Inside Futon Life This Month:

• Cover Story: Innovation & Innovation: Liforms Fireman & Flam Deliver
• Publisher's Forum: The Question Is When?
• Retail Perspective: SPECIAL REPORT: Futon Covers - The Thread of An Idea
• Back to Archive

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Cover Story

Innovation & Innovation:
Liform's Fireman & Flam Deliver

That Was Then

I drove down to Cape Cod for the Second Annual FANA Expo. It was late April, 1986. Michael and Randy Young of New Moon had found a delightful spot for the event on Route 6A. The place, the Ocean Edge Resort, was the recently remodeled Nickerson Estate. As I set up my display the fellow next to me was setting up a frame the likes of which I'd never seen before. The frame folded only once along the length of the mattress. It looked like a sofa-bed.

The fellow was Bob Fireman and the frame was the first bi-fold I had ever seen. He called it the SII. I asked him why he called it the sigh and he told me a story about trying to buy some short pieces of lumber at an auction, and about these two guys from Tennessee who were furniture manufacturers, and how they had gotten together and built this great frame. As the years have gone by Bob Fireman has continued to create his vision of how the futon world should be. With From The Source he brought us the hugely successful Bo Ling, VITA, RoJo (named after two managers of a Nyack, NY plant) and the SII, the best of the first dual purpose classics. Some of the early frames had pegs to hold the back rest in place while many of his later designs used glides. The glides are still used in one form or another on most of the convertible frames today. Fireman's kicker design was the first of its kind to be patented in the United States.

The following year (1986), in San Francisco, Bob told me the story of his many trips to South America to source factories for the production of the highly successful A-Frame, a knock-off of the Daphne award winning Brouwer Bed. Many would fault Fireman for his ingenuity and boldness but many would also agree that his entrepreneurial spirit, perseverance and his many design innovations make him one of the true pioneers of the industry.

Several years later, once again in San Francisco, Fireman and I had a delightful breakfast in Sausalito at the Lighthouse Café. He told me about his recent departure from From The Source. He was pretty fed up with the situation and was contemplating moving on to something else. Being an encourager at heart I told him he was crazy. I said, "You know everyone in the business. You know how to do this. Don't give up your years of experience in an industry still in the early stages of maturity."

The following spring Bob was at High Point, showing at Market Square with the earliest Liforms' creations. He was enthusiastic about his life and about his futon frames. Today his company is a permanent fixture at High Point, in the C&D building on the seventh floor. And on every street corner there are members of the Liforms Youth Brigade handing out free tickets to the greatest futon show on earth.

This Is Now

About a year ago Bob hooked up with Michael Flam and together they have centralized their distribution in the Atlanta area.

Michael Flam brings the experience and credibility of a sixty-seven year old, family run business to the table in the Liforms equation.

Flam's Comfort Rest Sleep Products produces conventional bedding products for both the retail and contract trades out of a 67,000 square foot plant attached to another 62,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space. Flam's claim to fame is a long standing (since 1983) relationship with the Crown Plaza hotel chain, the upscale segment of Holiday Inn Worldwide. Comfort Rest also manufactures private label conventional bedding products for several large, multi-unit retailers. Flam sees these retailers as the basis of the future growth of the futon furniture industry.

"We are used to dealing with the W.S. Badcocks and Haverty's type retailers; more traditional, multi-unit operations. These stores will carry a good, better, best line-up and they're looking for a full service supplier they can depend on. We are that supplier," said Flam.

Fireman, on the other hand, deals with the specialty retailer. This retailer carries products from several suppliers and Liforms wants to be on that list too.

Fireman: The World View

We asked Bob to comment on the current state of the industry he pioneered. As usual he had an opinion on everything.

"As far as futons go, cotton is going to disappear," he said. "It will be hard for most manufacturers to admit it but cotton is not reliable as a shape or form in an apartment. It looks great in a photo, but it just doesn't hold its shape."

Fireman believes that innerspring futons will end up dominating the market. "With the proper mattress in place the futon and frame will replace the old-style conventional sofa-bed," Fireman said.

"The specialty stores will try to carry as wide a spectrum of products as possible," said Fireman, as he responded to a question on futon retailing. Fireman's retail experience with futons is legendary. His store, the Furntiure Gallery, was the first major, full service, futon store in Manhattan. Retail sales peaked at $3 million per year, a number still unmatched by any single unit futon specialty store.

"Conventional stores will integrate their futon programs within the same space they show their traditional sofa-beds," said Fireman. Who added, "We have to make units that look like products these retailers are familiar with."

"This is the only industry I know of where you have to go to three different vendors to buy a sofa. The suppliers that want to survive are dovetailing their operations with other vendors so they can present themselves as full service companies." "These days," he said, "to get into a conventional retail store a vendor has to supply everything."

"We are seeing another interesting phenomenon take place at retail. Several of the conventional furniture stores have opened specialty stores that just sell futons," he said.

This fact makes me believe that the futon specialty store is here to stay. With the huge number of futon products on the market the specialty retailer is able to generously cover all the price points and offer his or her customer an extensive collection without exhausting the prospects for future buying decisions.

"The specialty stores can cover every price point from the cheap pine to the $700 solid oak or cherry bi-fold," Fireman said. He added, "These stores don't want to loose a futon sale so they are carrying everything they can."

As far as the mass merchants go Fireman believes the ones who are sticking with the category are upgrading their programs. "The problem," says Fireman, "is they can't get enough product to meet their demand." We asked Bob what he thought about the current state of affairs regarding the Futon Association International. He said he was impressed and that things seemed to be going better than he had expected.

Finally we asked him about his own line of metal on wood frames including "The Fiantaca," a frame he designed and named after his friend and competitor Charlie Fiantaca. (Fiantaca died tragically last year in an airplane crash.)

"I know this is going to sound out-of-character but we've hired a designer and we are upgrading our design that integrates wood and metal. In the past several manufacturers have had problems with the stress factor. The metal mechanism is so tough that when you put pressure on the frame the wood can crack or even break. Our new design will eliminate all these problems," Fireman said. The mechanism will be ready some time this summer and should debut at the fall High Point Show.

I remember going to Manhattan, by train, to see Bob's retail operation in the late eighties. He was a cordial host and was obviously happy about what he was doing. Since then he has sold the retail store, and started a new company he probably never thought he would have to start. In his words he has "simplified" his business life and I hope he can keep it that way. Somehow, though, I think he's got a few more ideas he wants to bring to market. And on that note all I can say is, "Break a leg, Bob."

Publisher's Forum

The Question Is When?

The issue of the day is clear. It revolves around when the Futon Association should hold its' annual show. Both camps have a clear and viable case. One camp says, if it ain't broke don't fix it. The show has been held in late April or early May for eleven years running. With each year the show has grown in size, attendance, or both. There is no conflict with any other show. Proponents of maintaining the status quo say, "Let's not mess with success."

The other side of the argument says that the show is too late in the season for manufacturers to show new product and then deliver it to busy retailers four to six weeks later. These folks say that the show must be in late February to early March. This way they (the manufacturers) can gauge retail acceptance to various prototypes earlier in the year. This will allow them to produce and ship with ample lead time before the "busy season," which runs from late July to November.

The choice is only complicated when you consider the following issues:

• The Waterbed Council's show is in mid March. Do we want to run in direct conflict with this show? Will there be a Waterbed Council show in 1997?
• In 1997, when the changes would take place, the High Point Market is earlier than usual, beginning on April 10, and the San Francisco Winter market runs through January 29. Having a show too close to either is probably not a good idea.
• Will retailers, coming off the usually slower winter months, be financially stable enough to expend the two or three thousand dollars necessary to come to market? Keeping in mind that the '97 Futon Expo will probably be in Phoenix or another western city, will retailers want to spend that money to see what they've just seen in San Francisco five or six weeks earlier?
• Is this an issue which takes into consideration the problems of frame importers only and no other part of the manufacturing equation?
• Is a mid-May show date just too late for a furniture category whose typical busy season starts a month later? Is the "busy season" concept being replaced by a more traditional "year round" sales cycle?

Making a decision will be the job of the 1995-96 FAI Board of Directors. Their next meeting will take place the first weekend in August. Drop them a note and let them know what you think... if you have the time.

You can reach them at the following addresses. Bob Naboicheck, Gold Bond Mattress Co., P.O. Box 89, Hartford, CT 06141-0089; Shari Hammer, SIS Covers, 550 39th Ave. NE, Ste. 110, Columbia Heights, MN 55421; Dave Buechner, The Home Store Futon Gallery, 2048 Weems Rd., Tucker, GA 30084; Jeff Friedman, Almac Felt Co., 350 Vista Baya, Newport Beach, CA 92660; Heidi Huebscher, Futons, Etc., Inc., 5289 East Shadowlawn Ave., Tampa, FL 33610; Ron Massey, Horndove, P.O. Box 176, Norton, VT 05907; Pete Dodge, Tilt Chair, 4225 Hiawatha Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55406.

Special Report
Futon Covers: The Threads Of An Idea

By Joe Tatulli

The futon furniture concept has always been a good one. But there is one element of the concept that stands out as unique in the home furnishings industry-the futon cover. You cannot purchase a traditional sofa or sofa-bed with a removable or changeable cover. When you buy a futon sofa-bed these features (removability and changeability) are inherent in the design. The cover therefore is not only an easy add-on sale but, if cultivated properly, is a great way to bring the customer back into your store.

As a design element futon covers serve the retailer well. "We set up our sales floor in such a way that our customers can easily visualize what this product will look like when they get it home," says Melinda Welton of Futons Unfolding in Nashville, TN. Welton has always been a fan of heavier upholstery grade fabrics adding that, "people are not afraid to spend $200 to $250 when they realize what they are getting for the money."

Quality sells at retail and using the gallery or vignette technique seems to work well. Buzz Farlow of Poco Loco Futons in Tucson, AZ concurred with our belief that upholstery fabric is a great hook when people are shopping for a living room sofa or guest room sofa-bed.

"When we moved to higher end, heavy weight upholstery grade fabrics the consumer began to understand the value of the total package," said Farlow.

Registering one of only two substantive complaints we heard Farlow asked manufacturers to communicate better. "When I order a cover for a customer I expect the manufacturer to deliver. Three weeks later, when the cover isn't in yet, I don't expect to hear that they (the manufacturer) is out of that particular fabric. They need to respond immediately so we can get that customer into another cover right away," he said.

Heidi Huebscher of Futons Etc., in Tampa, FL shared the other concern which focused on sizes and standards. (See related story on page ) "This isn't a complaint," said Huebscher, "but it is a problem we deal with all the time. If the cover isn't cut to fit a specific futon it can sometimes be too big and baggy or too small and therefore too tight." This may be one reason many retailers prefer stocking swatches and not futon covers.

Cathy Stoler, of Futon Gallery in Minneapolis, MN agreed and commented on the look of quality that can be achieved with the right covers. "In our stores we always lead with our strength by putting our best covers up front. When the customer comes in they immediately understand that they are in a furniture store," Stoler said.

Bernie Birch, of Arise Futon in Mt. Kisco, NY and Norwalk, CT said his customers understand the quality difference too. "My Norwalk store is in a mid to higher income suburban area. Most of my customers are buying furniture for their home not for their studio apartment. We simply sell quality and our customers understand the difference," said Birch.

Birch also commented that his stores sell eighty percent of their total cover sales from swatches and only twenty percent from in-stock finished goods inventory. "I don't have the walk-in traffic or the volume of a store in the big city," said Birch. He concluded that when a customer comes into his store they come in to decorate a room not make a quick purchase of something they want to take home "right now."

Other retailers, who seem to have a similar situation, use an entirely different approach.

Tori Zwolenik, of Futon Express in Lakewood, OH, a suburb of Cleveland, says she likes to inventory tons of covers so her customers can take it home. "I'm a firm believer that it is very important for the customer to take it home... it keeps the love factor going," she said. "A three week wait for a cover is a downside to most of my customers," said Zwolenick.

One store uses their large in-stock inventory as a sales tool. "We have a very open return policy on futon covers," said Barbara Chandler of Heartwood in Boston, MA. "In fact," she says, "we encourage our customers, who can't make up their minds, to take two or three covers home to see how they look in their room." Barbara also told us that her customers spend a disproportionate amount of time selecting a cover fabric and accent pillows compared to the time they spend picking out a frame. "They may take twenty minutes picking out a frame and then spend the next hour or so selecting their cover fabrics," Chandler said.

Mark Warford, of Futopia in Knoxville, TN, tacks back to the other side of the argument. "For my customers a two week wait is no problem," said Warford, whose store sells eighty-five percent of their covers from swatches and fifteen percent from in-stock inventory. He, along with many of our respondents, tied his cover business to the futon concept as a whole. "If retailers get down to carefully selling this category as a variety of components that make up the whole and use a well thought out process to do this then the price points and the margins will go up," said Warford. "In our store futon equals furniture," he said.

We asked our retailers how they chose which cover fabrics to carry and we got some interesting responses. Some ask their vendors which covers are moving well and even tap into the color coordinated ensembles some cover manufacturers put together. Others follow the fashion trends of their competition in the traditional furniture store and in shelter magazines like Metropolitan Home, Better Homes & Gardens, Architectural Digest and the like. Some use pillow cover assortments to test consumer preferences for color and design trends and then use these trends to make cover selections. Others follow the trends as highlighted in the furniture trade publications and right here in the Hot Covers section of Futon Life.

Cover Futures: Pulling the Loose Threads Together

Most retailers agree that the futon cover is the finishing touch if your competition is the traditional sofa-bed. By adding bolsters and pillows you can easily define a unique look for any interior style.

"We are selling the best alternative to a (traditional) sofa-bed," said Melinda Welton, who added that she shows lots of accessories in her retail environment. "What helps us sell is the overall presentation. The covers, pillows and accessories we show separate us from the lower end stores," Welton said.

"The cover sells the frame," said Mark Warford. Many retailers shared similar stories at the recent PR & Marketing panel discussions at the FAI Futon Expo in St. Paul, MN. One retailer shared about a particular frame group that just wasn't selling well at all. In a last ditch effort the retailer put on a dark green tapestry style cover with coordinating pillow accents and he sold several room groupings of the frame that weekend.

The big question many people asked during the panel discussion was, "How do I pick the right covers?," and "How do I set up my showroom so it looks like a page in a magazine?" After some brainstorming we came up with the following possible resources:

• contact a local Interior Decorator and ask him or her for some help with your window display. In exchange you could post their name in the window or help them with some leads.
• contact a local Art College or Vocational School for some free help or creative ideas.
• make a visit to your local Crate and Barrel or Pier One store for some fresh ideas.
• talk directly to your cover manufacturer and get them to put together a coordinated package for you with futon covers, pillow covers and bolster covers too.

Cover Stats: The Thread of Continuity

We did some polling of the leading cover and pillow manufacturers and compared these numbers to what we learned from the retailers. We discovered some very interesting facts. (See Figure 1)

Manufacturers

We asked the manufacturers what their hottest price point was. Their answers divided this side of the equation into two distinct camps. There is a lower end camp whose average hot price point is $25 and a higher end camp whose hot point is $55 (these numbers are based on full size). The same two camps emerged in the answer to the second question i.e. By percentage, what portion of your total cover sales are from repeatable stock and what portion are from factory selects (factory selects are fabrics that are available for a short time or "as is" per availability)? The lower end companies sell 35% from repeatable fabrics and 65% from the factory selects while the higher end companies sell only 15% in factory selects and 85% from repeatable stock.

Retailers.

We asked the retailers the following two questions:

• Of your total futon cover sales what percentage do you sell for less than $75, between $75 and $150, and over $150? The averages broke down as follows: less than $75; 22%, between $75 and $150; 68.75%, and over $150, 9.25%.
• Of your total futon cover sales what percentage do you sell from in-stock inventory and what percentage from swatches that, in turn, you have to order for the customer? The averages broke down as follows: 42% from in-stock and 58% ordered from swatches.

The retailers are selling significantly more covers (70%) in the $100 range than any other price point. We concluded, therefore, that the sale of low end covers, at least among the futon specialists we spoke to, is a smaller part of their overall business. We also deduced that even when these retailers sell from in-stock inventory they are selling a $100 cover seven out of ten times. The other conclusion we reached was that manufacturers, in an effort to differentiate themselves from each other by carrying many fabric styles, have given the retailers no choice but to sell from swatches. But as it works out, most retailers seem to like this set-up better. It gives them a large spectrum of fabrics to sell from and it keeps their finished goods inventory investment low.

Bottom line: The better covers, both quality and margin wise are dominating sales in the futon specialty shops. There is a distinct advantage for manufacturers who sell from re-orderable stock since these products (priced from $75 to $150 at retail) seem to dominate retail sales (69%). The jury is still out on the issue what the best overall strategy for selling covers is. Retailers seem to be successful with both the in-stock inventory and the special order method. We think that a balanced approach would work best. Retailers should maintain a substantial inventory of finished goods in the hotter fabrics, and also offer the wider selections available in swatches.