in her hand and she wants a rug that will go with it,” said David McCarty of Nourison. “It’s definitely a fashion industry, starting with the colors of the rug.”

Nourison’s Calvin Klein line has been successfully offering some eggplant hues for the past few seasons. And, while kilims have not been a focal point for some time, the company just introduced the Dakota group in bright colors.

“We see a larger part of the traditional marketplace shifting to contemporary and modern because new buyers typically don’t want their grandmother’s rug,” McCarty said . “Even if our customers tell us they want a traditional rug, they want it in more modern colorways.”

There is evidence children are not interested in their parents’ or grandparents’ rugs either.

As Corbin pointed out, “If kids want to personalize their own bears, they certainly want to personalize their own bedrooms.”

Steve Sorrow was hired in February as vice president of design and product development to bring a touch of fashion and uniqueness to Feizy Rugs. His job is to help the company become known as not just a traditional rug house, but as a transitional and casual contemporary entity as well.

“We don’t want our retailers to have to go elsewhere for those looks,” Sorrow said. “We’re aiming to be a one-stop shop. We started off giving them new looks in our Home collection and our next move is to offer more in our Fine Rugs collection.”

The new Birch and Craft collection has an Oriental flair with an emphasis on a copper, rust, red, and blue, while Hudson is “ultrasoft styling focusing on large florals and leaves in neutrals and browns.”

Bringing more design-oriented styling to its rugs this market was Dalyn Rug Co. with the announcement it has partnered with Jaclyn Smith Home. Coventry Collection is a group of 28 rugs ranging from transitional to traditional to contemporary. The color palette spans from earth tones of chocolate, gold and spa blue to jewel tones of burgundy to olive green.

Coventry is made of a new soft-touch yarn constructed of polypropelene and polyethylene featuring abrage dyeing, which is a shading technique. It carries a price proint of $399 for a 5x8.

“This is a first for our company and is the most exciting collection we have ever introduced,” said Dalyn’s David Adams. “We have never felt compelled to enter the brand market, but the grace, style and elegance of Jaclyn Smith is a natural complement to our company’s vision and values.”

Betting on high style and head-turning colors is a line new to the market by Carpet Creation for the Excelsior Designs and Nicole Miller Collections brands. Excelsior is a contemporary home furnishings manufacturer offering designer Nicole Miller’s collection.

Next year’s spring market is March 26 to April 1.