The Knockoffs Are Coming

The first time I went to High Point, back in 1984, I went to the Design Center to see the view from the top floor down. I vividly remember an older man in a suit who was literally yelling to futon buyers and anyone who would listen that he had stolen the design for his futon chairs from Herman Miller. “Knocked them off, and I didn’t pay a dime,” he loudly proclaimed. “Look at these futon chairs...beautiful, and they’re just as good. And they cost half as much. What do you think of that?”

I asked the person I was with what all the fuss was about. He told me that some people create designs and other people produce products. In other words, some people are designers and other people are manufacturers. It seemed that in this fellow’s case he had obviously stolen a design idea and had created a marketable product. It didn’t seem right at the time but I was told that’s the way it was done. As time has gone by I have developed a much keener sense about these things from my own experience. It seems that some people are good at coming up with concepts and ideas and other people are good at producing them. In some cases the creator of the idea actually produces it. But many times the idea person is not the best person to produce the idea.

Like the rest of the home furnishings industry the futon category has its share of creative people who produce what they believe in and its share of “idea thieves” who just make what sells. The important question though isn’t, “What does it look like?” but rather, “How is it made?”

I am convinced that shrewd and savvy futon retailers are more interested in seeing improvements in futon frame design and quality workmanship than they are having a couple of bucks shaved off their cost by cheapening an already emaciated product.

Bottom line: Futon manufacturers and futon store owners who treat this category like a commodity will never take us where we want to go, i.e., real legitimacy in the home furnishings industry, and success at all levels of retail. Commodity players are in it for the short haul, and the quick buck. Look for the companies who are committed to quality and value, and who are showing you how they improved their product, even though it will cost you a little more. Remember what your parents said: You get what you pay for.

A Futon Web of Confusion

In two recent issues of Furniture Today, two furniture e-commerce stories told of some big goings on at furniture.com. and furniturepoint.com. These two seemingly very large online e-tailers are attempting to woo web customers to their very elaborate sites to buy what most people go shopping for at a futon furniture store. But that’s only the beginning of the story.

In this week’s Futon industry Standard, a trade book for web developers and internet industry news, the cover story tells of $2 billion, 300 million sku, furniture maker Herman Miller, and their move to go direct to consumers on the internet.

First, the company’s 400 contract dealers saw a threat to their business, and secondly the company’s 200 consumer retailers, including the likes of Crate & Barrel and Office Depot, cried foul. Herman Miller was setting the stage to side-step traditional channels and develop new ones, on their own.

Is this the future of the web? Will furniture and other futon manufacturers make the same decisions to open new channels to their customers - to buy futons online - via the web, bypassing the traditional futon retailer? My answer is yes, they have to. A new era is here. You can lead, follow or get out of the way. Herman Miller, as usual, is leading.

FL