Casual Furniture Fabrics For 2005 Emphasize Texture, Color, Styling Sophistication

Furniture World Magazine

When consumers visit patio shops next spring to spruce up their outdoor living areas, they will find fabric selections that are only distant cousins of the traditional flat solid colors and wide stripes that have long been associated with outdoor fabrics. Intricate jacquard weaves, rich textures and unique colors featured in Sunbrella® brand fabrics will cause many prospective buyers to repeat what has become a common question these days - “is that really Sunbrella?” The answer is “yes.” Advanced weaving techniques, innovative yarn constructions and newly refined fabric finishing technology have unleashed the creativity of some of the nation's leading designers, including Richard Frinier, Joe Ruggiero and members of the Glen Raven design team. “Fabric technology and design excellence have come together to create a new generation of fabrics for casual furniture,” said Dave Swers, vice president and business manager for furniture fabrics for Glen Raven Custom Fabrics, the manufacturers of Sunbrella. “Our new fabrics have all of the performance attributes that consumers expect from an outdoor fabric, plus added dimensions of beauty, elegance and styling sophistication.” One of the biggest stories for casual fabrics for 2005 will be color. While neutrals will likely continue their dominance, look for splashes of color, particularly as accents in a rainbow of sophisticated colors. “Newly added colors, such as Tuscan Orange, Palm Green and Mineral Blue, were added with the needs of our customers in mind,” said Gina Wicker, director of design for Glen Raven, Inc. “They work well within the range of frame colors and coordinate nicely with neutrals that are a big part of casual furniture lines.” Michen Thuemer, fabrics coordinator for Brown Jordan, agrees that consumers are ready for more color in casual furniture fabrics. “When you walk the retail floors, you see a sea of neutrals, but at the trade shows everyone is saying they are tired of earth tones and are ready to bring in color,” Thuemer said. “All of the consumer markets - such as bedding and paints - are gravitating toward color, and color is not as scary to people as it used to be. Color will be very important to us in the new season, and I think that will be true for all manufacturers.” For customers who prefer to keep their palettes softer, textures offer a rich new look formerly confined to interior rooms. Look for jacquard weaves and boucle yarns to offer exciting surface interest, along with a soft hand and luxurious textures. “Novelty yarns, such as loopy boucles and luxurious chenilles, add dimension and interest to outdoor fabrics without sacrificing performance or cleanability,” Wicker said. “Our new Sunbrella chenille and boucle fabrics bring a soft, luxurious hand to a market that historically demanded performance over softness. Today, both are available in the same fabric.” Lou Rosebrock, president of Whitecraft, notes that there have been significant advances in adding dimension, texture and surface interest to casual fabrics. “When Sunbrella came out with linen textures a few years ago, we were impressed, but they have moved far beyond those fabrics now with their new jacquards,” Rosebrock said. “The new Sunbrella waffle weave (from Richard Frinier) is terrific and the Dupioni silk look from Glen Raven has created a lot of interest.” Increased use of surface texture is just one reflection of the increased styling sophistication of Sunbrella fabrics for the new season. New weaving and finishing technology has unleashed creativity throughout the industry. “For the new season, our fabric collections will include fabrics with boucle yarns, jacquard weaves and prints,” said Dale Campbell, vice president of sales and marketing for Lloyd Flanders. “These fabrics created by working with the Sunbrella design team are luxurious and offer the soft hand and surface texture that mimics what you would expect with fine interior fabrics.” Designers Richard Frinier and Joe Ruggiero are helping to lead Sunbrella into new design directions, which are being increasingly recognized by leaders in the casual furniture market. “We are especially excited about the new patterns from Richard Finier,” Rosebrock said. “He has hit on a true luxury feel in his introductions, including Sailcloth and SpaWeave. We really like the weightiness of the fabrics and the great appearance they make on furniture frames - really nice.” According to Brenda Pereyda, assistant vice president of sales and marketing with Mallin Casual Furniture, Sunbrella has established a leadership position in the upscale market. “Richard Frinier and Joe Ruggiero have added an upscale, sophisticated look to the Sunbrella collection that cannot be beat in that segment of the market,” she said. “We have incorporated five or six of the new designs from Richard that are very subtle and have a very rich look. We will be looking to bring in Ruggiero patterns in the next season.” While colors, textures and design elegance are important elements in Sunbrella's movement into upscale markets, industry experts say coordinated collections will also be important on showroom floors during 2005. “One of the greatest things that Sunbrella has done for the new season is to give us a complete color and styling program,” said Patti Frye, fabric merchandise manager with Laneventure. “They have solids, stripes and jacquard patterns that all work together. There are color coordinated and matched patterns, which opens up all sorts of styling possibilities.” Frinier views the advances in casual fabrics for the 2005 season as an ideal marriage of technology and design. “Sunbrella's ability to engineer and develop such incredible textures as our Sailcloth (flat weave), Shorelines and Seashore (bouclé) and SpaWeave (waffle-patterned weave) are simply extraordinary for upholstering every room of the home, not just the outdoor room,” Frinier said. “I have been designing furniture, accessories and fabrics for the casual industry for more than two decades, and some of the most remarkable changes are occurring in the performance fabric arena,” he continued. “Sunbrella is at the forefront of this industry, as you can see from our new collections together. The natural look of our Sailcloth, Shorelines and SpaWeave fabrics have been extremely well-received at market, while the spirit of travel to exotic lands has been infused into many of our jacquard patterns.” While the growth of technology has been important to advances in casual fabrics, Ruggiero also sees the blurring of interior and exterior décor as a key design influence. “My mission has been to help bring Sunbrella fabrics inside the home, so when I make additions to my collection, I am thinking interiors,” Ruggiero said. “What we are seeing, however, is the casual market gravitating to some of my designs for use in outdoor settings and for transitional areas in the home. “The casual furniture industry overall is moving to more sophisticated fabrics because many of the pieces they are introducing are very sophisticated in design and can be used inside the home as well,” he continued. “The industry is looking for performance fabrics that are just as sophisticated as the furniture designs, which means that damask and chenille fabrics in Sunbrella are being widely accepted in the causal market. They are the ideal crossover for the indoor/outdoor concept.” Sunbrella brand fabrics are marketed by Glen Raven Custom Fabrics, LLC, a subsidiary of Glen Raven, Inc., a global provider of innovative fabric solutions. On the web at www.sunbrella.com Richard Frinier's award-winning design career spans more than 25 years with current collections including furniture designs for Century Furniture and fabric designs for Sunbrella fabrics. Additionally, Frinier designs for a select and international clientele and will be launching a lighting and accessories collection with Currey & Company in 2005. Joseph Ruggiero & Associates, Inc. is a multi-media home design and elevision production company based in Los Angeles. As host and executive director of “Homes Across America” on HGTV, Ruggiero's design career spans more than 30 years and includes an award winning case good and upholstery collection for Norwalk Furniture and an extensive collection for Sunbrella. He has just introduced an indoor/outdoor furniture collection for Terra Furniture. On the web at www.ruggieroideas.com.