On Earth Day, Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company one of the nation’s largest integrated manufacturers and an international supplier of components for the furniture and bedding industries, announced that it launched a new campaign showing upholstery buyers how what’s inside their components makes a world of difference.
Like the "Intel Inside" program did for personal computers, Hickory Springs’ "Earth Care Inside" campaign highlights the sustainable materials found inside the environmentally friendly components it produces for seating and furniture manufacturers.
The idea for EarthCare Inside originated from Hickory Springs’ desire to combine its revolutionary soy-based Preserve foam with other recycled and sustainable components to attract environmentally conscious manufacturers, retailers and consumers.
According to Dwayne Welch, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Hickory Springs, the campaign targets the "female shopper, driving the hybrid car, ordering organic fruits and vegetables for her children,” Welch explained. “We want her to feel as good about what’s in her furniture as she does about what she drives or what’s in her family’s food.”
In addition to the Hickory Springs’ Preserve foam brand, EarthCare Inside encompasses the company’s complete line of fiber products and synthetic cottons, recycled steel sinuous and coil springs, sofa-sleeper mechanisms, motion hardware, edge roll, webbing and other eco-friendly components. New products will be added as they are developed and all EarthCare Inside components will be submitted for independent outside testing to confirm their claims to being sustainable and environmentally friendly.
To help stimulate interest in their eco-friendly components, Hickory Springs will provide manufacturers with a host of point-of-purchase promotional materials, including an Earth Care logo constructed of decorative brass, polished nickel or bronze nailhead to adorn their finished upholstered furnishings.
Hickory Springs has also unveiled a new website, www.EarthCareInside.com, to support its program of sustainable and environmentally friendly components. The site features an explanation of the company's environmental commitment by Hickory Springs President Don Coleman and a special video introduction by well-known HGTV host Jim Parks. Veteran designer Jack Lewis was hired to develop scaled-down upholstered furniture products that save materials by using smaller amounts of Hickory Springs' components in them. The site will also feature facts, trivia and other information related to the environment, as well a link where consumers can contact Welch with questions.
The company announced the EarthCare Inside campaign the week of Earth Day, April 22, and plans a major rollout of the program throughout May.
Hickory Springs’ corporate headquarters is located in Hickory, North Carolina, where the international, privately held company was first founded in 1944 as a producer of furniture springs. Over the past 64 years, Hickory Springs has grown into one of the nation’s largest integrated manufacturers to the furniture and bedding industries with more than 60 operating facilities throughout the United States. In addition to its core furniture and bedding markets, Hickory Springs serves a growing range of customers in the construction, automotive, packaging, medical, marine and telecommunications industries.