The Tri-Versal
The QuickSlip
The Gatsby Series
The Big Team
The Dynasty Leather
Series
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It was just a couple of years ago (V8N2
Summer 1996) that we covered Big Tree and their upstart
sister company, Big Sleep, a new mattress and softgoods
group. Today, with several seasons of twenty to thirty
percent growth under their belts, the Big Tree/Big Sleep
combination is proving to be a stable fixture in a typically
volatile market. Bringing together a team of innovative
and creative marketing professionals has proved to be
a great move for Big Tree, and is in large measure the
reason for the success of Big Sleep.
With its beginnings as a manufacturer of traditional
oak furnishings, Big Tree embraced the futon furniture
industry after a customer asked them to build some frames.
The customer, PACE (later Sam’s Club), came to
Big Tree because of their furniture manufacturing experience.
As futon furniture made the scene, with its opportunity
to open new markets, Bob Pecoraro and Bob Glade (later
joined by Bruce Sheppard) saw an opportunity to be part
of an industry which has yet to bury its roots deep
in the soil of the collective consciousness of the American
consumer.
“When we started Big Sleep, two years ago,”
said Bob Pecoraro, “You had to drive fifteen minutes
to get over there. Now, since we’ve moved into
the building next door, it’s only a few steps away.
In fact both companies share the same loading dock.”
Big Sleep’s volume is now about a third of the
overall picture and with the proximity issue solved
it is much easier for this innovative team to coordinate
their separate but closely related companies.
The other two-thirds of the Big Tree/Big Sleep pie
is the futon frame business. “We have always been
well connected to the mass merchants, due to our relationships
with Sam’s, BJ’s and several other large retail
operations,” said Pecoraro. These relationships
have allowed the Big Tree/Big Sleep team to place both
imports and domestic made product in these wide, but
sometimes difficult to navigate channels.
“You have to remember,” says Pecoraro, “our
backgrounds are all in the furniture business, as opposed
to the futon (furniture) business.” This background
has helped the Big Tree/Big Sleep team to arrive at
a clear understanding of what it takes to “sell
through” futon furniture products in traditional
furniture stores. With this knowledge in hand they are
leading the way and have created several new lines that
have all the benefits associated with futon furniture,
but have a look clearly designed to appeal to a more
traditional sofa-bed consumer.
“What we have tried to do is creatively address
the issues raised during our dialogues with furniture
dealers,” said Pecoraro. It was only after these
dialogues that the creative juices flowed resulting
in several new products like the Gatsby Series™,
the Dynasty Leather Series™, and the new QuickSlip™,
a full frame slip cover system that allows any futon
and frame to look and feel a lot like a typical traditional
sofa or love seat, and still deliver all the features
and benefits of a futon sofa sleeper.
“Our intention is to offer more upscale, creative
and innovative products that belong in our marketplace.
And our customers are telling us that we are right because
they are buying it, and it’s selling through at
retail,” Pecoraro said. “We are trying to
help drive the futon industry into the furniture stores.
We are letting them (the dealers and other manufacturers)
know that we can all get out of our so-called “niche”
market and move to the much broader appeal and customer
base of the “complete” furniture market,”
he said. Pecoraro and company aren’t alone in their
pursuit to reach the broader base of furniture dealers
out there. In fact many futon furniture manufacturers
have planted themselves at the High Point market, which
is the world’s premier market for home furnishings.
All this being said the Big Tree/Big Sleep team have
developed several new and innovative softgoods products
that have allowed them to successfully penetrate these
typically reluctant dealers. “The key concept here
is attaining the ‘sofa’ look,” said Bruce
Sheppard, a key member of the Big Sleep team. They achieve
the “look” by using separate yet married cushions
and some creative stitching, stuffing, and piping techniques
that give a simple, single piece futon mattress a sofa
like appearance. Leather and faux leather are also a
part of the picture, along with fabric selections from
Covington, Culp, and Chris Stone.
“What we are also trying to do is be “on-time”
with the styles and current trends in the furniture
industry on the upholstery side with all our covers,
across the board,” Pecoraro said.
Focus on Softgoods
Big Sleep began as a futon mattress company, but has
now become a much broader based “softgoods”
company. The company produces ten different mattress
products, including four innerspring units and six other
styles that are more typical futon mattress configurations.
More importantly, the firm manufactures three lines
which they call “non-conventional cushions”,
and “The QuickSlip,™” a new slipcover
design that includes some creative sewing and cushioning.
The first item is the Tri-versal - a solid cushion
with the look of a three cushion sofa; the second is
the Gatsby Series™ - a futon cushion system in
four faux leather colors (black, hunter green, oxblood,
and bone) and three classic fabrics from Chris Stone
(hunter green, sangria and tiki); and the third is the
Dynasty Leather Series™ - a 100% real leather cushion
system in three colors (black, hunter green, and oxblood)
that acts like a futon but looks like a traditional
sofa.
“When dealers see these products they don’t
realize they are looking at a futon furniture product,”
said Sheppard. And that seems to be the point. Futon
dealers, at least those that understand the product,
can sell the more typical looking futon furniture as
well as these new variations. But for those dealers
who don’t understand the category, or don’t
believe their customers will buy a “futon”
product these new fashion based solutions from Big Sleep
may help ease any resistance at both the dealer and
consumer levels. These new items may also enhance the
opportunity for any dealer to reach a broader base of
customers who are looking for a sofa sleeper, but have
ruled out or at best have never considered futon furniture
as a solution to their dual purpose needs.
“We want to be able to offer any furniture store,
specialty store, bedding store an upscale alternative
sit and sleep product that just happens to be a futon,”
Sheppard said.
With the depth and breadth of the Big Tree/Big Sleep
line as a basis for growth I like the group’s chances
of reaching those retailers who have not yet bought
into the futon concept. These dealers are mainstream
and have up to now only dabbled in our category. Cardi’s
Furniture, a local mega-retailer in Southern New England,
has recently picked up the Big Tree frame line and a
Big Sleep cover program. In the past they carried one
or two lower end promotional items, but have recently
gone upscale. Cardi’s is a prime example of a store
that has finally taken a closer look at these products
and as Sheppard added, “It has become much too
large a category for them not to look at it.”
Futon furniture is slowly finding its way into the
main stream and it’s companies like Big Tree and
Big Sleep, with their high level of creativity at every
stage of the process, that are helping to take us there.
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