Furniture News #386

#386 November 2021 www.furniturenews.net

BEST OF THREE Emma Select’s personalised sleep solutions

Sustainable seating Upholstery’s green pioneers speak up BED SHOW | AUTUMN FURNITURE SHOW ECO CONSCIOUS | RETAIL FINANCE OUTDOOR | TRADE SERVICES

Vivense plots rapid retail expansion Karl Walker on Lebus’ succession strategy

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IT’S REFRESHING TO SEE A BUSINESS PUT STAFF RETENTION AND REWARD AT THE TOP OF ITS AGENDA It seems stocking fillers and turkey roasts might be a little thin on the ground this Christmas, as the haulage and meatpacking sectors face punishing (and widely publicised) labour shortages.

And I’m sure they won’t be the last. There may be plenty of job vacancies out there, but right now we’re facing an acute mismatch between demand and supply.

I won’t try to assign blame for this impending crisis – to Government, Brexit, Covid-19 or anything else – but I would suggest that its roots run deeper than the mainstream media might have us believe. In the UK furniture industry, the ‘skills gap’ – the discrepancy between the abilities needed to fulfil particular jobs and those which are actually available – has been widening for many years. From framemakers and sewing machinists to finishers and designers, the industry has seen recruitment slow to a trickle.

While the pressure has prompted some action – the creation of apprenticeship programmes, in-house academies, and associations such as FIESTA (the Furniture and Interiors Education, Skills and Training Alliance) – taken alone, these initiatives will only help tip the wheel ahead of the impending car crash.

So, given this mounting (and, let’s face it, not particularly headline-grabbing) crisis, it’s thoroughly refreshing to see a business put staff retention and reward at the top of its agenda, instead of chasing short-term gains.

Preoccupied with daily challenges, the management at Scunthorpe’s Lebus Upholstery hadn’t paid much attention to succession planning – until the pandemic struck, and a novel solution presented itself. Now an Employee Owned Trust (EOT),

Lebus is seeing greater buy-in from staff at every level. Productivity is up (particularly handy at this time of year), and the new structure is having a positive influence on recruitment.

With labour shortages in such sharp focus, it’s clearly time that this serious issue was taken a good deal more seriously – so it’s heartening to see businesses like Lebus coming up with their own solutions.

Read my interview with MD Karl Walker on p14 – and discover how other managers value and reward their employees on p82.

From p46, this month’s issue comes back to another looming crisis, as we explore how key personnel in the UK upholstery sector are pioneering more eco-conscious paths to sustainable manufacture. Here, spokespeople from the likes of Sofology, Swyft and Whitemeadow outline how they are striving to make a difference through their product offers, from cradle to grave.

We also meet Claudio Deidda, who is spearheading the UK expansion of Turkish retail powerhouse Vivense (p10), learn from consultant Gordon Hecht why “free” might not be the best way to pitch a sale (p76), and look at the latest retail finance packages (p66) and outdoor furniture designs (p60).

On top of all that, after spending a few weeks getting out and about again (and it’s been great to catch up with so many of you in person), we present reports from the Autumn Furniture Show (p22) and the Bed Show (p26, with our Bed Industry Awards round-up on p30). All eyes now turn to next year’s gatherings – most notably the January Furniture Show at the NEC (together with the return of The Furniture Awards).

See you there!

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We all sleep better with a clear conscience.

Our vision for the bed industry in 2021 and beyond is clear – we want to make it right.

How? By setting standards and driving ethics, transparency and responsibility.

By championing excellence in bed-making and selling, and supporting sustainability.

And by educating consumers on how a good bed can improve their sleep Because when we do, everyone sleeps better at night.

If you’re a manufacturer, components supplier or retailer, find out how the NBF can help you at B E D F E D. O R G . U K

5

CONTENTS

#386 November 2021 www.furniturenews.net

07 NEWS BEST OF THREE

10 INSIGHT

Emma Select’s personalised sleep solutions

10 Vivense / 14 Lebus Upholstery / 16 Fibreline

20

Sustainable seating Upholstery’s green pioneers speak up BED SHOW | AUTUMN FURNITURE SHOW ECO CONSCIOUS | RETAIL FINANCE OUTDOOR | TRADE SERVICES

Vivense plots rapid retail expansion Karl Walker on Lebus’ succession strategy

FN386_Pages1.indd 1

21/10/2021 11:48

42 EMMA SLEEP (COVER FEATURE)

EVENTS

20 Long Point / 22 Autumn Furniture Show / 26 Bed Show

42 PRODUCTS 46 Eco conscious / 60 Outdoor / 66 Retail finance 70 Trade services

CONTRIBUTORS 54

Tiffany Kelly, founder, Beyond Bamboo

76 OPINION 76 Free rein / 78 The supply snare 81 Partner comment / 82 Feedback

10

76

Gordon Hecht, business growth and development consultant

78

Lindsay Ellis, partner, Wright Hassall

WE SEE A VERY STRONG AFFINITY BETWEEN OUR BUSINESS PROPOSITION AND THE UK AUDIENCE

THE

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NEWS

READ MORE AT WWW.FURNITURENEWS.NET

Harrison Spinks has been awarded Investors in People’s ‘We invest in people’ standard accreditation, after demonstrating its leadership and management practices

Happy Beds, a West Yorkshire independent, has been awarded Retail Campaign of the Year in the UK Biddable Retail Awards. Happy Beds has achieved an +800% increase in annual revenue in just three years

BFM’s latest Economic Review suggests that the strong rebound in economic growth shown in Q2 is now waning, with recovery being impacted by labour and supply shortages, rising material and fuel costs, and public money being diverted to social activities

The European Bedding Industry Association (EBIA) has appointed Geert Geerkens, sales and marketing director at Belgium’s Veldeman Group, as its new president, after long-term leader Frank Verschuere (MD of LS Bedding) announced his retirement

Fox Williams LLP’s annual, free-to-attend agentlaw seminar will be held at 10 Finsbury Square, on 10th November, and will cover topics such as: how agents terminated for failing to reach sales targets can fight back; how suppliers can squeeze out underperforming distributors; the extent of disclosure in litigation; and what’s in store for 2022

READ MORE ONLINE AT FURNITURENEWS.NET

7

SCS REPORTS STRONG RECOVERY Gross sales at ScS across the 53 weeks ended 31st July 2021 increased by +21% to £324.5m (£268.1m in 2020), reports the retailer in its audited preliminary results, while revenue was up +21.6% to £310.6m.

Gross profit increased +22.9% to £147.0m, while operating profit stood at £26.8m. Profit before tax was £22.7m, up significantly from a loss of £3.1m in 2020.

The results include business rates relief of £10.2m, but no CJRS benefits.

LFL order intake was down just -1.5%, despite ScS’ stores being closed for 17 weeks in 2021, compared with nine weeks in 2020 (and down just -6.5% on 2019). Online sales increased by +146% to £46.9m.

CEO Steve Carson comments: “Trading since the start of the new financial year has remained strong, with two year LFL order intake growth of +11.9% for the nine weeks to 2nd October 2021.

One-year LFL orders have fallen -21% as a result

of the significant bounce following the lockdown in the prior year. However, we are cognisant of the ongoing challenges we, and many other businesses, are facing with regards to the supply chain, including driver shortages, raw material increases and shipping costs and delays.”

NEXT EYES POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOLLOWING H1 GROWTH Brand full-price sales were up +8.8% Yo2Y for the six months to July 2021, reports Next, which achieved a profit before tax of £347m (+5.9% Yo2Y).

The retailer states that its “gloomiest projections, made at the nadir of the crisis, were a long way off the mark”, and that the combination of high online sales and April’s retail bounce-back proved far stronger than anticipated.

Brand total sales were up +8.4% Yo2Y. Full-price Home sales grew +170%, from £17m in July 2019 to £45m in July 2021.

Full-price sales in the first eight weeks of H2 were up +20% Yo2Y. Next is increasing its full-price sales guidance for the rest of the year to be up +10% Yo2Y, with forecast profit before tax now £800m, up +6.9% Yo2Y. Next expects to close 13 mainline stores this year, only three of which came as a result of being unable to agree acceptable new terms with landlords. The

retailer plans to open eight new clearance stores, with an average lease term of three years.

Average selling price inflation in the current season is running at around +2%, with price rises focused mainly on larger Home products. Next anticipates selling price inflation of around +2.5% in the first half of 2022, and that inflationary pressures in shipping will begin to ease through H2. Next expects cost price inflation in H122 to average at +2.5%, with homeware prices rising by +6%.

“Stepping back from the noise of day-to-day trading, the longer-term outlook for Next appears to be more positive than it has been for many years,” says chief executive, Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise. “There are two reasons for this optimism.

Firstly, the financial drag of our retail business has diminished. Secondly, within the last two years the scale and breadth of our online opportunities have materially increased.”

BUYING GROUP APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR Emma Rackley has been appointed director of furniture and home at buying group AIS, replacing Julian Cox, who has decided to leave the business.

Emma boasts a wealth of industry experience, having held a range of roles from junior buyer to category manager with the likes of Leekes, Furniture Village and Shop Direct, plus her most recent role as group commercial director at Bensons.

“Furniture and home are very important categories to AIS and its members, so we’re delighted that Emma has joined AIS, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry to continue the sterling work of Julian Cox, who

regretfully resigned from the business earlier this year,” says AIS MD, Sue Kemp. “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Julian for his commitment, professionalism and the value that he added thoughout his time with AIS. Emma will work with Julian for the remainder of the year, getting to know the business, meeting members and suppliers.”

Also at AIS, Rebecca Maloy and Rachel Brown have taken up new roles following the departure of Gary Thompson. After two-and-a-half years looking after AIS’ cabinet division, Rebecca will now also take control of the buying group’s beds division, while Rachel will manage upholstery while retaining responsibility for sofabeds and garden furniture.

8

NEWS

READ MORE AT WWW.FURNITURENEWS.NET

MODA LIGHTS UP OLD TRAFFORD Manchester-based retailer Moda Outdoor Furnishings has topped off another year of growth with the opening of its flagship store in its home city. The company, which is backed by private equity investor Endless, has invested more than £500,000 in the new 7000ft2, glass-fronted store in Old Trafford.The two-storey unit contains the UK’s first ‘sensory room’ furniture display area, which allows it to showcase firepits and outdoor lighting.

Located at Castlemore Retail Park, at the crossroads of Chester Road and White City Drive, near to Old Trafford football ground, the store is just a short distance from the city centre, and on one of the busiest commuter routes to the south of the city.

Founded by CEO Jonny Brierley in 2014, Moda has seen “exceptional” growth over the last six years. With annual sales expected to top £35m in the FY ended last month (up from £24.5m in 2020) the company now employs 122 people across its Manchester headquarters and destination

showrooms in Manchester, London, Cheltenham and Milton Keynes.

Moda is a digital-first business, with over 70% of its revenues derived from ecommerce and digitally assisted sales. However, further openings are planned for 2022, and Jonny is particularly proud to be investing in the company’s northern heartland – particularly given the high levels of retail closures in recent years.

DUNELM ENJOYS GROWTH AGAINST STRONG COMPARATIVES In a trading update covering its Q1 (ended 25th September, 2021), Dunelm reports continued strong growth across its total retail system, plus market share gains.

Total sales in the quarter increased by +8.3% against a very strong comparative period in FY21, when sales grew by +36.7%. Dunelm says this performance was mainly driven by the positive customer response to its summer sale in July (which was postponed from Q4 FY21), improved product availability and some popular new ranges in the retailer’s furniture categories.

Given the strength of the comparative period, which benefited from some pent-up demand following store closures during the first national lockdown, Dunelm is especially pleased to have grown sales across its total retail system during the

quarter, with digital sales up +20%.

As of 25th September, the group had net cash of £209m and access to £175m of approved banking facilities which remain unutilised. Inventories at the end of the period were £168m, with good levels of availability across most of Dunelm’s product categories.

However, Dunelm admits that the macro outlook remains uncertain, in particular regarding supply chain disruption and inflationary pressures from freight and driver shortages – Dunelm continues to work closely with its long-term suppliers and partners to mitigate the impact of these factors, and, given its good stock levels, a low proportion of seasonal ranges, and its customers’ higher propensity to substitute products within homewares categories, feels relatively well placed to manage them.

SWEDISH INVESTOR BUYS MAJORITY STAKE IN JULIAN BOWEN Storskogen, a listed Swedish company that acquires and manages enterprises within various business areas, purchased a majority stake in UK supplier Julian Bowen Ltd on 14th October.

According to Julian Bowen MD Emmett Lenaghan, this investment in the supplier’s management team and staff will “fully support the company’s existing business model and assist with its future growth plans”. Emmett, and buying director Mark Pickup, will stay in their existing senior roles and, alongside Jonathan Bowen, will remain members of the company’s board. Emmett says he is excited to begin working with Storskogen, and believes that its wide expertise within trade and ecommerce will benefit the company. “We are delighted that Storskogen have chosen to partner with us,” he says. “Their

support and expertise will be highly beneficial as we continue to deliver our ambitious plans for the company.”

This is Storskogen’s second UK acquisition, after SGS Engineering. EVP and head of business area, trade, Christer Hansson, says: “Throughout our discussions, we have been immensely impressed with Julian Bowen, in particular their extensive ecommerce operations and capacity to innovate in partnership with customers and suppliers. Julian Bowen is an ideal partner for Storskogen, and we will continue to support the expansion of their flexible and dynamic customer offering.”

At the end of H121, Storskogen consisted of 94 business units with approximately 7000 employees and a trailing annual turnover (RTM) of some £1.6b.

Dreams’ current COO Jonathan Hirst will become CEO of the business on 1st January 2022, following Mike Logue’s decision to step down after leading the business for eight transformative years.

Mike will remain with the business until the end of December

Bernard Deheegher, the “face of Belgian furniture”, who represented Fedustria’s export division, BelgoFurn, at exhibitions at home and overseas for many years, passed away on 13th October, aged 70

Barker and Stonehouse’s annual golf competition has raised £10,000 for industry charity The Furniture Makers’ Company

Harrison Spinks’ group chairman, Simon Spinks, has been awarded the Ambassador accolade at The Business Desk’s Yorkshire Business Masters Awards

Dreams has revealed Sleep Like Log, a new brand campaign fronted by inanimate spokesperson, Log

Furniture Village opened a brand-new store at Sheffield’s Drakehouse Retail Park on 23rd October. The store boasts 17,875ft2 of retail space across two floors Bensons for Beds’ head of property Darren Scott, together with six property sector colleagues, completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in September, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

READ MORE ONLINE AT FURNITURENEWS.NET

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10

INSIGHT

WE STRONGLY BELIEVE IN CONNECTING WITH OUR AUDIENCE, AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID OF GOING THE EXTRA MILE FOR THEM

Steve Reid

11

TURKISH DELIGHT In June, fueled by a $130m investment, mid-level designer furniture and homewares retailer Vivense opened its UK flagship store – on Borough High Street, Southwark. Already operating through 82 showrooms in Turkey, the Istanbul-based business, founded in 2013 as an online pureplay, is plotting rapid UK and European expansion, reveals the MD of Vivense London, Claudio Deidda … www.vivenselondon.com

12

INSIGHT

How did Vivense come about?

Vivense is an inspiring story of entrepreneurship and friendship. One of the first experiences of our founder and CEO Kemal was helping a German incubator fund a company to enter the furniture Turkish market.

When the company decided to leave Turkey, Kemal believed it was the right time to follow his entrepreneur calling.

He decided to look for investment and started his own venture along with longtime friends – Vivense was founded in 2013, and has been growing ever since.

The name itself comes from the Italian ‘vivente’, which means lively – it was picked for its positive energy and international suitability.

Where does the brand sit in the contemporary interiors marketplace?

Vivense can be identified as a mid-range brand in terms of pricing, although we believe the quality of our products is slightly superior to what we identify to be our direct competition. Our offer sits in between the variety of choice you might find in a marketplace, and the more curated art direction you might find in a classic retailer.

We want our products to be accessible and tasteful, while also offering enough choice to suit a wider range of customer preferences.

Claudio Deidda

What enabled Vivense to gain such a strong foothold in Turkey?

Turkey has a strong tradition at manufacturing furniture. Over the past eight years, we built relationships and partnerships with a large number of manufacturers, which enabled us to offer customers enough choice for them to consider Vivense a one-stop shop for their household.

Why and how did you approach the UK market?

The UK is one of the biggest markets in Europe, hence a benchmark for any company willing to grow internationally.

We see the UK as a challenge and as an opportunity.

Vivense started as an ecommerce business before adding the showrooms to support the omnichannel experience – we see a very strong affinity between our business proposition and the UK audience.

What was the biggest challenge of taking your brand international?

I believe for any international brand the challenge is about deploying locally a strategy that has been, very likely, planned globally. Our target is to meet the specific needs of customers locally while keeping the right consistency at a global level. Customer experience, product selection, messaging, logistics … all these elements might have different requirements according to different tastes, cultures etc – but finding that right balance is what makes companies successful internationally.

For us, having a history of success already means this process will also be about cherrypicking the right

excellences to scale fast and quickly assess what needs to be changed in each local market.

Tell us more about the London store – what sets it apart?

We sometimes refer to our first London showroom, in Borough, as a ‘museum’.

The space was designed to showcase not only our most representative products, but also our brand values themselves. We only have a limited number of roomsets, but they represent what we call “a good life with Vivense” – spaces that not only look nice and tasteful, but are equally welcoming and functional.

The next showroom opening will be in Richmond. It will be different in style and size, developed over two floors and with a more pronounced retail accent to better accommodate the requirements of the footfall from the area. Still, there will be common elements with our Borough style guides – the showrooms will look like siblings, but not twins.

Give us an idea of the breadth of product you offer …

One of the strongest points of Vivense has historically been our catalogue. We want to leverage this strength in the UK too, offering a wide choice of products

13 ranging from furniture to accessories, through lighting, rugs and outdoors.

We are planning for about 100 categories to be live on the website – in the next 12 months we plan to have 50,000 items available for sale, before growing from there. Our category management team is thoroughly assessing the most suitable collections for the market, with an eye on also developing some dedicated ranges for the UK. Is your product primarily made in Turkey? If so, what are the benefits?

At the moment, the vast majority of our suppliers are based in Turkey, as it was our first market and is still our biggest.

The choice of using the same suppliers for international expansion comes from our confidence in their capacity to manufacture at large scale while maintaining quality.

We have built our relationships for over eight years now, and it is very important for us to work with partners we can trust, so that our customers can trust us. Today, we have around 1000 suppliers, and we are aiming to double that number over the next few years.

The initial response in the UK seems to suggest we have made the right choice.

Was the transition from ecommerce to physical retail a difficult one?

Rather than a transition, at Vivense we see physical retail as part of the same omnichannel journey. For some items, a pureplay online proposition might not be the most desired experience – as much as we all love ecommerce, the feeling, touching and smelling cannot happen through a website or an app (yet!).

For this reason, our choice is to offer our customers the chance of a more sensorial option should it make them more comfortable with our products and brand.

How does having a physical presence lift your brand above its competitors?

It’s all about the customers. In London we are now offering a free interior design service, combining our expertise

in home living with helping our clients choose the most suitable products for their space. We strongly believe in connecting with our audience, and we are not afraid of going – quite literally – the extra mile for them.

What attracts consumers to Vivense, and what does your typical customer look like?

In a nutshell, the fact our products are accessible, tasteful and functional.

We realised some of our bestsellers seemed to have been tailored around the typical London house. As a result, our typical customer ranges from the young professional looking for a fresh, modern style for their flat, to the interior designer falling in love with some of our collections. However, we’ve also had quite a few customers asking our interior designers for bigger house restyling.

Can you outline your ambitions for the UK? Our ambition is for the UK to become one of the strongest market for Vivense.

We have allocated a significant budget to make it happen, and we are looking for specific investment as we speak.

Furthermore, with Vivense transitioning

WE SEE A VERY STRONG AFFINITY BETWEEN OUR BUSINESS PROPOSITION AND THE UK AUDIENCE

to a global company, we are planning to make London our European headquarters in the coming months. We believe the UK will become our flagship market shortly after.

How do you plan to market your activities here?

Growth will be our main objective for the next few years, so our activities will be aimed at reaching as many potential customers, and introducing ourselves.

At the same time, by being new to the market, we are aware a strong brand awareness exercise will be required for us to better connect with our audience and earn their trust.

How is the brand set to grow in Turkey and elsewhere, and will your international experiences inform what you do in the UK? In Turkey, we’ve reached a stage where Vivense is looking at more mainstream, offline advertisement, as our online visibility has almost plateaued in the past few months. While it is a nice problem to have, it is also a challenge we are all very excited about.

In general, having already been successful in the past is a great advantage when entering a new market.

We can leverage the positive experiences, and learn from the negatives. At the same time, it will be important to have the reasons behind our previous achievements clear in our minds, assess if the same conditions apply elsewhere, and be ready to embrace the challenges new markets (always) put in front of us

14

INSIGHT

THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESSION When the day-to-day workload is allconsuming, it’s understandable that some fail to consider long-term staffing strategies until it’s too late – but for British sofa supremo Lebus Upholstery, the answer came at just the right time.

Paul Farley discovers why MD Karl Walker believes his business is now in “the best shape ever” … www.lebus.co.uk

In 2018, Lebus’ managers were approached by an outside party interested in acquiring the business.

“Being so busy at the coalface, we hadn’t even considered selling up before that,” recalls Karl Walker. “As it turned out, the offer just didn’t sit comfortably with us, so we walked away.”

More out of curiosity than anything else, Lebus kept in touch with accounts advisor Grant Thornton in the months that followed, and was duly informed of interests from a number of parties, both venture capitalists and trade buyers.

Might Karl and his colleagues consider an amalgamation, or even an outright trade sale?

Again, the answer was a resounding ‘no’. “We associate private equity with short-term burn and debt,” says Karl.

“Having come out of the Christie Tyler debacle in the early 2000s, we were

I’VE ALREADY WITNESSED A FAR HIGHER LEVEL OF COLLEAGUE BUY-IN

all a bit scarred … it would have been easy to take the private equity route, but it probably would’ve seen the assets stripped out of the business, and it relocating it away from the Scunthorpe area.

“We didn’t want to disrupt the day-to-day running of the business, or disappear into the sunset and play golf! Yes, a sale would’ve been far more beneficial for the shareholders, but I don’t think any party could guarantee maintaining volumes or minimising impact.

“It can be easy to get blase about numbers and figures on paper, but seeing a full car park each morning, knowing there’s more than 500 people on site, you have to acknowledge your responsibilities. There’s a moral obligation to the local community.”

Yet a change was necessary. Having grown from a £15m-turnover business in 2005 to £55m, significant potential remained – but, like much of the industry, Lebus’ chiefs were, to a man, all approaching retirement age. Who would take charge once they were gone?

“In truth, none of us had seriously looked at succession,” Karl admits. “It’s the smallest, tightest board I’ve ever been involved in, and a very successful business – but we’d shied away from developing a clear, long-term strategy.

And all the suitors we spoke to had a complete lack of understanding when it came to the upholstery sector.”

Coupled with these reservations was a mounting recruitment crisis, accelerated by Brexit yet fundamentally driven by a lack of new blood entering the industry. “It was evident that recruitment and labour retention was going to be a serious challenge,” says Karl. “We’d already implemented our apprenticeship academy and looked locally – and aggressively – to train the next generation of workers rather than relying on skilled EU labour, which was diminishing rapidly.”

INFORMING INDUSTRY, BUILDING BUSINESS 15 Ashley Pasha

Then Covid struck, and any talk of sales or amalgamations ceased. The global situation changed rapidly, and national manufacturers suddenly had an edge over their international rivals.

For Lebus, trading proved strong despite the nation being in lockdown, reaching levels of 50-60% and proving that the brand worked online as well as in-store.

“Then it went stratospheric,” says Karl.

Throughout all this upheaval and pressure, a different path came steadily into focus. Promoted by the UK Government since 2012, the Employee Owned Trust (EOT) model indirectly confers ownership of a business upon its employees. As well as offering a long-term framework which supports growth and staff retention, EOTs mean tax breaks and employee bonuses.

Not dissimilar in principle to the John Lewis Partnership, and a direction taken by retailer Richer Sounds in 2019 (“I admire Julian Richer a lot,” adds Karl), it seemed the obvious solution.

“Timing is everything,” says Karl.

“When we’d first explored the EOT route, container costs were £3000, and there was ample Eastern European labour – but, thanks to Covid-19, the supply chain was coming closer to home. The potential for growth was huge, but staffing was critical if we were going to stand a chance of managing the additional capacity and volumes, given the perfect storm raging around us.

In July, Lebus’ shareholders took the decision to sell 100% of their shareholding to their employees, the board members all remaining in situ and “fully committed to the business”.

Karl described the EOT as “the perfect compromise”, ensuring “the continuity and integrity of the business, while fully engaging a committed workforce in the knowledge that they will all share in the future success of the company”.

A few months down the line, and some of the benefits are already coming to light.

“The new approach has already proved itself in operations, which are working so well – HR, compliance and

factory management are now seeing the benefits of this approach,” Karl explains.

“It’s allowed us to get our key managers involved with onward strategy, while developing a sensible exit plan for the key operators – all while maintaining the business’ existing DNA, and providing bonuses for everyone.

“We’ve already witnessed a far higher level of colleague buy-in, with productivity going up, and younger staff engaging more closely with us, knowing they have a long-term future and eager to make a difference themselves – you can feel the connection.”

Recruitment remains a challenge.

Having hired 70 new members of staff already this year, Karl would like to see capacity bolstered by a further 20-25%, eyeing “double-digit growth” if executed effectively. But although the local

competition for labour is fierce (Next, DFS and Wren all have manufacturing facilities nearby), Karl believes that the lure of the EOT could prove attractive.

“It’s already had a positive influence on attracting new members of senior management,” he says. “Once it starts to wash through to the factory floor, hopefully we’ll really see the benefits.”

For now, though, Karl is simply looking to make the biggest possible impact at 2022’s January Furniture Show. “In the short to medium term, there’ll be no changes at all,” says Karl, now no longer a 25% shareholder, but an employee of the trust.

He says it’s “business as usual” at Lebus. Yet it rather appears that the decision to entrust employees with company ownership, rather than just chasing the money, is far from it

A SALE WOULD’VE BEEN FAR MORE BENEFICIAL FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS, BUT I DON’T THINK ANY PARTY COULD GUARANTEE MAINTAINING VOLUMES OR MINIMISING IMPACT

16

INSIGHT

MORE THAN A FILLING Founded in 1982, Yorkshire’s Fibreline is now the UK’s largest independently owned upholstery cushion fillings manufacturer, best known for its Encore line of fibre, feather and foam fillings.

This month, MD Richard Prudhoe tells Furniture News why manufacturers need to have all their ducks in a row right now … www.fibreline-ltd.co.uk

PEOPLE ARE REALISING THAT ‘LOW PRICE’ DOES NOT MEAN VALUE FOR MONEY

What significant developments have there been at Fibreline over the past 18 months?

The last 18 months have been challenging on so many fronts that we’ve had to develop and adapt our products and processes in many ways. I think, though, that our continued focus on investing in technological advances, at the same time as investing in our people’s skills, continues to be our focus.

The introduction of degree apprentices to the business reflects this commitment. We now have four degree apprentices within the business, and we plan to take on two each year going forward. Bringing new blood into the industry is essential if it is to develop and survive in the years to come.

How have the supply chain issues affecting the industry impacted Fibreline?

The supply chain has been, quite simply, horrendous. The foam shortages 18 months ago started the process off, and things have not recovered since. Our current challenge, as for many, is the issues around the container shipping of key raw materials. For us, that is causing problems, both in availability and the cost of feather and polyester fibre. We do not see this improving until well into next year – and now we are seeing huge hikes in the price of raw feather, as the Chinese reduce their consumption of duck and move to pork.

Honestly, you could not write it!

Richard Prudhoe

How have manufacturer demands changed?

We have seen a steady increase in demand for our combination range of Encore fillings. Price is always important, but people are now realising that ‘low price’ does not mean value for money. We are therefore seeing customers wanting higher-value-added fillings that provide comfort but also great performance over time.

How has your eco-friendly FibreFill Blue filling been received by the industry?

We are starting to see an increasing conversation around sustainability and

recycling. For us, that is not really a new story. We installed solar panels on the factory five years ago, and have offered fibre made from plastic bottles since the day we started in 1982 (and over 95% of our waste from production goes for recycling).

FibreFill Blue is made from GRScertified recycled polyester fibre. It has been well received by those customers who are now also focusing on the sustainability of the furniture they make.

How are the characteristics/benefits of your products conveyed to the consumer?

The characteristics of our basic range of fibre, feather and foam fillings are pretty well understood by our customers. We are reliant on retailers explaining the benefits of the combination Encore fillings. These are FIRA Gold-certified products, and we offer supporting sales literature for those retailers that would like to make use of them.

What are you working on right now?

We have several continuous improvement projects on the go all the time in the business. And yes, we are working on new products, too. But right now, I am trying to decide between getting my HGV licence or breeding ducks – I’m not sure which will result in the better supply of the feathers that we need in 2022 …

Marks & Spencer + Threespine = Click!

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23-26 Jan 2022

NEC, Birmingham

January Furniture Show returns to the NEC 23-26 January 2022!

We look forward to welcoming you back to the NEC after all this time for an amazing line up of brands, old industry favourites and some new names to add to the mix.

Find leading brands in the following sectors LIVING | DINING | UPHOLSTERY | CABINET | BEDS | INTERIORS | SOFT FURNISHINGS | FLOORING | FABRICS | ACCESSORIES | CONTRACT SECTOR | SUPPORT SERVICES Some key names already confirmed include WHITE MEADOW | DEVONSHIRE LIVING | WESTBRIDGE FURNITURE DESIGNS | BAKER FURNITURE | GALLERY DIRECT | KETTLE INTERIORS | BUOYONT UPHOLSTERY | BREASLEY UK | LA-Z-BOY UK |PARKER KNOLL UPHOLSTERY | SHANKAR UK | VIDA LIVING

And many more…

m

Visit januaryfurnitureshow.com to find out more and register for your FREE TICKET

20

EVENTS

TO THE POINT 5th Avenue, Gascoigne Designs

Reporting a marked increase in new visitors, this autumn’s Long Point show offered buyers and sellers alike an initimate, hospitable backdrop in which to do business … www.longeatonguild.co.uk

Lennon, Siren Furniture

Part of show venue Harrington Mill is now for sale

Angus, Hunter Knight Upholstery

Odessa, Richmond Interiors (Richard Stamp Agencies)

“Long Point was excellent, and we’ve had very positive feedback from our exhibitors,” confirms Andrew Mitchell, the chair of the show’s organising body, the Long Eaton Guild of Furniture Manufacturers, and MD of Artistic Upholstery. “As a business, we too saw several new customers, all of whom placed orders.”

Long Eaton’s biannual product showcase featured 30 UK and international upholstery, cabinet, bedroom, fabric and lifestyle accessory brands, including event newcomers Alstons, Nicoletti Home and Richmond Interiors, plus fabric producers Warwick and Wemyss.

Paul Walsh, representing Nicoletti Home in the UK and Ireland, says: “We had a very solid show, presenting to some of the biggest and best retailers in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

We achieved our objectives for the Long Point exhibition, and look forward to the show in May 2022.”

Orders placed after the event by committed retailers underlined the success of Richmond Interiors’

relaunch, says the brand’s UK agent, Richard Stamp: “We look forward to the spring show, where we will also bring one of our other high-end agencies, Brees New World, to the exhibition.

They really want to increase their UK presence – especially as they have pulled out of the shows in Brussels and Cologne – in order to get delivery times down to a very acceptable 6-8 weeks.”

David Gascoigne, MD of Gascoigne Designs, adds: “Surprisingly, Long Point attendance was very good, and we saw many customers traveling from as far as North Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands. Sales were also better than expected – most areas in the furniture trade are experiencing their largest intake of orders for many years, and we are on target for this year to be our best ever.”

Show visitors were eligible to enter a prize draw for a £1500 Belmont gift voucher, redeemable against various holiday experiences. The MP for Erewash, Maggie Throup, drew the winning business card following the show – this time the prize went to Richard Webb, of Webbs of Crickhowell, Powys.

On another note, property forming part of the show’s central venue, Harrington Mill, is currently for sale.

The offer comprises several floors of showroom and office space across a total of some 21,958ft2 – see the opposite page for details.

Long Point will return in the spring, from 16-18th May 2022

INVESTMENT PROPERTY FOR SALE

HIGH QUALITY LONG LEASEHOLD FURNITURE SHOWROOMS AND OFFICE Harrington Mill, Leopold Street, Long Eaton, Nottingham NG10 4QE This property forms part of the unique, former lace mill building, known as Harrington Mills and comprises ground, first, second, third floors plus attic accommodation. Currently used as high quality furniture showrooms with a part floor laid out to high quality, open plan offices and amounting to some 21,958 sq ft of Gross Internal Area.

Held by way of 7 individual long leaseholds, with effectively a minimum of 110 years unexpired and underlet to 8 income producing, occupational tenants.

For further details and marketing particulars please contact David Smeeton (07785 253 059) or Rachel Dixon (07947 012 842) at Smeeton & Dixon Consultancy Limited smeets@smeetondixon.com

22

EVENTS AUTUMN FURNITURE SHOW

FALL HOUSE Last month saw the Autumn Furniture Show return to NAEC Stoneleigh Park, offering two days of buying across a strong complement of exhibiting suppliers … www.theautumnfurnitureshow.co.uk

This year’s Autumn Furniture Show delivered record attendance, says Roy Beagent, group business manager at show organiser Minerva Furniture Group: “Great efforts were made by the exhibitors, with a high standard of stand presentations along with a wide range of products. This was significantly appreciated by all.”

Bluebone director Sam Jackson and sales manager Elaine Anderson receive the exhibition’s Best Stand Award from show organiser Minerva Furniture Group

From dining, living and bedroom furniture to beds, upholstery, accessories and services, the show reflected a good deal of the growth and product innovation that had taken place behind closed doors in recent years, giving buyers across the board another opportunity to get back to doing business in person.

“We received many comments from visitors and exhibitors congratulating us on the event’s success,” Roy concludes.

The next Autumn Furniture Show will take place on 4-5th October 2022, again at Stoneleigh Park.

Dorset Putty

DEVONSHIRE

www.devonshireliving.co.uk

Devonshire’s facility in Bideford

Having only attended the NEC furniture shows in the past, Devonshire broke with tradition to attend this year’s Autumn Furniture Show. “With it being a more compact show compared to the NEC, it had a more personal feel, and we had plenty of visitors to our stand, new and current,” says MD Andy Waddell.

“We took nine ranges to the show that we knew we could supply to customers immediately. We wanted retailers to be able to sell Devonshire products with full confidence, knowing that they wouldn’t be letting their customers down. All in all, our product and stockholding was very well received.”

Andy says that Devonshire is now in a good position to forge ahead, having come through some tough times. “The last 12 months have gone very well, after a very tricky previous two years where we had to deal with phasing out our manufacturing facility – which, apart from being very sad, was also very time consuming and costly,” Andy recalls.

“We kept our finishing facility so we

could still offer colour choice without having to hold a large stock of items in different colours, giving us more flexibility. And we now have plenty to drive forward – starting with taking six potential new ranges to the January Furniture Show. We’re also developing a new ordering system, improving our marketing and growing a flexible transport fleet.”

• • • • • •

Large UK stock holding Dedicated and experienced Customer Service Team Fast and efficient delivery Ranges you can sell with confidence on short lead times Supplying retailers throughout the UK since 1992 Variety of styles, finishes and woods across 12 collections

For details on all our collections please get in touch: E: enquiries@devonshireliving.co.uk T: 01237 471872

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21/10/2021 15:59

24

EVENTS AUTUMN FURNITURE SHOW

DATAHOUSE

www.data-house.co.uk At the Autumn Furniture Show, DataHouse presented its new platform to suppliers and retailers alike, showcasing its capabilities and possibilities for the furniture trade.

DataHouse is both a data-sharing and presentation platform that enables suppliers and retailers to share information, helping to save time spent on data entry – suppliers upload their imagery, pricing, stock and more into DataHouse to share with their retailers.

As well as data sharing, DataHouse comes with a Sales Presenter tool, which helps retailers and sales agents show customers their products at customer-specific pricing.

DataHouse is free to trial until 1st February 2022 – to find out more, visit the DataHouse website or call 0333 358 0582.

Tired of entering product data?

Forever updating prices?

Struggling to find product information?

We connect Suppliers and Retailers to help share data faster and easier. Pricing, imagery, dimensions, stock and more, all online to share quickly with those who need it most.

With our Sales Presenter tool, you can find all of that data faster when speaking with a customer. Letting you spend more time selling.

Sign up for free until 01.02.22 today and discover the furniture data revolution.

Find out more online today.

www.data-house.co.uk

25

BEST IN SHOW?

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26

EVENTS BED SHOW

HIGH TIME FOR BEDTIME The NBF Bed Show marked the welcome return to ‘business as usual’ for many in the UK and Irish bed trade, as buyers keen to reconnect and discover fresh new offers descended on Telford International Centre in September … www.bedshow.co.uk

all over the country, and everyone was really understanding about the pressures the industry’s been under with regard to prices.”

Shire Beds’ marketing director Fara Butt adds: “After the year we’ve had, we were delighted to return to the show. There was lots of footfall, and an excellent vibe about it.”

David Moffitt, NBF president and CEO of Kayfoam Woolfson, concludes: “The show was a resounding success. We were obviously concerened earlier in the year whether it would be possible to even have a show, but going ahead with it was the best decision we’ve ever made. There was great networking going on, poeple seemed to be really delighted to be back doing business and socialising together, so I very much look forward to 2022’s edition.”

Next year’s event will take place from 20th-21st September. Read on to discover some of the show’s highlights, including a look at this year’s Bed Industry Award winners …

The award-winning Signature Collection from The Shire Bed Company answers the call of retailers looking to maximise margin while still offering customers “outstanding” value for money.

Named Product of the Year in this year’s NBF Bed Industry Awards, the Signature Collection is a luxurious range of hand-crafted mattresses featuring

natural fillings – wool, cotton, cashmere and silk. The range also features the highest-ever spring count offered by Shire – available in 6000, 8000 and 10,000 options.

These high-specification mattresses are a logical development for Shire Beds, which has enjoyed “tremendous” success in the mid-market.

Shire’s team celebrates upon hearing the news at the Bed Show gala dinner

The attendance, industry and enthusiasm across this year’s exhibition went to show that these two days of sourcing – plus the gala dinner and Bed Industry Awards – were long overdue.

“This year’s Bed Show was just fantastic,” says Hypnos’ CEO, James Keen. “After two years of not being there, it was brilliant to get back to it.

Everyone was in a good mood, everyone had enjoyed really strong sales over the summer, and it was great to see all our customers in one place.”

James Appleyard, sales director at Deluxe Beds, comments: “We saw a really good number of visitors, from

SHIRE BEDS

Handcrafted 8000, from Shire’s Signature Collection

www.shirebeds.co.uk

I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H

28

EVENTS BED SHOW

SLEEPEEZEE www.sleepeezee.com

Sleepeezee enjoyed a successful show, at which the bedmaker showcased new products and marketing support.

Sales director Clive Parry says: “It was fantastic to be back at the NBF show in Telford, and to have the opportunity to meet up with our retail partners, old friends and colleagues from our industry after such a long time away.

“The entire Sleepeezee team worked extremely hard to present a truly excellent stand, which remained busy throughout the show. In terms of orders taken, it was possibly the busiest NBF show we have attended. The evolution of our award-winning PocketGel Plus range was very well received, and the Poise Plus was a finalist in the Bed Industry Awards. Out of 10 potential Product of the Year winners, the Poise Plus came runner up, a tremendous achievement, in which the Sleepeezee team took great pride.

“We were able to launch our full Jessica collection, supported by our brand ambassador Jessica Ennis-Hill, and I am pleased to announce that our partnership with Jessica will continue throughout 2022. A donation of £20 is made to the Sheffield Children’s Hospital, of which Jessica is a patron, for every Jessica bed we sell – we have set ourselves the target of donating £70,000 to this extremely worthwhile cause in 2022.

“Visitors to our stand were very interested in our new Build a

Bed website functionality, a 360° visualisation tool where customers can see and choose between all of our fabrics, headboards, divans and mattresses, which we will roll out to retailers for use online and in stores later this year.

“A huge thank you and well done to Jessica [Alexander] and Simon [Williams], as well as the rest of the team at the NBF. The whole show ran as smoothly and professionally as you could expect. We look forward to exhibiting again next year.”

Vogue Beds’ team thoroughly enjoyed seeing customers and suppliers come together again for the Bed Show, where the Barwell, Leicestershire-based bedmaker’s key focus was to build the stockist base for its new Vegan mattress line.

“We think our Vegan range is the most exciting product range in the bed industry right now,” says Vogue’s commercial manager, Tim Dow – and

his sentiment was echoed in part by the NBF Bed Industry Award judges, who named Vogue’s Vegan Helix model as a worthy runner-up in the 2021 Product of the Year category.

“As a result of the show, the number of Vegan stockists should double over the next few months,” continues Tim, “with new stockists being attracted not only by a revolutionary product, but lots of marketing support.”

VOGUE BEDS www.voguebeds.co.uk

T: 01924 439898 E: info@shirebeds.co.uk

www.shirebeds.co.uk

30

EVENTS BED SHOW

TRADE TOPPERS The Bed Industry Awards ceremony and gala dinner returned to Telford International Centre’s Ludlow Suite in September. Ably hosted by comic and writer, Jo Caulfield, the dinner was attended by more than 350 industry guests, all keen to see this year’s winners revealed.

The awards, now in their 11th year, recognise bed manufacturers, suppliers and retailers representing the best in inspiration, design, growth, and innovation.

“The annual awards are industryrenowned for recognising the standout companies in the bed sector,” says NBF president, David Moffitt. “In a year of change, we congratulate all those who put themselves forward to be judged,

Representing some of the sector’s premier players, six bed businesses celebrated as they scooped the top accolades in this year’s Bed Industry Awards at the exhibition’s gala dinner … www.bedfed.org.uk

and celebrate all the brilliant finalists and award winners.”

The Bed Product and Component Product of the Year categories were judged on site by: Paul Farley, Furniture News; Steve Adams, Mattress Online; Jerry Cheshire, Surrey Beds; and Sue Davies, Sue Davies Design Solutions.

The Sustainability Award was judged by: David Fitzsimons, Oakdene Hollins and the European Remanufacturing Council; Amy Peace, Innovate UK; and professor Martin Charter, the University for the Creative Arts. NBF Retail Champion, National Bed Retailer and Online Bed Retailer were judged by: Richard de Melim, Furnishing Report; Andrew Kidd, Interiors Monthly; and Bernard Eaton, Greenwood Retail.

Jo Caulfield

David Moffitt

INFORMING INDUSTRY, BUILDING BUSINESS 31 BED OF THE YEAR

Gilbert Davids, Comfort Division MD at awards sponsor Vita Group, with Mark Baron and Sophie Bulman, John Cotton Non-Wovens

Neil Steed and Fara Butt, Shire Beds

Finalists: Carpenter (Perfect Match); Gainsborough (Women’s Health Men’s Heath); Harrison Spinks (Synergy Five); Highgrove Beds (Majesty); Hypnos Beds (Organic); Komfi (Rhea); Millbrook Bed Company (DreamSense); Shire Beds (Signature); Sleepeezee (Poise Plus); and Vogue Beds (Vegan).

Winner: Signature, Shire Beds Building on the success of its Constable Natural Pillow Top (launched at the 2019 Bed Show), Shire Beds developed a range of high-quality, high-spec, hand-crafted and hand-stitched mattresses. Boasting high spring counts and a bespoke feel, these luxury mattresses offer a range of sumptuous feels to satisfy the comfort demanded by customers at the middle and higher end of the market.

The judges felt this range had the right look and feel to compete with branded products, offering great value for money and exceptional margins for independent retailers – coupled with an impressive two-week lead time. Sleepeezee and Vogue Beds were picked as the runners-up in this category.

COMPONENT PRODUCT OF THE YEAR Finalists: John Cotton Non-Wovens (PlatinumEco); Enkev UK (PURe); and Vita group (Origin).

Winner: PlatinumEco, John Cotton Non-Wovens PlatinumEco was launched in March 2021 as the “only” credible performance polyester component able to replace foam. With future-proofing design at the heart of its mission, the supplier has made an innovative leap in value for money, and, through environmentally sustainable design, has satisfied a noticeable gap in the market and delivered what it believes to be its most innovative product to date.

By investing proprietary technology, it is now possible to create the same level of comfort and support as foam with polyester fibres, states John Cotton – using its new, state-ofthe-art ovens and a technically advanced elastomeric binder fibre, the supplier says it has engineered the only polyester foam product suitable for upholstery and bedding.

SUSTAINABILITY

James Keen and Richard Naylor, Hypnos Beds

Finalists: Harrison Spinks; Hypnos Beds; Silentnight Group; and Millbrook Bed Company.

Winner: Hypnos Beds Hypnos took the top spot for its “overall commitment to sustainability”, demonstrating activity and progress on all criteria – from product design, procurement and packaging to end of life, employee and customer engagement, plus corporate social responsibility.

Just some of Hypnos’ notable achievements include: 10 years carbon neutral; Red Tractor British traceable wool system; circularly designed mattresses; renewable and recyclable plastic mattress and divan packaging; direct home delivery service; only UK bed manufacturer to become ISO14001 certified for its environmental management system; mattress recycling scheme; social enterprise projects; and a new sustainability partnership with Plant Mark/Eden Project.

The judges described Hypnos’ entry as “a compelling narrative and shining industry example of the need to take a broad approach to sustainability as possible”.

32

EVENTS BED SHOW NBF RETAIL CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

Martin Eastwood and Steve Adams, Mattress Online

Dreams was awarded National Retailer of the Year

Suzanne Skinner and Matthew Pickering, Sussex Beds

Finalists: Eades & Co; Sound Sleep; and Sussex Beds.

Winner: Sussex Beds In the past 12 months, the South East-based retailer seized the opportunities the pandemic brought, demonstrating that creative thinking, solid planning and a united team can bring success through the most challenging trading conditions.

Just some of the achievements Sussex Beds has had over the past year include opening two new stores with plans for a third, investment into its ecommerce site (resulting in a vast increase in revenues), opening a second distribution hub, and achieving record-breaking revenues and profit.

Sussex Beds took time to invest in its staff during the Covid-19 period by utilising a virtual training platform and keeping in daily contact to check in on people’s wellbeing.

NATIONAL BED RETAILER OF THE YEAR Finalists: Bensons for Beds; Dreams; and Furniture Village.

Winner: Dreams Dreams defied the notion that traditional retailing is dead, opening six new stores and investing in warehouse capacity which, in turn, created 30 additional jobs. However, the retailer also expanded its online retail offer, and, recognising the growing concern for sustainability, reached its milestone of recycling one million beds and mattresses.

Throughout the pandemic, employees continued to receive enhanced wellbeing benefits, and further training was provided for retail and HQ staff. Despite the challenges of Covid-19, Dreams continued doorstep delivery, and reduced its staff’s contracted hours to improve their work/life balance.

ONLINE BED RETAILER OF THE YEAR Finalists: Land of Beds; Mattress Next Day; and Mattress Online.

Winner: Mattress Online Rotherham’s Mattress Online made a record-breaking profit and had the largest growth in its 18-year history. It recently reached its huge milestone of recycling 100,000 mattresses, and featured on several major TV channels.

Demonstrating that people are at the heart of the company, Mattress Online launched an employee health and wellbeing initiative, a new training facility, boosted its team by +61% and donated £51,000 to NHS staff. The online retailer also showed great use of initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic by avoiding furlough through a restructure of non-remote workers’ shift patterns

WE CONGRATULATE ALL THOSE WHO PUT THEMSELVES FORWARD, AND CELEBRATE ALL THE BRILLIANT FINALISTS AND AWARD WINNERS

“This is the most exciting product in the bed industry”

Why Sell Vegan?

Vegan Certified

The Vegan movement across the UK is growing and the number of Vegans is increasing. In 2020 Brits following a Vegan diet grew by 40%. More customers are conscientious when it comes to their buying choices and how a product impacts on the environment. We support stockists with full marketing support, including social media advertising. We are leading the way in Vegan products and still have stockist opportunities, so talk to us today to find out more.

Our mattresses have been certified by the Vegan Society, this is important to us we didn’t just want to make a collection of mattress that are Vegan friendly we wanted someone else to check our working out, make sure our ingredients all meet their standard.

The Vegan Society created the word Vegan back in 1944 so who better to certify our mattresses.

Call Us:

Find us online:

01455 841 257

www.vegan-mattress.co.uk

34

EVENTS BED SHOW

EMBRACING EDEN Family-run bedmaker Hypnos is a pioneer in the arena of sustainability and ethical manufacture, handcrafting luxury beds and mattresses for its stockists and their customers … www.hypnosbeds.com

Hypnos was recognised for its commitment to sustainable design and manufacture by the judges of this year’s Bed Industry Awards, who awarded the bedmaker with the coveted NBF Sustainability Award.

Hypnos’ ethos centres around comfort with integrity – products that are conducive to good sleep, wellbeing and the environment – and collaboration is key to this success. Working with partners such as The Woolkeepers, a quality assurance platform for traceable British wool, Hypnos strives to ensure high-quality wool products and prompt, fair payment for farmers.

Hypnos’ CEO James Keen comments: “We’re delighted to be the first bedmaker to win the NBF Sustainability

Award [last year’s went to textile manufacturer Bekaert Deslee] – breaking new ground when it comes to sustainable bed design is something we’re proud to excel in.

“Take our innovative collaboration with John Lewis, for example. We created two new sustainable mattress collections using wool provided by their award-winning Waitrose sheep farms, ensuring a known ethical supply chain – which is very important to both the John Lewis and Waitrose consumer.

“We also presented our new Orthos Support collection at the Bed Show, which has been redesigned in line with our values and as the next chapter of the Origins story. This firm-support range uses a mix of sustainable fibres including organic cotton, flax and hemp, breathable eOlus (recycled fibres) and layers of British wool, traceable to Red Tractor-assured farms.”

Embarking on the next stage of its sustainable journey, Hypnos also announced a five-year partnership with educational charity and social enterprise, the Eden Project. “This is incredibly exciting for us,” adds James. “As our official charity partner, we’ll be collaborating to enhance our customers’, our employees’ and all our stakeholders’ knowledge and understanding on issues around climate change, sustainability and the environment. The partnership will influence new ways of integrating sustainability into all aspects of our business and products. There’s lots planned – just watch this space!”

Discover Orthos Support, the next chapter in our Origins story.

Wake up on a Hypnos bed and feel good for all the right reasons.

Expertly handcrafted, valuing the people, animals and places behind our sustainable and ethical beds. hypnosbeds.com Carbon Neutral

Inspired by Nature

100% recyclable

36

EVENTS BED SHOW

VISION QUEST Jay-Be launched new lines with confidence at this year’s Bed Show, including an engaging and on-demand children’s range, plus new upholstery fabrics …

Retro sofabed in mink

www.jaybe.com

First up was Jay-Be’s new children’s mattress range, Quest. Made with ethically sourced sustainable materials, these mattresses help contribute to a healthier planet and are available in three comfort options, providing children with the essential support they need for healthy physical and mental development, and ensuring the best night’s sleep, says the bedmaker.

This vibrantly coloured range, with Advanced 3d Spacer borders for extreme breathability, not only looks impressive but feels good, too. Vacuum packed

and rolled, each model is available for next-working-day delivery direct to the consumer from 1st November 2021.

Five new contemporary fabrics were also launched across Jay-Be’s sofabed offering. From 1st November, each sofabed design will be available in two nominated fabrics within an express, 10-working-day delivery timeframe, delivered direct to the end-consumer’s room of choice – a “massive step forward in the industry” says Jay-Be, “which recognises the consumer’s need for speed of delivery in the run-up to Christmas.”

As well as updating its logo, Jay-Be launched completely new online assets and marketing literature at the show, including bespoke product videos and animations – all of which are available for download via the client login portal on Jay-Be’s website.

“Having been well received, orders are in, stock production is under way, and all is in line for launch as planned on 1st November 2021, both for bricksand-mortar retailers and our online partners,” says MD Mark Cort.

“Jay-Be has made huge progress over the last two years, with continued growth – particularly in the mattress category. There are plans in place to launch several new products at the start of next year, which will include new folding bed designs.

“The Bed Show provided the perfect launch pad to reignite some key retailer relationships and freshen up ranges, and conversations are already under way at Jay-Be about returning to Telford next year. It was a huge success, and certainly something that we plan to be a part of again – particularly with all the new product launches just around the corner.

“Secondly, there’s the muchanticipated opening of a brand-new showroom at our new Yorkshirebased head office. This purpose-built showroom will be open for retail partners to visit from December 2021, and will give them the opportunity to view products within the Jay-Be Sleep Smart range. We can’t wait to invite our customers to come and see it before Christmas!”

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EVENTS BED SHOW

PROTECT-A-BED www.protectabed.co.uk

After attending the Bed Show (and Autumn Furniture Show), ProtectA-Bed is on track for a “brilliant” year of growth, says national sales manager, Paul Lake: “Our speciality is helping retailers sell a lot of mattress protectors. Our ability to grow sales in any store is well documented.

offers the best solutions in mattress protection, whilst being the best at increasing sales within this category.

“Any store looking to grow sales in their bed department should contact Protect-A-Bed, because our success is proven.”

technologies at the Bed Show this year our aim was to showcase the future of perfect sleep. We are extremely proud to have launched NemoFlex core technology, and the most sustainable range of mattresses at the Bed Show.

“When we set out to create the most sustainable mattresses possible, it was important to us to consider all aspects of waste reduction and recycling, while taking an holistic approach to ‘the five Rs’ (refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose and

recycle). A key factor was to fully include our key suppliers in the design process, to ensure we achieved a fully ‘circular economy’ approach to mattress design.

“The Dreamsense smart bed may not have won the show’s Bed of the Year award, but it surely is the bed of future!

Dual comfort control, massage, smart alarm, Nemoflex core technology and sleep tracking made the DreamSense the most unique and talked-about bed at the show.”

MILLBROOK BED COMPANY

www.millbrook-beds.co.uk Millbrook Bed Company enjoyed its most successful Bed Show to date, where it launched a range of luxury mattresses incorporating three new sleep technologies – NemoFlex, SmoothTech and Dreamsense. All three were very well received by buyers, as was the relaunch of Millbrook’s classic collection.

Millbrook Beds’ operations and marketing Ross Thurston says: “In launching our new mattress

Dreamsense

NemoFlex

“This year we have seen an even greater number of retailers join our Platinum Club, which rewards and incentivises growth. When combining this with our new Therapeutics ranges – incorporating copper, graphene and charcoal – Protect-A-Bed clearly

Market Leading Mattress Protector Brand, Featuring Cutting-Edge Materials Including Copper, Graphene, Charcoal and Bamboo!

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EVENTS BED SHOW

AFTER-HOURS APERITIF Outside the Ludlow Suite, Telford International Centre / Tuesday 21st September www.bedshow.co.uk

Having last come together en masse in September 2019, the British bed industry fully embraced the opportunity to pursue business as usual at this year’s Bed Show, the first day of which, as usual, concluded with the NBF Gala Dinner and Bed Industry Awards presentations – preceded by the opportunity to enjoy a quick (and long overdue) drink or two with friends and colleagues in the foyer.

INFORMING INDUSTRY, BUILDING BUSINESS 41

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COVER STORY

SELECTION CRITERIA Emma Diamond prioritises temperature regulation

“Your day is only as good as the night before,” states Emma Sleep, which has put various wheels in motion to deliver optimised sleep solutions, earning itself numerous product awards along the way – including the latest Which?

Best Buy accolade for its new Emma Smart Hybrid. Its latest development is Emma Select, a new retail range tailored to meet the needs of different audiences …

The heart of sleep innovation – Emma’s test lab (photo by Moritz Reich)

Neil Robinson

www.emma-sleep.co.uk

Technology is at the heart of this fast-growing company. Emma’s R&D team employs a wide range of skills to innovate within the field of sleep – its test laboratory houses a sleep research team led by neurobiologist Dr Verena Senn, which constantly challenges the status quo in search of new sleep solutions, drawing on a unique combination of backgrounds, skills and specialisations to deliver award-winning products (more than 40 accolades worldwide to date).

The newly launched Emma Select range truly expresses the brand’s progressive expertise. It consists of three collections, each available in two levels of comfort, while a concise design concept ensures that the assortment is easy to understand, enabling clear and efficient shopfloor presentations.

Emma offers a 100-night, risk-free trial, as well as a dropship service for its customers. Consequently, there is no need to plan orders ahead or await delivery, nor to reserve valuable warehouse space – which is not only cost effective, but also offers a persuasive selling point for the endcustomer.

The Emma Select range has been specifically designed to meet the needs of offline customers, combining sleep technologies for each sleeper type.

Emma Diamond ensures optimal temperature regulation, with Emma’s Diamond Degree technology. The graphite coating removes excess heat quickly and continuously, and helps deliver up to +10% more deep sleep during the night, states Emma.

Emma Helix, meanwhile, combines pressure relief at every point of the mattress, offering effective body support plus airflow channels for a healthy sleep environment – while Emma Smart prioritises optimal body support, through a combination of Aquagel and HRX foam, with a sandwich core for dynamic body adaptation.

“We offer our retail partners everything they need to give Emma a strong in-store presence, including printed and digital assets,” says Neil Robinson, sales director, retail, for Emma – The Sleep Company in the UK and Ireland. “At the same time, we generate widespread brand awareness which helps drive customers into their stores. It’s a win-win situation”

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PRODUCTS

FORTE

www.forte.com.pl/en Forte’s Hoyvik line is inspired by Scandinavian minimalism. The natural look of this collection is emphasised by the timeless combination of a White Matt finish and Sonoma Oak – the oak decor creates a warm and cosy look, while the white finish brightens and optically enlarges a room, while the simple, aluminium-coloured handles add a discreet finish.

The range is characterised by a surprising lightness due to its modern structure, and a large selection of sideboards, shelving units, display cabinets and hanging shelves create countless arrangement possibilities.

With Hoyvik, the entire home can be easily arranged – from the hallway through to the home office, living room, dining room, bedroom and children’s room.

WOODMAN CHAIRS www.woodmanchairs.co.uk

Woodman Chairs is expanding its options on stickback styles to include beech painted and oak finished.

These, and Woodman’s other, wellestablished Georgian and Victorian repro styles, have gained fresh traction over the last year, being both easy and uncomplicated to the eye, exemplifying, for many, what a chair should be. The chairs cross over well in both traditional and contemporary settings, and in the new year, Woodman plans to expand the range with a bar stool, plus options.

For those worried about supply, Woodman is well placed to offer a wide choice from stock or on short lead times.

“Also, maybe now is the time to think about going bespoke with your chairs? Woodman can make your own styles or frames and fabric choices to differentiate you from others, at prices and in modest MOQs that might surprise you,” states the supplier.

WE ARE FORTE

uksales@forte.com.pl

www.FORTE.com.pl

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PRODUCTS ECO CONSCIOUS

CGI by Chilli Pepper Designs, www.chillipepperdesigns.co.uk

READ MORE AT WWW.FURNITURENEWS.NET

47

GREEN ROOM The world is going green, reshaping consumer demand in a more conscientious and considered mould – and the upholstery sector is taking note …

According to a new global report from The Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by the WWF, online searches for sustainable goods have risen +71% over the past five years, and demand from high-income nations, like ours, is particularly strong.

The environmental agenda has long coloured conversations around progress in the bed industry, and now the upholstery sector is sitting up and taking notice.

Whether it is reflected in greener, leaner manufacturing operations, or the products themselves – frames made from accredited timber, eco-friendly fillings or covers made from recycled product – the hunt is on for more sustainably produced sofas and chairs that still manage to meet the high standards of comfort and durability for which their makers are known.

With foam prices on the rise, ecofriendly fillings evolving fast and a greater leaning towards locally made product, it is a pivotal moment for the pioneers in this field.

This month, we put some of the big questions surrounding eco-conscious

manufacture and marketing to: Suzy McMahon, buying director for Sofology, which now offers Loop, a flexible, sustainable upholstery rental service, and Virtue, a recyclable collection made from sustainably sourced materials; John O’Leary, the design director at sofa-in-a-box brand Swyft, which champions sustainable fabrics and frames, and works with World Land Trust to plant a tree for every sofa sold; Daniel Oscroft, sales director at Whitemeadow, the upholstery manufacturing giant which debuted its first eco-sofa range, Neptune, at 2020’s January Furniture Show; and Adam Green, project director at Habbio, a new brand that is made in the UK from 85% recycled or sustainably sourced materials, and purports to be “the world’s most sustainable sofa”.

Conscious of this growing market, yet striving to cut through the ‘greenwash’ and help make a palpable difference on the way consumers buy and dispose of their sofas, these businesses are helping spearhead the sustainable sofa movement – from design to delivery, and everything in between (and after) …

This month’s panel, from left – Suzy McMahon, John O’Leary, Daniel Oscroft and Adam Green

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Q&A

WHY DOES SUSTAINABILITY MATTER IN THE UPHOLSTERY SECTOR? Suzy MacMahon: Each year around 9 million tons of furniture, in addition to its packaging, goes to landfill, and with timber and leather sourcing often contributing to deforestation it is an important consideration for the upholstery sector – with an imminent need for increased recyclable and sustainable options.

John O’Leary: Sustainability matters in all sectors. However, the upholstery sector, in many ways, has some catching up to do.

Polyurethane (PU) foams derived from petroleum are ubiquitous, as are synthetic fabrics chemically treated for performance enhancement and flame retardancy. Design for end-of-life and recycling is often an afterthought or non-existent. These are some of the areas we collectively, and at a legislative level, need to tackle in order to improve as a sector.

Virtue chair and footstool, Sofology

Daniel Oscroft: We believe because we’re making products that will be part

of people’s homes for many years to come, it is our responsibility to ensure that these are produced as sustainably as possible. Many of these products are also large, and, historically, hard to recycle at the end of their lifespan, too.

Therefore, it is especially important for players within the upholstery industry to consider the impacts our products will have on the planet, at both ends of the lifecycle.

Adam Green: 90% of furniture sold in the UK is not recycled and ends up in landfill. It’s not right, when you stop to think about it. We think that as producers it’s time to consider what happens to our furniture at the end of its life.

Partly due to UK legislation, most furniture in the shops is made using materials that are not recyclable or biodegradable, and contain harmful chemicals. Nobody actually wants these chemicals in their homes. Our customers are increasingly focused on sustainability, and we believe that by developing a sustainable furniture industry, we can look after them now and also keep the industry relevant to the next generation.

We have an incredible furnituremaking industry in the UK that we’re really proud of. Producing locally reduces carbon footprint and supports local communities. Habbio is totally committed to manufacturing exclusively in the UK.

EACH YEAR AROUND 9 MILLION TONS OF FURNITURE (AND ITS PACKAGING) GOES TO LANDFILL

INFORMING INDUSTRY, BUILDING BUSINESS 49

Q&A

HOW HAVE YOUR GREEN CREDENTIALS EVOLVED IN THE PAST TWO YEARS? Suzy MacMahon: We’re committed to making a difference, ensuring the environment is a key factor within our decisionmaking process. In our effort to become carbon neutral we’re working with both the Carbon Trust and Woodland Trust to ensure we accurately measure our impact and improvements.

Introduced in 2019, our PlanTree scheme sees a tree planted for every order, and 2020 saw the planting of over 100,000 trees. We’re also on track to a -10% fuel reduction by 2023, and we’ve conducted a sustainable energy review that ensures all of our Sofology stores now use 100% renewable electricity.

Our Sofa Rescue service, in partnership with Cleerabee, provides a sustainable and responsible collection service, so we recycle as much of the sofa as possible, saving the majority of it from landfill.

We’ve launched sustainable sofa ranges, alongside an upholstery rental scheme, Loop. With a noticeable shift in attitudes towards leasing over owning, Loop offers a selection of sofas, armchairs and footstools on 6-, 12- or 18-month plans. Each piece is expertly crafted in the UK from sustainably sourced materials, and once pieces are returned, to ensure nothing goes to landfill, each element is removed and recycled. The metal frame, which has a 25-year lifespan, is then recrafted and reupholstered to create brand new pieces available to rent.

The materials we’re using have also been reviewed, from increasing

SUSTAINABILITY HAS BEEN AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION FOR THE BUSINESS FROM DAY ONE

our FSC-certified offering to leather sourcing. We’re committed to working with our leather suppliers to ensure full traceability and that our leathers do not contribute to deforestation by the end of 2023, and all our leather will be sourced

by LWG-approved suppliers by 2024.

Using the latest innovation and technology, our Sustainable Edit is created with materials that are recycled or recyclable, to help support a more circular economy. The Edit includes ranges that are crafted with recycled fabrics that use no water in the growing or dyeing processes (compared to regular fibres), and can be recycled up to 10 more times. The range also includes sofas, where seat interiors are made with Quallofil Blue technology, using 50% recycled ocean plastic in partnership with the Plastic Bank.

John O’Leary: Swyft was launched in December 2019. I can say that sustainability has been an important consideration for the business from day one. First and foremost, our products are built to last in our own factory in Portugal, and designed to work for decades. We are careful about the materials we use, where they come from, and their environmental impact.

Our first wooden furniture collection, for example, which launched last month, utilises a natural, 0% VOC finish which is Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort (Gold) certified – part of our commitment to quality and the promotion of healthy indoor environments.

Daniel Oscroft: Whitemeadow were early adopters of innovation and sustainability practices in the upholstery industry. We have been looking for ways to make our products more sustainable, working with a host of globally recognised companies in sustainable practices to achieve this.

One area of particular concern for us has been the issue of ocean plastic.

Through research, we have discovered several companies who share our ambition to combat this, and with their

help we were proud to launch our first eco-sofa range in January 2020.

In addition, as part of our ongoing commitment towards sourcing as many components from sustainable sources as possible, we were delighted to become officially FSC accredited in 2020. The FSC accreditation is widely recognised and respected. It’s designed so consumers can quickly recognise that the products they are purchasing contain wood from a sustainable source and, by doing so, are ensuring forests live on.

Adam Green: Habbio was launched this September after 18 months of extensive product development and research. The expertise to do this comes from decades of working in the furniture industry in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. Our products are made from at least 85% recycled or sustainably sourced materials, and are 100% recyclable. We think it’s our job, not our customers’ job, to protect the planet from any damage that could be caused by our products, which is why we will take back any Habbio product at the end of its life and repurpose/recycle it.

We use -90% less chemicals than many other sofa manufacturers. There’s actually more formaldehyde in a tomato than in our furniture.

For Habbio, being sustainable means making a product using as few virgin materials as possible, which lasts as long as possible. Everything we use will have been recycled, or sustainably sourced if a recycled alternative isn’t available. For instance, our fabrics are made from recycled bottles, and we have replaced all foams with recycled alternatives. Our wood is all certified as sustainably sourced, and we have reduced our waste down to 5%. Any waste we do generate is repurposed.

To maximise our products’ use over time, we’ve considered the customer’s changing needs and made the covers removeable (recyclable) and replaceable. In addition, the modular construction allows for extra seating to be added as required.

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READ MORE AT WWW.FURNITURENEWS.NET

Q&A

Zephyr, Whitemeadow

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THE BED INDUSTRY’S APPROACH TO MANUFACTURING?

Suzy MacMahon: Our latest sustainable sofas feature sprung seats using Spinks (part of the Harrison Spinks family) springs. The sprung seat interior offers a revolutionary new pocket sprung innovation called Flexecore that, without compromising comfort, replaces the need for foam. In addition, being gluefree, it is 100% recyclable.

Daniel Oscroft: We admire and respect companies such as Harrison Spinks for their progressive and ambitious vision to be leaders in the field of comfort innovation. They have shown how dynamic engineering practices and groundbreaking technology can

truly make a long-lasting positive impact on the planet, and we look to companies such as these to fuel our own sustainability ambitions.

Although we essentially have the same goal as our bed industry counterparts, we are looking at our own processes to see where we can make a difference. For example, within our own infrastructure, we now use a biomass system to heat our factories, and are shortly to start recycling waste timber into pellets to fuel this.

We are also trialling HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) to fuel our fleet. This is a premium, high-quality diesel fuel, made from renewable,

sustainable raw materials, which can be regrown when stock is needed – all which do not release any new CO2 into the atmosphere.

HVO can reduce our net CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by up to -90%. We hope, following a successful trial, that we can roll this out across our entire fleet in 2022.

Adam Green: The bed industry has been crucial in developing a supply chain for recycled materials. We have been able to use a number of the recycled foam replacement products in our Habbio products, which has enabled us to reach the 85%+ recycled content.

HARRISON SPINKS HAVE SHOWN HOW DYNAMIC ENGINEERING PRACTICES AND GROUNDBREAKING TECHNOLOGY CAN TRULY MAKE A LONG-LASTING POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE PLANET

Vegan mattress ticking is designed to keep us sleeping soundly and healthfully without harming people, planet, or animals.

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Q&A

HOW ARE YOU WORKING WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS TO MAXIMISE YOUR IMPACT? Suzy MacMahon: There are many forward-thinking suppliers in the UK, and we are proud to work closely with them to offer innovations to our customers. We’re also looking for alternatives to foam and fibre, and by 2025 we expect textile certification for our cotton, viscose and polyester upholstery ranges.

John O’Leary: We continually challenge ourselves and the wider impact our products have, whether that be the materials we use, the production processes we employ or the transportation, delivery and removal of our goods.

We are currently working with suppliers of key components such as

packaging, fillings and fabric to find better, more sustainable alternatives, to build upon some of the good work we have already done (such as utilising FSC timber and biodegradable/100%recyclable packaging, etc).

We have also partnered with organisations such as the World Land Trust and Clearabee to offset our environmental impact and help divert waste from landfill. We have a long way to go, but we have a number of exciting green initiatives currently in development which we can’t wait to launch.

Daniel Oscroft: We’ve searched the globe for partners who are internationally recognised as working towards sustainable solutions for our

industry. We are now working with a number of the world’s leading companies who are driving product innovation by combining uncompromised performance with trusted sustainability.

Through considered planning and sustainable sourcing, we have brought together sustainably sourced components from our partners working towards eco-friendly solutions for our industry. One such partner is Plastic Bank, which is a social enterprise that builds recycling ecosystems in underdeveloped communities in an effort to fight both plastic pollution in oceans, as well as high poverty levels in developing countries. We are also proud to partner with Repreve, the leading branded performance fibre made from recycled materials, including plastic bottles. They transform recycled bottles into fibre, which can then be transformed into fabric we use on our products.

Model 04, Swyft

Adam Green: We’ve had support from numerous suppliers of sustainable alternative products, from foam replacements to zips and fabrics. It is great to see that most of these are UK based and investing heavily in this sector.

As a business that wants to challenge the industry to change, we are happy to share what we have learned whilst developing Habbio, and would encourage others to collaborate on this journey to a more sustainable industry

WE’VE HAD SUPPORT FROM NUMEROUS SUPPLIERS OF SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS

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CREDIT CONSCIOUS Having an ethical business standpoint is an important distinction for consumers – but, explains Tiffany Kelly, the founder of global sustinable community Beyond Bamboo, sometimes just being ethical isn’t enough …

CONSUMERS AND INVESTORS ARE FLOCKING TO COMPANIES THAT DEMONSTRATE SUSTAINABILITY, BUT WILL ACTIVELY BLOCK THOSE THEY BELIEVE TO BE GREENWASHING

By TIFFANY KELLY www.beyondbamboo.online

Pre-pandemic, Brits were sending more than 50% of reusable furniture to landfill. Meanwhile in the US, because of the difficulties involved in recycling upholstered furniture and mattresses, and because of the diverse materials involved in manufacturing furniture and furnishings, more than 9 million tons of wood, metal, glass, fabric, leather and foam waste ended up in American landfill sites each year.

But attitudes are changing. Ethical consumerism is booming – consumers now see ethics as a key element when purchasing.

For sustainable businesses to thrive, they need to make it easy for consumers to understand what they are buying, and how their product is more sustainable and less environmentally damaging than a competitor – and the right accreditation is vital. Here are four tips to help you get started: 1. Do your research Customers who care about ethical issues will do their own research, so be careful that you don’t get caught out by aligning yourself with the wrong organisation. Some well-known accreditors have eroded consumer trust due to poor policing and a lack of transparency.

2. Ensure the accreditation process is robust Where does it come from? Who created it? Do they have the expertise to vet both the brands and the products that are being offered? The Beyond Bamboo supplier accreditation, for example, looks at the whole supply chain from start to finish, providing a ‘full service’ that reviews all aspects of the chain and provides support for further development towards sustainability moving forward.

This added support can really help businesses make progress on packaging, which is a massive contributor to environmental waste – in 2017, the UK generated 9.3 million tonnes of packaging waste.

3. Collaboration is key Working with accreditors that

collaborate with likeminded organisations to share best practice and hold one another accountable gives further security.

A great example that comes to mind is the Sustainable Spa Association, which has partnered with other sustainable hospitality organisations to provide a community and hub for sustainable procurement.

These networks of organisations are growing, and more and more are working towards the same goal - to go beyond sustainable, and reverse the damage caused by climate change.

By collaborating with one another they are sharing knowledge and best practice, they are able to offer a more robust accreditation and demonstrate transparency.

4. Find an accreditation service that is aligned with your mission and purpose If triple-bottom-line reporting [profit, people and plent] is important to you, accreditation will need to cover both sustainability (environmental impact) and ethics (people and community).

Once you have researched all the appropriate accreditors out there, set up a call with the three organisations you like most, and don’t be afraid to interview them in depth. Drill down into who they are and what they stand for.

Ask them to explain what the process will be, and the level of support that is on offer.

This will allow you to get a feel for the people you will work with as well as the service on offer, and ensure that you have an accreditation service that not only draws in consumers, but also feels good to you as a business.

According to a report by Shelton Group 2018, 86% of consumers say companies should take a stand on social and environmental issues.

Consumers and investors are flocking to companies that demonstrate sustainability, but will actively block those they believe to be greenwashing.

The right accreditation will make your business instantly attractive to both parties

E S T. 1 9 8 6

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PRODUCTS ECO CONSCIOUS

SEA CHANGE Quallofil Blue gives sofa cushions a soft look and feel, plus long-lasting performance (image courtesy Adobe Stock/Africa Studio)

Leading European fibre producer ADVANSA has introduced Quallofil Blue, an eco-friendly upgrade of its premium fibre filling for long-lasting, comfortable sofa cushions. www.advansa.com

ADVANSA utilises over two million recycled bottles every day

Designed to minimise environmental impacts, Quallofil Blue is from oceanbound recycled plastic collected by Plastic Bank, a social enterprise that is recognised globally as a leading force in tackling the problem of ocean and beach plastic – one of the most urgent environmental issues of our time.

The collected plastic waste is cleaned, recycled and processed with ADVANSA’s sophisticated recycling technology into first-grade Quallofil Blue, a fibre filling which offers what many furniture designers and makers are looking for – sofa cushions with a soft look and feel which meet some of the highest quality standards, plus long-lasting performance, returning to their original shape and feel time after time.

In addition, the filling has a positive impact on the environment – each Quallofil Blue sofa cushion using 50% recycled plastic utilises approximately 200 recycled bottles.

The filling is also FIRA Gold certified – a recognised mark of product excellence in the furniture industry – giving customers peace of mind and the reassurance that their product’s quality is guaranteed, through ongoing independent third-party audits and re-testing to stringent standards by an independent source.

Wordlwide, over 350 million tons of plastic are produced every year, for use in a wide variety of applications – and up to 10 million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans from coastal communities each year.

In the ocean, marine species like sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, coral reefs and countless other species are severely impacted, as they ingest or are entangled by plastic waste, which can ultimately cause severe injuries and death. Marine and bay areas are increasingly becoming less viable environments for humans and animals alike – according to ADVANSA, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea, if immediate action is not taken.

Yet consumers are taking notice, with more and more people each year opting to buy more eco-friendly products – most Britons are trying to cut down on plastic, and are looking for more environmentally friendly alternatives.

INFORMING INDUSTRY, BUILDING BUSINESS 57

Collecting plastic before it enters the oceans can make a significant impact on the environment (image courtesy Adobe Stock/Aleksej)

Marine species are severely impacted by plastic waste (image courtesy Adobe Stock/Richard Carey and rangizzz)

Plastic Bank employs collectors in coastal areas to collect plastic waste

A recent survey carried out by Statista found that 81% of them believed that the seas surrounding the UK would be full of plastic within 50 years, while 72% believed there would be floating islands of rubbish generated over that time.

Public awareness of the problem of plastic waste is growing, and is drawing the end-consumer’s attention towards sustainable products.

ADVANSA, a leading European fibre filling producer based in Germany, is offering sustainable fibre solutions to customers worldwide. In the past 10 years, ADVANSA switched 90% of its fibre production to using post-consumer recycled plastic as a raw material. The latest technology allows ADVANSA to produce high-tech fibres, thereby turning waste plastic into first-grade products – the company uses over two million recycled bottles every day.

In co-operation with Plastic Bank, ADVANSA’s mission is to help prevent and reduce the flow of plastic waste into the oceans or beaches, which mainly happens in coastal regions that do not have efficient or formal waste or recycling systems. About 10 rivers carry 90% of the world’s plastic waste to the oceans – of which eight are in Asia, and two in Africa. The Nile, for example, contributes over 40% of the Mediterranean’s plastic waste, which corresponds to over 15,000 bottles per minute.

Collecting plastic before it enters the oceans can make a significant impact on the environment. Plastic Bank has over 17,000 collectors registered in coastal areas like Haiti, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil and Egypt, who are rewarded for collecting plastic waste before it enters the oceans and rivers, in exchange for a source of income such as cash, school tuition, healthcare, insurance, or Blockchainsecured digital tokens. This strategy helps protect the environment while improving the lives of people in some of the world’s poorest regions.

ADVANSA is also committed to transparency and traceability, and is certified by Global Recycled Standard (GRS), an independent auditing body which certifies the production of fibre using postconsumer recycled plastic.

Cushions filled with Quallofil Blue are available from licensed UK producers Platt & Hill and United Fillings. Find out more and join the movement at www.plasticbank. com, or on ADVANSA’s website

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HYPNOS BEDS www.hypnosbeds.com

Wool Origins

Hypnos is dedicated to the environment, and places sustainable practices and design at the heart of every aspect of its business, employing sustainable and traceable materials and demonstrating innovation at every step.

From groundbreaking partnerships with like-minded organisations including the Eden Project, Red Tractor Certified Standards and the Better Cotton Initiative, Hypnos prides itself on its highly comfortable, ethically made beds – and has even developed 100% recyclable packaging made from a combination of renewable and C02-depleting sugarcane ethanol and recycled plastic.

HABBIO

www.habbio.co.uk Habbio was founded upon the principle of manufacturing “long-lasting, beautiful furniture that is good for the planet”.

Made in Derbyshire by experienced UK craftspeople, each Habbio sofa has been designed to change with its owner’s needs – extra seats can be added, or a model can be given a new lease of life thanks to its removable, recyclable covers (made from 85% recycled materials).

The Habbio three-seater is available in six colours and can grow from an armchair to a two-seater, then threeseater, all the way up to a large corner sofa. D2C models are delivered boxed in 10-14 days, with a 30-day trial period.

59

VOGUE BEDS www.voguebeds.co.uk

A growing number of vegans are waking up to the lifestyle and purchasing choices beyond the food they eat (photo courtesy Shutterstock.com/fizkes)

Vegan Helix

More customers are thinking about what goes into the products they buy, how these products affect the environment, where they are manufactured and when they reach the end of their useful lives.

Vogue’s MD Ebrahim Patel comments: “I grew up in the 80s – the environment, and especially how we looked after planet, was starting to become a hot topic, so here at Vogue, since our inception we’ve always tried to find ecological, ethical solutions in manufacturing.

“I was asked to make an ‘animal-free’ mattress over 15 years ago, but it wasn’t

possible. But making a sustainable product is also a great sustainable business model – creating products that last – so I kept persevering, and it eventually paid off!”

The fillings in Vogue Beds’ Vegan mattress comprise a combination of vegan materials including recycled plastic. The company has also pledged to plant a tree for every mattress made.

The Furniture Makers’ Company the furnishing industry’s charity

IT’S TIME TO

STEP 2 IT

Step 2 It is the exciting new fundraising campaign by industry charity The Furniture Makers’ Company.

The Furniture Makers’ Company is launching its largest ever fundraising campaign in May, asking the furnishing industry to ‘Step 2 It’ and help raise £250,000 to support people from the trade who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Step 2 It aims to inspire companies and individuals to organise sports-based fundraisers between May 2021 – April 2022 in aid of the charity, encouraging friends, family and co-workers to join in the fun. What’s more – thanks to a benefactor, every single penny you raise will be matched, effectively doubling your donation.

Last year our charity awarded a record number of financial grants to people from the sector whose lives and livelihoods were disrupted by the pandemic. Now we need your help to raise funds so we can keep supporting the industry.

Have fun, raise money, support lives, Step 2 It Claim your fundraising toolkit: www.furnituremakers.org.uk/step2it

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PRODUCTS OUTDOOR

UP THE GARDEN PATH Monterray

Even before successive home lockdowns made the garden a much more attractive space in which to invest, Bluebone was busy developing and delivering a tasteful, design-led range of outdoor seating and dining, explains the supplier’s sales manager, Elaine Anderson …

Scandi

Berkley

www.bluebone.co.uk

“We first decided to try a garden range back at the start of 2020 – blissfully unaware of the global pandemic chaos that lay ahead, of course,” Elaine reveals.

“Because of the overwhelming focus on homes and gardens that summer, we sold out pretty much straight away. However, the positive feedback and subsequent reorders gave us the assurance that our designs and price points were perfect for our customer base, and filled a gap in the outdoor furniture market for stylish wooden pieces with a design-led edge.”

Bluebone’s elegant corner dining and conversation sets both combine warm acacia timber with a dark, slate-grey rope detail on the arms and robust outdoor cushions.

“We experienced the same buying patterns this summer,” Elaine continues, “but this time it was the ongoing global shipping and container shortage that ensured our Monterray garden sets were snapped up again within a matter of weeks.

“We believe the trend for garden living and outdoor rooms will only strengthen next year, and so we have ensured we will have plenty of the bestselling Monterray sets arriving in January and February – plus we’ll launch a further four new sets, including a dining set and a bar set in the pared-back Scandi range, which has a pale-teak timber finish.”

Elaine says that the sets each have four sturdy chairs with arms, and comfortable slate-grey seat cushions.

The Berkley conversation set is also new for 2022 – this subtle, warm-grey woven-rope construction comprises a sofa, two armchairs and a timber coffee table in the Scandi finish.

“We were delighted to have been voted the Best Garden/Outdoor Furniture Supplier this year by the readers of Furniture News,” she adds. “It was a lovely recognition, reflected in the sales and testament to the hard work our whole team put into delivering to our customers on time.”

Bluebone’s 2022 ranges are all currently available for pre-order, and, with stock arriving throughout January, the supplier says it can deliver to retailers in plenty of time for the first sunny weekend of spring.Contact sales@ bluebone.co.uk to request Bluebone’s Outdoor Living 22 Lookbook

garden

STOCK ARRIVING JANUARY 2022

Contact us today to pre-order: 0161 3308959 • sales@bluebone.co.uk

www.bluebone.co.uk

62

PRODUCTS OUTDOOR

OUTSIDE IN Cannes

Outdoor living is becoming increasingly popular, with people using their gardens and balconies for relaxing and entertaining more and more. To keep up with this trend and offer customers additional choice, Gallery successfully expanded its outdoor living collection this year, and its range of products is being extended further for the 2022 season …

Calvi

Cassis

www.gallerydirect.co.uk

Several new outdoor furniture collections are being added to Gallery’s catalogue, with plenty of stock arriving in early 2022, so it can be in customers’ stores in time to sell ahead of the summer.

The new range offers a strong selection of looks to suit different styles and spaces, from contemporary to traditional, and from compact bistro sets to large corner sets.

With Gallery’s new collection, users can dine, relax or entertain outside in style. To complement the furniture, a range of parasols are ideal for hot sunny weather, and there is a selection of firepits, offering an inviting solution to outdoor living for when the sun goes down or on cooler days.

The new furniture includes the extensive Calvi Collection, which offers a varied selection, crafted from all-

weather 5mm PE rattan with a mixed half-round/full-round weave in a choice of two finishes. A luxurious sun lounger, reclining chairs with footstools and comfy sofas are designed for relaxing in style, plus there is a range of tables and seating for al fresco dining. These include an innovative riser table, which can be easily transformed from a dining table into a coffee table.

Other collections include wood furniture, with the Vandra table and chairs and Pula tables crafted from teak, while the extensive Volos Collection comprises acacia with a painted finish. Volos includes a table and bench set specially designed for balconies, although the pieces would also work well in the corner of a patio or garden, states Gallery. For a more contemporary look, pieces such as the Palmi and Cannes Lounge Sets combine teak with powder-coated aluminium, alongside iron and concrete tables, and powder-coated aluminium and rope weave, such as the Cassis dining set.

This collection of outdoor furniture offers an impressive choice. Gallery has really thought about how to meet customers’ needs for outdoor living and different garden spaces, and has developed this extensive selection of products to offer a wide range of solutions.

To find out more about this collection, contact Gallery’s sales team, or for bulk orders contact Carole Nolan, Gallery’s garden furniture buyer, on 01795 439159

NE W OUTDOOR COL L E CTI ON

C OM I N G 2022 Our

Taranto Dining Table

(684586)

offers on-trend industrial design with its combination of a natural teak slatted top and statement powdercoated matte black frame.

Couple with the Nardo Dining Chair Pair (684579) and Nardo Stool Pair (690914) to soften the look with their curved back and sleek frames, featuring faux rattan, teak and powdercoated iron.

View our full collection online at www.gallerydirect.co.uk

64

PRODUCTS OUTDOOR

KETTLE INTERIORS www.kettleinteriorsagencies.com

Driving business growth Mambo Outdoor Living, the newest launch from Kettle Interiors, combines quality, style and impressive features to enable customers to make the best of every inch of their home and garden.

The Santorini Collection offers both style and substance, in two colour options, paired with plain or patterned tabletops, and an optional built-in firepit.

The Del Mar Collection is a modular outdoor sofa set that lets the user create their perfect arrangement. This allweather collection is built to deliver modern styling that will stand the test of time, season after season.

Finally, the Cove Collection is a curved line that delivers “exceptional quality and style”, and can be used to create intimate outdoor seating environments with curved sofas, a cosy firepit coffee table and matching footstools.

Kettle states that, when designing Mambo, it left no stone unturned to bring stockists an outdoor collection that is “beautiful, functional, and offers outstanding build quality.”

Build your momentum with December’s issue With the approach of the January shows, the furniture industry is at full throttle!

Why take your foot off the gas at this critical time?

December’s issue boasts the following special features: CGI MARKETING The latest in product visualisation, with a focus on augmented reality (AR) services JANUARY FURNITURE SHOW (PRELIMINARY) PREVIEW Our sneak peek at what’s lined up at the NEC SHOWTIME With the return of physical events, here’s a guide to some of 2022’s highlights 2022 YEARPLANNER A helpful wall calendar packed with event reminders and sponsorship opportunities We’ll also present the latest in Bedroom, Dining, Living and Trade Services offers.

Bring Furniture News into your marketing strategy, and ensure your new launches have the impact they deserve!

Call Sam Horscroft on 07764 650655 or email sam@gearingmediagroup.com

BOOKING DEADLINE: THURSDAY 11TH NOVEMBER

JANUARY FURNITURE SHOW IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! Don’t forget that we publish the Official Show Catalogue, plus the trade’s biggest preview

66

PRODUCTS RETAIL FINANCE

CREDIT CONTROL

THE PEDS CAN BE AUTOMATICALLY FED WITH THE VALUE OF THE TRANSACTION, THUS REMOVING THE POSSIBILITY OF MANUAL INPUT ERRORS

By JESSE AKRE www.myfurniturepay.com

Manual cashing-up systems are prone to error (image courtesy 123RF.com/morganka)

Simple, in-store card charges are a thing of the past. In today’s multichannel retail world, processing orders and payments is afar more complex affair, with increased margins of error. Jesse Akre, global president and COO of award-winning, cloudbased PoS provider RetailSystem (and an expert on all things omnichannel), offers an overview on maintaining order in the face of potential transaction chaos …

One thing is for certain – there are no two days the same in retail. Each day a different ‘adventure’. With adventure comes challenge – and a need for change.

One of the major areas in retail today that needs proper evaluating for change is your credit card processing processes, and possibly your merchant partner.

Gone are the days of simple in-store charges. Today it is phone orders, internet orders, social orders, orders with several payments due to staggered product arrivals and deliveries … a mess to track – and control.

In that mess and retail chaos are often opportunities for fraud and increased merchant processing fees and rates.

Cheat sheet Let’s first touch on possible fraud. We have all noticed the supervisor card, sitting on a shelf somewhere near the PED (formally known as the PDQ). The importance of the security of this card is very often underrated. It needs to be in a convenient place to allow employees to process a refund – ease of “getting the deal completed” and making the customer satisfied, over preventing bad things from happening.

Again, we will have all experienced delays in going home due to cashing up not balancing (especially if you are using a manual system), but this can simply be an honest error in incorrectly recording

the value of a sale – for example, inputting £24.90 into the PED instead of £249 – or it could be a dishonest employee using the supervisor card to process a refund to their own card.

Sadly, this has probably happened to most of us. Some will be aware, some not, as you simply write it off because you cannot find it amongst the dozens of transactions in a day. It’s a fact – unfortunately, a situation is abused, and most retailers never catch it.

A proper solution to consider is one where the PEDs are automatically fed with the value of the transaction, thus removing the possibility of manual input errors. Retailers also need to consider a solution where the only refunds that can be processed through the PEDs are ones where the original sale was recorded on the system – as a refund or part refund can only be refunded to the same card used to make the purchase, these details are securely stored on the system. It happens – mitigate your risk with change.

Risk and reward Now let’s change up the conversation.

How about all those new types of charges? Any charge without the person in the store with their card in hand is referred to as CNP, or ‘card not present’.

Sounds simple enough – but to a credit card processor, the risk of fraud is exponential, and so are the risk profiles and associated ‘fees’.

INFORMING INDUSTRY, BUILDING BUSINESS 67 iStock.com/filadendron

Think about it this way. When you take a card from a customer as they are right there, in person, you have a very good idea if that person is who they say they are, and if the card is theirs. It is a lower ‘risk profile’.

But what happens when you take a card over the phone? The ‘risk’ increases.

Even ‘riskier’ is an ecommerce order.

Yes, measures and protocols can be put in place to mitigate risk, but credit card processing companies will always ‘risk’ the rates they charge you for the privilege of taking the card. What you will see normally is higher rates and fees for riskier transactions. It’s logical – and, unfortunately, part of doing business.

But beware of the ‘blended rate’. Most retailers take far more orders in-store, yet, although it may appear to be a win as it is a lower rate than online or CNP rates, the ‘blended rate’ (the same rate regardless of the type of transaction) means the financial impact to your

business is greater, as the blended rate applies to all the safe(r) transactions in-store as well!

Get connected So, to recap, make sure you keep an eye on possible fraud points and find

solutions to mitigate that risk. Also, watch those processing rates – a little saving or loss on each order can add up!

To learn more about connected EPoS solutions or to look at possibly lowering your card rates, please contact Robin at robin@myfurniturepay.com

KEEP AN EYE ON POSSIBLE FRAUD POINTS AND FIND SOLUTIONS TO MITIGATE THAT RISK iStock.com/Prostock-Studio

68

PRODUCTS RETAIL FINANCE

ADVERTORIAL

THE RETAIL WORLD IS CHANGING – AND SO ARE WE

Over the last 18 months, we’ve experienced an unprecedented amount of change. Furniture retail, especially, has experienced a rollercoaster period, with supply chain disruptions coupled with a seismic shift in buying behaviour which has transformed the industry.

But it’s not just the high street that is repositioning itself. Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance – one of the UK’s leading providers of retail PoS finance – has announced that it is embarking on a major rebrand, as it sets its sights on rapid expansion, accelerating investment in its retail systems.

The rebrand to Novuna Consumer Finance, which will be fully implemented by March 2022, follows the merger of the business’ parent company with Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and Finance Company earlier this year. This was a significant move for the business, and means it is now part of one of the world’s largest and most diversified financial groups.

Vincent Reboul, MD of Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance, explains the thinking behind the rebrand: “Novuna comes from the Latin words Novo – New and Una – Together, which captures the essence of our business and how

we work with our retailers, creating innovative solutions together and supporting our customers through rapid change.

“It’s a bold, fresh brand that resonates with the changes we are seeing not just in retail, but in society as a whole, and reflects our digital transformation programme which is enabling us to create unique customer experiences and deliver efficiencies across all sectors.”

With competition in retail intensifying, having the right PoS credit offering is a sensible move. Providing a fast, seamless integration, 24/7 retail offering with improved credit decisioning functionality, is what the business sees as its core strength, which will be brought to life with the new brand.

The business is consistently harnessing new technologies which further enhance the frictionless journey customers expect. Integrated ID verification is transforming the online finance application process – this technology is capable of validating the authenticity of documents in real-time, making the identification process as quick and efficient as possible while reducing potential fraud.

The full rebrand won’t take place until March 2022, with the products and services currently offered remaining the same, alongside the account management teams and contacts – but in the longer term, this is far more than a change of name. It represents how the business has evolved and its ambitions to accelerate growth

THE REBRAND CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF OUR BUSINESS AND HOW WE WORK WITH OUR RETAILERS, CREATING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TOGETHER AND SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS THROUGH RAPID CHANGE

Be ready to take card payments with next-day settlement* Barclaycard and MyFurniturePay are teaming up to help your business take payments quickly and securely, whether that’s in-store, on the go or online.

With over 50 years of card payment innovation and expertise, our payment solutions are cost effective, simple to use and reliable. As well as great service and competitive rates, you could even enjoy next-day settlement when taking a card machine with Barclaycard.

Find out more at MyFurniturePay.com Most customers taking a machine with Barclaycard could enjoy next-day settlement.

The partners may receive commission from each other. *T&Cs apply. The approval of your application depends on financial circumstances and borrowing history. Please visit barclaycard.co.uk/cardreaders for more information.

Settlement terms may vary. To receive next-day settlement, transactions need to be taken before 9pm.

Barclaycard is a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register number: 122702). Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.

70

PRODUCTS TRADE SERVICES

PANEL DISCUSSION

Lee’s Custom Woodwork’s TV unit incorporates lighting, transforming the space

Goldsmith Lane Joinery’s half-wall panelling makes spaces cosier and can provide continuity for built-in seating and storage

www.mdfosb.com/en/products/meditemdf

Wood panelling has been creeping back into fashion over the latter half of this year and is now enjoying its moment, working to make spaces cosier in the autumn and winter – both in appearance and in effect.

“The great thing about panelling is that it allows a renovator to cover up uneven walls, plus cracks and gaps where drafts might have previously crept in, as well as providing a new room feature,” says MEDITE SMARTPLY. “ It also provides a great framework for storage and seating.”

A good example of this is the innovative concept from Lee’s Custom Woodwork (pictured). Lee used moisture-resistant MEDITE MR MDF panels to create a hallway feature that is also functional. As well as offering a place to take off and store coats, the mounted wall’s moisture-resistant qualities, thanks to MEDITE MR, coupled with a water-resistant paint finish, ensure that damp coats will not affect the appearance of the panels over time.

Maker Lee Thompson says: “For all my projects I prefer to use MEDITE MR MDF, as I find it gives me a superior, smooth finish, and is very easy to router.

It’s much less likely to fluff up when applying a paint finish. It can be spray finished, and requires a lot less prep work than standard MDFs I’ve used in the past. Moisture-resistant materials are perfect for some of the items I make, as a lot of my work is for areas susceptible to moisture.”

Storage and panelling also go hand in hand, as not only does the latter provide an atttractive backing for shelving and cupboards, it can also lend itself to effortlessly creating opportunities for hiding essential (but often unsightly) electrical boxes and boilers.

And, to truly reinvent a space, lighting can be incorporated into designs, too, as Lee’s custom woodwork TV unit (pictured) demonstrates.

Another example is a classic creation made by Goldsmith Lane Joinery (pictured). Featuring layered panels of MEDITE MDF, the designer has used the material alongside moulded skirting and trim to create this

This hallway mounted wall rack by Lee’s Custom Woodwork uses MEDITE MR MDF to create a functional feature

The nights are drawing in, and people are spending more time at home again. But it needn’t be all gloom, says MEDITE SMARTPLY – as it means fresh demand to recreate spaces for the new season (and beyond) with some innovative panelling, seating and storage combinations …

country-style, half-wall panel that also flows into an attractive seating area.

Goldsmith Lane Joinery’s Jack Hollings says: “I get through a lot of MEDITE material. Mostly, that means MR MDF of various thicknesses. The reasons for using MEDITE specifically are that the product is of a very consistent quality, so I always know what I’m going to be working with – how it will respond during the process. It is possible, with a little time and care, to achieve cut edges smooth enough to paint to a perfectly clean finish.

“When visiting my timber merchants, I’ll always express my preference for MEDITE. One local merchant recently ordered a stock of MEDITE MR MDF in response to my request.”

With a range that spans 10 different families of MDF products and many variants, MEDITE MDF offers over 400 possible specifications for any interior.

“MEDITE makes it real,” states MEDITE SMARTPLY. “Join the exclusive MEDITE MDF community and showcase your latest projects at www.meditemakesitreal.com.”

For more information on the products discussed in this article, visit MEDITE SMARTPLY’s website

SATRA supporting you Membership provides businesses with a range of benefits such as bespoke technical support and advice through our technical team, helping businesses to understand current legislation, influence new standards and develop product specifications.

F by ind vi ou sit t m in o g re fu a rn bo ish u in t m gs em .s b at e ra rsh .c ip om

SATRA Technology has launched a new furniture and floor coverings membership package, specifically tailored to meet the needs of these industries.

Also included are testing discounts, 20% of the annual subscription value returned in the form of vouchers and access to SATRA’s new online Furniture & Floor Covering Hub, a go-to repository for the latest industry news, technical information on standards and regulatory requirements, as well as industry focussed features such as polls.

www.satra.com furniture@satra.com Tel: +44 (0)1536 410 000

72

PRODUCTS TRADE SERVICES Trademax TV unit employing Threespine technology

VÄLINGE INNOVATION www.threespine.com

Threespine Click Furniture Technology has expanded its partnerships with global production line machine manufacturers Homag, SCM and Biesse.

The expansion comes as demand for Threespine accelerates in response to rising freight costs, a shift to omnichannel retail and requests for sustainable solutions.

Threespine has added a new sourcing option by working closely

Face-framed cabinet

Threespine mitre joint

with SCM to deliver a high-volume Threespine production line at Malaysian manufacturer Matak – while a deeper partnership with Homag China means licensees in Asia gain access to nextlevel access to and support around the latest generation of automated inserters for Threespine click furniture technology.

Biesse also showcased its Threespine solutions in a recent webinar.

The centre of knowledge for the furniture industry

Established in 1972, Libra has become one of the UK’s leading designers and wholesale suppliers of beautifully hand-crafted furniture, lighting and decorative accessories for contract and retail environments.

Find out how membership can benefit you

We now have an opportunity to join our sales team as a Territory Manger (TM) for the South East of England.

The TM will be responsible for growing existing B2B accounts and driving new business. Working as part of a dynamic, fast-paced business the TM will be able to understand the customers’ requirements quickly and deliver relevant products and solutions. They will be a motivated, tenacious sales professional and brand ambassador with a proven track record in consistently beating revenue and KPI targets. They will have energy, ambition, drive and determination to succeed. They will be able to manage their territory in order to optimise revenue potential, seek out new opportunities and customers on an ongoing basis.

For full details please visit www.thelibracompany.com/careers Please send covering letters and CVS to

++44 (0)1438 777 700

info@fira.co.uk

liann.foster@thelibracompany.co.uk

www.fira.co.uk

Libra_JA.indd 1

20/10/2021 11:27

Brian Adam’s

Transport

BRIAN ADAM’S TRANSPORT IS A FAMILY RUN FURNITURE DELIVERY SPECIALIST WORKING THROUGHOUT SCOTLAND & NORTHERN ENGLAND FOR CLIENTS ALL OVER THE UK & EUROPE OUR SERVICES INCLUDE: • 1 & 2 person deliveries • White glove delivery • Retail deliveries • Assembly services • Old item disposal • Stock control • Storage & trunking Full service can be tracked live 24/7 via customer specific portal Exceptional levels of customer communication Real time stock levels & data Solutions tailored to exact customer needs We can collect from any UK warehouse on our own trunk vehicles

0141 952 7222 info@executivehomedelivery.co.uk

www.executivehomedelivery.co.uk Brian Adam’s Transport Ltd, Unit 6, The Alpha Centre, 10 South Douglas Street, Clydebank G81 1PD

HOME & RETAIL FURNITURE DISTRIBUTION

IN A RECENT POLL, IT WAS ASKED… WHAT IS THE MAIN REASON YOU HAVE NOT TRIED 3D CGI TO CREATE PRODUCT IMAGERY? ALMOST 60% OF RESPONDENTS ANSWERED… BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT IT SERIOUSLY, IT COULDN’T BE EASIER. Why would you continue to use traditional expensive photoshoots to sell your furniture?

There’s a better way to get the shots you need with 3D CGI. Our team of CGI artists create detailed, scalable digital 3D furniture models, which can be placed in a scene of your choice, anywhere, and used in any way.

That means unparalleled flexibility, huge cost savings, and you can take your products to market right away in a fraction of the time you would usually associate with a traditional photoshoot.

BEST CGI COMPANY 2021 BEST NEWCOMER 2021

CGI FURNITURE SPECIALISTS

WWW.CHILLIPEPPERDESIGNS.CO.UK

76

OPINION

FREE REIN While clearing out his home, US industry consultant Gordon Hecht realised there’s a fundamental difference in how retailers frame their added-value sales – and that a little terminology rethink could result in major margin gains …

WHEN YOU ASSIGN A VALUE TO SOMETHING, IT BECOMES VALUABLE

By GORDON HECHT gordon.hecht@aol.com

My bride and I have been in a purging mood. For those who haven’t Marie Kondo’d their condo, that means moving out, throwing out, or donating anything in your home that doesn’t bring you joy or isn’t being used.

We sorted things into three groups: items that are worn out and destined for the trash; others that have some cash value if we can sell them; and things that have no value to us, but could be donated to a good home. We learned quickly that for the last category, it’s just too hard to donate things these days – most aren’t taking in used goods.

We wanted to get the word out about our excess merchandise (you probably call it ‘advertising’), so we posted the flotsam and jetsam on social media, with photos and descriptions, with prices or marked ‘free’.

This is where it became interesting.

We started with half-a-dozen things priced $10-100, and half-a-dozen ‘free’ items. People who responded to the ‘for sale’ items asked one or two questions, set a time to pick up, showed up on time and paid with cash. The people wanting the ‘free’ merchandise were more cavalier. They asked more questions, and almost all broke their pick-up appointments, or sent us nasty messages when we told them the items had been claimed by someone else.

It occurred to me that when you assign a value to something, it becomes valuable. Contrast that with knowing that things that are zero-cost or free have no worth and become worthless.

People who paid for stuff – new or used – were more respectful of my time and what they were getting. Freebie people couldn’t care less.

It is said that ‘free’ is the most powerful word in advertising. And since the job of advertising is to bring feet to your door and eyeballs to your website, you probably still want to use that word.

But the sales team’s job is to convert those shoppers into customers, so giving away free gizmos or services may be a misstep.

A profitability rule of retail is that when someone gets something for nothing, someone else gets nothing

for something. Whether it’s delivery, removal of the customer’s old items, or accessories like pillows or protectors, each has a cost to your business and a value to your shopper. They only lose their value, to your customer and your team, when you give them away for free.

Closing a sale first time is more important than ever, and I’m not against using bonus merchandise incentives to achieve it – those can still have value when properly framed. But which phrase do you think has more impact: “I’ll throw in delivery for free if you buy now”; or “I can save you time and money by including our full-service delivery, normally $99, for no extra charge on an order placed today”?

Every time you discounts an item or give merchandise away for free, you shred your profit margin. Retailers that work on a 50% margin (100% markup) gain a gross profit of $50 for every $100 they sell at retail. A -10% discount comes right off the top and reduces gross profit from $50 to $40 or a 40% margin. A -20% discount reduces the margin to 30%. In terms of cash, a $100 discount comes off the gross margin.

Free merchandise giveaways have a similar effect. Think in terms of 10 to one. It takes about 10 retail dollars to make up the loss of one free merchandise dollar. Tossing in a pillow with a $20 dealer cost means you’ll have to create another sale for $200 to earn back the net profit dollars.

Everything in your store has a value, and giving it away for free makes it worthless and reduces your brand’s value. Instead, why not build value, by building packages of services and products that make more sense to your shoppers? Think of McDonald’s Happy Meals – the toys or books aren’t free, they are value-added inclusions.

Explain the value of each item in your store. Make sure your team knows why your delivery service costs $49-99. Know the value of each accessory item, and quote the full price first. There’s never a real need to give Sumthin’ for Nuthin’ … but if you know someone who needs 83 VHS tapes or a maroon leisure suit, I might be able to help

Experts in delivering a great payment experience Barclaycard and MyFurniturePay are teaming up to help your business take payments quickly and securely, whether that’s in-store, on the go or online.

With over 50 years of card payment innovation and expertise, our payment solutions are cost effective, simple to use and reliable. Sign up as a new customer and you’ll benefit from great service and competitive rates.

Find out more at MyFurniturePay.com The partners may receive commission from each other.

T&Cs apply. The approval of your application depends on financial circumstances and borrowing history.

Barclaycard is a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register number: 122702). Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.

78

OPINION

THE SUPPLY SNARE Last year, the Government introduced legislation changes to help resuscitate the economy, writes Lindsay Ellis – but while many are simple, some are more complicated, with far-reaching consequences for the unwary …

THE CONTRACT A SUPPLIER RELIES ON MUST CHANGE TO PROTECT THEIR OWN BUSINESS

BY LINDSAY ELLIS www.wrighthassall.co.uk

One of the most significant changes appears in Section 233B of the Insolvency Act 1986 (introduced by the recent Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act), which prevents businesses from terminating supply to a customer on the grounds the customer has become insolvent.

It applies to all contracts for supply of goods and (non-financial) services, but only applies to suppliers – customers can terminate contracts if a supplier becomes insolvent.

This could be a tough situation for suppliers, who are also prevented from demanding outstanding charges be paid as a condition of continuing to supply – which will go against what many will consider good business practice.

Nothing prevents a supplier from terminating a contract in the period leading up to the insolvency proceedings, or terminating after the insolvency proceeding began, for a reason not triggered by that proceeding.

A supplier can also terminate their contract with the consent of the insolvency administrator or with the permission of the court – typically if continuing to supply would cause the supplier hardship.

If a customer enters a formal insolvency procedure, a supplier can wait for a new reason to end the contract (like non-payment for supplies made after the commencement of the insolvency). They may also be able to exercise other contractual rights.

A supplier may, if its contract permits, terminate for convenience, as long as supplies continue to be made during the notice period. If the existing contract is a single-purchase order, the supplier may reject new orders from the customer, particularly when the contract is structured as a framework agreement and each new order constitutes a separate contract.

Suppliers can also refuse to renew an existing contract once it has expired, and can negotiate with the insolvency officeholder to end the contract. In future, the contract a supplier relies on to regulate their relationship with customers must change to protect their own business.

Considerations might include: • Reduce the contract term to ensure the supplier is not locked into supplying the customer for a considerable period in any insolvency procedure (balanced against the commercial objective of securing a long-term customer) • Structuring the contract as a framework agreement, ensuring each supply is treated as a separate contract, which allows the supplier to accept or decline orders • Tightening the payment structure, which may serve as an early warning of customers experiencing financial problems before insolvency is triggered • Requiring regular financial information from customers to assess continued solvency, including credit ratings and performance reports • As an interim step falling short of termination, a supplier could consider including a provision allowing it to suspend further supplies under the contract for repeated or lengthy periods of non-payment by the customer • Ensure the supplier can terminate for convenience, including as short a notice period as makes commercial sense There will be suppliers impacted by the legislation changes, and, in future, choosing customers wisely may slow growth, but could protect them from the consequences of continuing to supply customers trading insolvently.

Conducting deeper due diligence on a customer’s financial position before agreeing contracts and monitoring payment performance is advisable.

It will be prudent for suppliers to train those managing contracts on the impact of the changes and how to spot the warning signs, including ensuring invoices are paid on time, and possibly tightening debt collection procedures.

Every supplier must understand its contractual rights and be ready to promptly exercise them to stop supply or terminate the contract promptly if a customer starts showing clear signs of financial distress – and it would be sensible to review standard terms and conditions to ensure they offer protection against a customer’s insolvency, as far as possible

WE’RE MOVING

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An Accent Chair and Ottoman (in 2 sizes) in Aztec Teal patterned fabric as used on the scatter cushions will complement the range.

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OPINION

81

DO YOUR HOMEWORK Fewer workers may be office based these days, but many of the rules around how they work still apply at home. Claire Clark, the head of ergonomics at FIRA International, has written a new guide which outlines everything employers and employees need to know about buying furniture for homeworking, with health and safety in mind …

COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS HAVE HAD TO ADAPT VERY QUICKLY TO A CHANGING WORK CLIMATE

INDUSTRY PARTNERS

By CLAIRE CLARK www.fira.co.uk

The Furniture Industry Research Association’s latest publication, the Home Office Buyers Guide, has now been published. Our free-to-access independent guide helps individuals and companies select fit-for-purpose furniture and accessories to kit out the home office, and it’s also a useful resource for manufacturers and suppliers of these products to offer to their customers, helping them to make informed decisions when buying for home office spaces.

The ergonomics team here at at FIRA International (the service provider to the Furniture Industry Research Association) specialise in evaluating furniture and other products to relevant dimensional and ergonomic standards, to ensure minimum requirements are met. Our knowledge and experience means we’re perfectly placed to create a comprehensive home office buying guide (and FIRA isn’t affiliated with any manufacturers or suppliers, so the guide is completely independent).

The guide’s sections cover an employer’s legal responsibility to homeworking employees, and what furniture and products are necessary based on the amount of time spent working at home. In addition, specific furniture and product guidance including key ergonomic considerations are detailed for desks, chairs, display screens, keyboards, mice, foot supports, wrist supports and document holders.

The increase in the number of people working from home since the start of the coronavirus pandemic has meant companies and individuals have had to adapt very quickly to a changing work climate. Despite the lifting of restrictions and a change in Government guidance, full-time homeworking or hybrid working has

become the new norm for many, bringing advantages for the employee and the employer.

As homeworking arrangements become a permanent feature in our working lives, employers have a legal obligation to comply with Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Health and Safety 2003 Regulations, and ensure that their workers are using an adequate workstation in the home, as they would be in the office. Many employers are investing in homeworking by offering employees money to purchase furniture and accessories – however, it is also very important that these employees are provided with guidance on key considerations, to ensure they do not buy inadequate products.

Our guide offers advice for: individuals and companies, so they know what to look for when selecting furniture and products for home workstations; manufacturers, when designing for the domestic market; and all users, to understand key ergonomic considerations and ensure the most suitable furniture and products are selected.

We also recognise there is no onesize-fits-all solution when it comes to buying home office furniture and products, and therefore the intention of the guide is to provide the reader with a comprehensive, go-to document for advice to help them make an informed buying decision based on their individual needs.

The home office buyers guide can be found at www.fira.co.uk/homeoffice, while another complimentary resource, the Employee’s Guide to Ergonomic Homeworking, provides additional guidance on how to set up and use an ergonomic workstation at home, and can be found on our website, at www.fira.co.uk/homeworking

82

OPINION

READ MORE AT WWW.FURNITURENEWS.NET

THIS MONTH, WE’RE ASKING …

Lee Ness (Global Upholstery Solutions) One of our upholsterers, Ian Wise.

He’ll do anything, and do it well, and is always happy to fill in where necessary Adam Ashborn (Reborn Marketing & Design) Everyone deserves credit during these surreal times.

Peter Harding (Fairway Furniture) I couldn’t name an ‘employee of the month’ – all those who are continuing to work in our business are playing such an important part in making sure we look after our customers Anne Davies (Room to Grow) It would have to be one of our most recent additions, Laura Sutherland.

Our new head of marketing has made some great developments to the brand already, and is working on our current goal to double turnover within the next three years Steve Adams (Mattress Online) Lee Wild, our warehouse manager. Lee expanded his team by +40% through Covid-19, and shipped just shy of 20,000 units in January with a record-breaking low error rate of just 0.015% Dids Macdonald (ACID) I couldn’t single anyone out – they have all been stars, and responded to remote working admirably

WHO’S YOUR ‘EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH’, AND WHY?

Andy Stockwell (Gardiner Haskins) Such a difficult question! I have such an excellent team – albeit much smaller than it was pre-pandemic – and everyone in it has been exceptional, not just over the last month but over the last 18. I think credit must go to the directors of the business, though. Throughout the pandemic, they have covered every possible eventuality and consistently put the safety of the staff and customers at the forefront of their thinking. The business could have stayed open from day one, but closed for 11 weeks during the first lockdown so safety measures could be put in place.

It’s something that has been maintained continuously ever since, and we’ve had no cases of Covid within the team

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! * Join the conversation on Twitter @FurnitureNewsED * Message the editor at paul@gearingmediagroup.com * For advertising and subscription enquiries, see p3

Emma Select’s personalised sleep solutions

Sustainable seating Upholstery’s green pioneers speak up BED SHOW | AUTUMN FURNITURE SHOW ECO CONSCIOUS | RETAIL FINANCE OUTDOOR | TRADE SERVICES

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Vivense plots rapid retail expansion Karl Walker on Lebus’ succession strategy

21/10/2021 11:48

Adam Hankinson (Furniture Sales Solutions) Dominic Charters is our sales manager. He joined just before lockdown 3, and as a real go-getter he had to be very patient while businesses were furloughed or dealing with everything else other than thinking about sales!

Mike & Karen Rowley (Core Products) Everyone – we all have to pull together and help each other in these challenging times

#386 November 2021 www.furniturenews.net

BEST OF THREE

Gavin Boden (Rhenus Home Delivery UK) I’ve put together an employee of the month scheme, which celebrates employees going above and beyond what is expected of them

Emma Leeke (Leekes Retail) We are currently recognising customer service champions as and when we receive positive feedback – more than ever, people have choices, and we need them to keep choosing us, so we want to shine a spotlight on positive examples of excellent customer care to reinforce its importance Royce Clark (Grampian Furnishers) My manager George for sure, as he has really helped me keep the business operational!

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