The lines are heating up on Twitter about the Housewares Industry, so it’s time for me to do a post. The industry’s association lays claim to the housewares show growing by 500 exhibitors this year. And it does attract a fairly large audience, but I believe this is all about to change.

With Wal-Mart’s announcement that it plans to go direct with 80% of it’s products and the Housewares Show making up at least half of Wal-Mart’s vendor base, do we really think this is the show they will continue to display their wares at? From having worked this show for some 30 years, and being in that industry, I also know, have felt, and been keenly aware of how much has changed since the early heydays of the Housewares Industry in the 80’s. This show, traditionally held at McCormack Place in Chicago since it’s inception, used to have a building that we all knew to be where the start-up creative companies were. That building died out and got replaced by a larger segmented Housewares Show based on big business deals years ago. The little guy, if noticed at all, was shoved in a corner.

Now, international exhibitors are there in the back, the very back,(read Asian manufacturers) so if you need to source something just bypass your vendor and go straight to the back to make your deals. All very messy, but in the name of progress.

Still, as early as 8 years ago the industry also understood that it was putting on a show for about 5 accounts…Wal Mart, Target, Costco, Sam’s Club and maybe Container Store? The association was smart to start focusing on the kitchen and on the cooking side…more gourmet which nearly got wiped out in the 90’s but is now seeing a comeback. But is it wise to maintain this show on the basis that the merchandising team, product development team, and buyers of Wal-Mart along with Li & Fung can walk the halls (hiding badges) to copy what the vendors are doing instead of doing business with them?

My recommendation is that the show splits itself off into three parts, the cooking and tabletop guys go to the Gourmet Show held in San Francisco at Moscone Center, the creatives head for the gift shows especially the New York Gift Show in January or the Atlanta Gift Show held in July, and the housewares/hardlines guys head for Las Vegas for the Hardware and Lawn & Garden Show. There is also the craft show for those who were smart enough to forge into that market early on.

For the past three years I have been live blogging the Housewares Show, and industry since sustainability became the Hot Topic. With Wal-Mart both co-opting the subject and the industry by last May creating their Sustainability Index and the maxim that all vendors jump on board, I have moved on and recommend others in the space do the same. Target will be able to soak up only so many of the vendors that will depart Wal-Mart. Hopefully they’ve already seen the writing on the wall and have begun their exodus. This morning’s article from AdAge on Wal-Mart losing market share highlights the problems going on in this sector as well as some of the opportunities for vendors, and Warren Shoulberg, HFN’s editor, who is as honest as I am and equally if not more so knowledgeable about the industry, released both a video and a statement with the same recommendations I have. Kids, it’s time to diversify.

In the meantime, don’t believe everything you read or hear about the Housewares Industry especially if it is coming from the Housewares Association. It is very possible it has passed it’s prime. I still have not decided whether I’ll be attending this year as I have mostly moved my cheese already, but the show is next week. If for no other reason, the show will be good for color palettes which is a pretty sad state of affairs don’t you think? Whatever is being prognosticated and held up as trend worthy has already been presented to Wal-Mart and Target and maybe even mostly decided upon. Half the industry is going the route of supply chain to create a more sustainable company and most of us all already know about the 85-95% post consumer waste. I already know about the company in Brazil who has done some great product but it’s from food sources and people are reluctant to place this kind of demand onto farmers. Tabletop has been the most progressive with even that slowing up in recent years.
I covered some innovative companies last year, bodum and fusion brands, on 2modern’s design blog, and still consider them to be innovative companies, but really not much else is happening. Last year the show’s producers pushed color in countertop to be the thing that would make people buy. Color helps, but in this economy, I think real innovation is what is called for not half measures. This industry can run on some pretty low margins (thanks once again to Wal-Mart and Target) so innovation is not always what these manufacturers can afford. Aside from the mentions I’ve already written about here on my blog and 2modern’s, not much has changed, other than their color palettes and if I may say so, the color marketers may have been having their day in the sun as a result.

The only hope is if Rubbermaid or Sterilite licenses some of the innovations made in biodegradable plastics and those get placed in Wal-Mart and Target and then the pricing comes down so everyone can start to do the same. And if this is the case, I have not heard about it. I know it’s been being discussed, but I think we are still a few years from this kind of progress being made.

Info on show dates and exhibitors for 2010 is here. For more past article I’ve written on the Housewares Show visit this link here.

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Could not help but notice:

Effeti Kitchen……………………………Dior Haute Couture 2010

Motivo-Ceaserstone ……………Mickey Rourke Golden Globes 2010

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It’s become clearer to me over the last year that people need some sort of scale that represents the dialog surrounding the production of environmentally friendly products, buildings, businesses. The facts are muddy given the degrees by which a company or the products one produces or that we as consumers purchase are considered environmentally friendly.

While this scale is by no means exhaustive, it is my attempt at trying to clarify those degrees or at least create the debate surrounding it. In other words, it’s a beginning, albeit a primitive one. Until the Environmental Protection Agency creates certification not unlike what the Food and Drug Administration does for what we ingest, we will have to do our own monitoring.

Consumers and people in industry continue to speak about Greenwashing….marketing that says a product or service is green but isn’t really. Maybe it takes more energy to create that product so negates it’s greeness, or the product isn’t based on any green properties per se only that it is to be kept for a long time (not disposable in other words such as bespoke tailoring or even haute couture), so where or how to judge the eco friendliness of your choices? The Green Scale is meant to create debate and help create better definitions associated with our progress. And, progress, not perfection, is what we are looking for.

Aladdin has a proprietary manufacturing process called e Cycle ™ which takes product originally headed for landfills, i.e., cottage cheese containers, yogurt containers, dip tubs and so on, breaks it down then uses it along with its recycled plastic to create its mugs and travel mugs which are also recyclable wherever plastic water bottles can be recyled. So, some percentage of post consumer industrial waste is now the buzz phrase. In Aladdin’s case it is 25% post industrial consumer waste and 75% recycled product that makes up their BPA free water bottle, mugs, and travel mugs.

In the case of Design Ideas’ EcoGen, their proprietary technology that has created plastic that looks and acts and feels (even tastes like) plastic but is in fact biodegradeable in composts so comes even closer to being perfect, don’t ya think? Except one must basically plant it or put it in soil for the proper bacteria to come together before it can break down. Tossed into a landfill, Eco Gen’s product won’t break down and there’s the rub.

But, to my knowledge, no one is doing that technology.

Bed Bath Beyond and Container Store both carry Eco Gen’s bath products. This season Eco Gen added onto to this product line with desktop product. And while this is a wonderful move, another equally important one is the issue of price. Eco Gen says their product pricing is being reduced by some 30%. The company spokesman didn’t say where that reduction was coming from, but one can guess…..economies of scale are being achieved but also in general prices coming down wherever they are getting it produced. This helps. Once more of that happens then the larger plastic guys whose product is more commodity and mostly based on price can also take advantage of the technology. (That green will just become a deeper color green….it may still be a number 9, but it’s a stronger color of green, right?).

Henry Poole & Co. 2007 ForbesTraveler.com “London’s Bespoke Tailors.”

And then there are the conversations that took place in the Conference on Sustainability in India for the fashion industry. Suzy Menkes interviewed Stella McCartney who is a leader in the fashion industry on living and producing environmentally conscious products (she uses no real leather or furs and uses organic cotton), also made reference to bespoke tailoring like what one finds on Seville Row in London. Something someone keeps for 10 years or more, (haute couture belongs in this bracket as well depending on the designer, I think). With the continuing furor over disposable fashion created cheaply with cheap fabrics and even cheaper (some think sweat shops, and who really knows?) labor purchasing better quality goods that just last longer and aren’t meant to be replaced must be considered as a serious part of the equation (green scale ™). Made once, kept for 10-15 years, perhaps put into Good Will and becomes part of someone else’s wardrobe for maybe another 4 years suggests another type of sustainability.

I can not engage in this conversation without bringing up China and the energy it is taking to bring goods in from China. The supply chain to me is where much of the focus needs to go (and on packaging) to help create more enviromentally friendly businesses and products. It’s as much a part of the Green Scale ™ as the creation of products that break down in composts or are recycled even with post consumer waste. We can’t ignore China as a resource obviously but we can use more local manufacturers or craftsmen to make our product…..this too has to be placed on the Green Scale ™, but where? On it’s own? As part of a company’s basket of green practices? Nau, Inc. might have been a 10 on this Green Scale ™, but they filed. Granted they were purchased, and thankfully continue today, however, their story is one that just indicates how expensive perfection is and how and why we can’t get their immediately. Progress not perfection.

And so, the conversation continues.

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Live blogging the Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, exhibitors have decidedly and overwhelmingly used color to offset these recessionary economic times.

The theory is manufacturers and retailers must give the consumer a reason to buy and color can immediately outdate a product and make it necessary to purchase on the basis of color.

Color has always been used, though generally cautiously by most housewares manufacturers and retailers, i.e., Target…Wal-Mart, but without question, color is now THE statement. Case in point is Whitmoor, above. They’ve taken an ordinary ironing board cover and used great eye popping colors to enhance its utility.

I can tell you I don’t need an ironing board cover, but this is an inexpensive (relatively speaking) purchase that is going to make me feel good. That dull green (that I purchased a few years back in hopes of updating my everyday routine) can now be replaced by a HAPPY COLOR.

Other show trends are focused on cooking (as a large percentage of consumers have decided fine dining is expendable); so celebrity chefs are here, and gourmet cooking utensils now rule.

Lauren Greenwood, my pr contact at the show, also pointed out when showing me through the media rooms selected products, that manufacturers have also responded to these recessionary times by creating products and offerings to enhance a new DIY sensibility…..where you may have farmed out the cleaning to a maid at one point in time, you are now doing it yourself and manufacturers are enhancing that everyday utilitarian product.

My favorite of these is ALICE Supply Co., a self described hip housewares company who is putting fun into home chores by using HAPPY COLORS and designs (stripes and camouflage) on plungers and hoses and dustpans and broom handles, oh my!

Maria Barnes and Raili Clasen are the brains behind ALICE Supply Co.. Friends since college, Maria and Raili both came out of the fashion industry having worked for Roxy and Quicksilver. Using those connections and those sources, ALICE Supply Co., now all of two months old, is bringing that same hip cool formula from the surfer world and making waves in a formerly staid part of the housewares industry. You can find their product currently at Fred Siegal in Los Angeles and Lisa Perry in New York. Their website is www.alicesupplyco.com but is in the process of being designed so is coming soon.

As to the GREEN category it’s still alive and well but it looks to have receded to some degree in importance (with the exception of water bottles which proliferate at this show) while manufacturers decide how best to define themselves in the green/sustainable environment. There is a focus on more durable long lasting product as opposed to throw-away disposable products. This in itself can be defined as part of the green movement. But I can tell, overall, the lingo of what is green and what is not or where a product falls on the GREEN SCALE (a term I’ve coined) is yet to be clarified.

In an effort to help not only the consumer but other manufacturers clarify their position on the sustainable movement, I’ll be using Aladdin and Eco Gen (I blogged about Eco Gen launched at last year’s housewares show) as the best of the best when it comes to walking the walk.
Check back soon for the details.

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Click on image for video

It’s a brilliant marketing campaign to say the least. But what makes it so brilliant (besides being launched during New York’s Fashion Week) is that it functions on all cylinders (why not continue the metaphor–taxis, cars….cylinders, get it?).

For one
A variation on the yellow theme by Narciso Rodriguez FW 09.

they’ve used a color, yellow, that exemplifies optimism in a time that screams for it (so did designer Isabel Toledo in the design she made for Michelle Obama to wear on Inauguration Day, although Mrs. Obama’s dress color was a variation on yellow and called lemongrass).

For two, Pantone proclaimed mimosa yellow the color of the year. Thirdly, VIPPS Yellow Taxi reveres one of this country’s greatest and more memorable assets, New York City Taxi Cabs, in style and in their video that borders on perfection and finally the collection itself is an ingeniously crafted modern take on a classic and timeless design.

What’s not to like, love, crave and/or admire? Heck, I even feel better just blogging about it.

VIPP’s Limited Edition Yellow Taxi can be found at The Conran Shop and Giggle in New York as well as many others around not only the United States but also around the world ( check VIPP’s website for the shops in the country you live in).

I will also say, as a final tribute to an incredibly well thought out marketing campaign, VIPP is an excellent example of marketing on a global basis. Their website works easily and for all countries (product found in all countries) but this campaign actually speaks to a region they are hoping to build upon and in, the USA, that will no doubt appeal to other countries just by virtue of its nostalgia relating to the iconic New York City Taxi Cab.

Wish I’d thought of it! (I’ve written more about Yellow Taxi on 2modern’s design talk blog too).

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If Michelle O’s inaugural day dress has anything to do with it, (and I think it does), Texturize Me will be the new watchphrase.

This movement, layers of texture, has been happening for awhile though and Mrs. Obama’s dress just is a stand-out example of the times. Prada used lace in a recent past collection, I’ve shown how lace is being used in home furnishings….these are just a few examples of how texture is giving us dimension, depth, and layers or even representing the very fabric of our lives.

After all, not much in life is one dimensional anymore except the worldwide web, many would have you believe. It’s flat and has served to flatten supposedly our daily heirarchy, but I don’t see that happening much. If anything, it’s veiled heirarchy and that takes us back to texture.

And now too India is jumping into the fray. Talk about layers, of culture and history: witness the Jain Temple at Ranakpur.

The Jains are a Hindu sect known for their non-violence and asceticism, and this temple complex is one of the most important Jain sites in India. Photography by Murray Fredericks. July/August 2008 Vogue Living Austrailia.

Yes, of course, by all means, Texturize Me.

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Analyzying the Google data on Trendbites dashboard was an interesting exercise this morning. I wanted to know what was on people’s minds not just for the month but for the whole year and then their patterns throughout the year. Of course you have to take different things into consideration but let’s use some lists to cut to the chase.

Top Searched subjects for 2008 on the Trendbites blog:

1) Tattoos
2) Eco friendly water bottles.
3) Sarah Palin’s Wardrobe, designers and where can get it
4) Suzanis
5) Fretwork

Each one of these search terms can be elaborated upon because people used various terms to find info on these subject matters plus I would say that there were related items that fell into a sidebar of those topics, such as in fretwork also came Asian ornamintation….cloisone, champleve, etc., and they searched Benjamin Crutzfeldt’s name or his porcelain which is based on 18th century Chinese porcelain techniques but modernized.

As well several of these were either spiked by the news media, i.e., Palin’s wardrobe and this summer’s newsworthy research on the chemical in plastic water bottles being unsafe for people.

The very interesting one is that the tattoo subject is pretty consistent (throughout the year) as is fretwork, and suzanis…..a more recent though I expect timely for several reasons is the new Spring pattern for Pfaltzgraff’s dinnerware, Fruit Bounty. The Macys/Rwanda Project is also a big search item for December.

The remaining five of the top ten had to do more with star power, i.e., angelina jolie (who had more searches than Brad Pitt, fyi) but most of those searches came when they were getting ready to have their twins.

Then there was Heidi Klum’s red dress by John Galliano for the American Heart Association and Coke Sweepstakes promotion during the Oscars….again news timing.

And lots of searches for different industry color trends, a few in general trends for 2009-2010, BTS/BTC Dorm info searches, and finally named designer searches i.e., Oscar del la Renta, Dior, Moschino, Ralph Lauren and Nau (menswear for 2009 and the color of orange was searched specifically). I had a few for the timourous beasties wall paper and Scott Hill furnishings, the wallpaper or even furnishings from the movie Lucky #Slevin, and a few for the artists Damien Hirst and Richard Prince.

These searches can all be qualified by #1, I write about these items, #2, these are the things on people’s minds either professionally or because the news has spiked interest (TREND), or, and this one is special just because I went through the same thing, #3, very little otherwise is written about them such as Mumenshance the mime troupe from Switzerland. So they are one of the top five consistent trends but I know that that is a very special interest topic, not a trend per se.

Those top five as I listed them above are worth your consideration. My own bottom line is that if I wanted to make this a blog just about color trends and color per se in many industry categories, I would do very well with the blog….but hey all you out there I do write trends about color in depth and that info can be gotten in a much more specific manner, i.e., I use acutal pantone numbers by industry or even can create palettes!

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This is a departure from where we have been but I’ve wanted to put these ads up for awhile. It’s part of a marketing campaign I did for a company who wanted to use their core product, poly vinyl coated wire shelving, to create storage for the scrapbooker.

This ad campaign was tremendously successful. The first shot in particular (top) brought customers into our booth at the trade shows in droves….not to mention people just being so excited about the product offering period. We positioned it as an affordable at home storage system with some on-the-go products as scrapbookers always take their projects to crop events which take place at venues outside their home so they have to have a way to transport these items to those places.

I had the product in both Hobby Lobby and A.C. Moore within six months of our beginning to ship and it hit the top ten list for the holiday season of products ordered at organize.com within that same first six months. What happened was that we got some significant space from a special edition of a Memory Makers Storage publication (on shelves for more than 3 months). Because it was still early in the game and we didn’t have a whole host of retailers set up around the country, I had the factory’s 800 number listed and we routed the customer to our online partners. So you know that story, “He who hesitates is lost,” and “the early bird catches the worm.” In that particular case, the early bird was Organize.com.

The adman on the project was Scott Schafer from Schafer Associates, here in St. Louis, and of course I highly recommend Scott. He was very quick at getting the point of the matter, offered more than one solution to our solution, and kept the thread running throughout (we had 3 different ads we ran within a year at various times according to other events we had scheduled).

In the words of Hannibal from the hit television series, The A Team, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

You can find out more about Scrapbook Solutions at their website, www.scrapbooksolutions.net. And to see a video about Scrapbook Solutions you can visit A.C. Moore’s scrapbook video section (I’m in the video too!). Besides seeing how our top two items work and how the system comes together, this video also highlights the packaging, which was also a significant boon to the product line’s success. When you see the video, you’ll see that our choice of colors and how we put them together along with the shots of the product and the company logo came together in a perfect harmony of color, clarity, and attention grabbing.

P.S. The parent company of Scrapbook Solutions is Industrial Wire Products, Inc. and I was the VP Sales & Marketing for the retail side of their business and was responsible for not only this product launch but also their core product line found in most storage and mass retailers around the country and online….

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just wondering….since I’ve been MIA for a few weeks now. (yep, that’s my building)

If you recall a few months back I blogged about a possible move to downtown St. Louis, MO and that is what I’ve done…I made the move. It’s been difficult, as moves go they always are, but this one has had a little of everything attached to it, since we had to stay someplace temporarily before we could get into the new digs. My furniture is still in storage but we are managing.

The best part? I am an official downtown loft dweller and I have to say, I like it. Wasn’t sure since it’s been more than a few years since I lived in the heart of a city and when I did it was Manhattan and then Chicago…St. Louis by comparison leaves a lot to be desired but there were no lofts that I could afford like this anyway in those cities, now or then.

Plus St. Louis has several investors who have put a lot of money into it’s downtown restoration and many of the old historic architecture has remained so people are getting buildings that are gigantic when it comes to space and contractors are gutting them and turning them into good sized lofts with brand new cabinetry, granite countertops, all stainless appliances, washer and dryer included, interesting restaurants and retail shops with lots to do (our building has a restaurant attached to it, and we have a fitness room, and a community room including a wet bar and big plasma tv to rent out for parties). It’s a brave new world out here. (That’s not my actual apt., this is a display, but most of the apts. look just like this, absent the view of the arch)

I plan to keep you posted on how the city’s development goes given the state of the economy…this being the hard-hit midwest and right now St. Louis and its surrounds are experiencing a negative in residents rather than a positive. That said, within our boundaries, there’s been a steady migration into the city from the ‘burbs because of how cool downtown has become.
(That’s the buildings atrium, the ground floor is looking into the community room)

Walking the dog isn’t as challenging as I thought….there’s lots of construction everywhere, but mostly it’s pretty peaceful (the building is very energy efficient too), the parks are really well kept and there’s lots of lighting in the evening. My timing has been pretty interesting because it’s baseball season and St. Louis does indeed revolve around the Cardinals. The city is truly abuzz day and night when the Cards are in town playing. I am only a stone’s throw from Busch Stadium so I get to be up close and personal with Cardinal Fever a lot. Also I’m within 15 minutes walking distance to the Arch which I visit regularly dog in tow to see how the river is cresting.

The mighty Mississippi is rolling along and rising at the same time. It’s been worse….’93 was pretty bad, this is just about as bad but further to the North and Northwest of the city. The casinos are out of business for the moment and our usual downtown 4th of July fair is being shifted from the Arch ground to someplace close but not on the water. What is happening now is very much like what happened in ‘93 and to say it’s been rough for those whose communities and homes have been flooded is an understatement, even those who have taken all kinds of measures to prevent the flow of water have had to live in a private kind of hell for weeks now. When you are down by the Arch, watching the strength of the current as the river flows by there is an eerie silence because while the water hasn’t taken over the city as it did New Orleans, it’s right there, cresting and letting us know that we are no match for nature out of control.

Those little marks against the concrete are people…and usually a person can walk down about another 20 ft of stairs to a landing.
This image shows an entire flight of stairs plus the landing to be completely underwater.

The casinos down by the Arch are all out of luck right now.

So, pardon my lack of blog posts of late, but I hope to be back at it again and this time with a fresh eye to life in a smaller but more efficient dwelling. I plan to keep you posted on how life progresses in the midst of a downtown revitalization. There’s lots to be done! And I’m sure I’ll be even more obsessed about storage.

And lastly, the public transportation is very accessible from where I am. This is good news….I’m enjoying big savings on the pocketbook because of it. St. Louis’ public transportation system isn’t very complicated but it is clean and there are major metrolink stops that will connect you with buses that can take you the rest of the way; however, you still wind up doing a lot of walking. It’s not perfect and I can always use the exercise; it’s better than paying $4.00/gallon of gas. It takes you straight out to the airport too…you just walk right into the terminal (this has been the most well thought out part of it) and it takes you directly to one of our larger shopping malls And finally I’ve convinced my daughter to start taking the Metro; it’s more time consuming, but it’s easy, clean and safe. I wouldn’t want to be out late at night taking it though….don’t need to test those waters either.

Today, Sunday, I went grocery shopping and was surprised by the number of people taking the transit system, on a Sunday both the bus I was on and the train I was on were nearly full. That is unusual for St. Louis. Another unusual sight was a group of well dressed women, about 5 of them, who got on the train and each of them was carrying a shopping bag from one of the Wal-Mart’s. These are curious sights because St. Louis people love their cars and until now haven’t given up on them that I’ve read or could tell based on the heavy traffic still on the roads and unfilled buses and rail cars; but that seems to be changing. I know when I started this, gas was just getting to between $2.60 & $2.70 (that was in March); guess now that it’s staying around $4.00 people are finally changing some of their habits, between the cost of gas and food at minimum, what choice do you have?

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I saw this concept over a year ago in the British Elle Decor and have seen glimpses of it since.

With house sales down right now the apartment market must be soaring, do we think? Haven’t seen stats on that yet, but expect to soon. That said, apartments can be very space challenged. It seems the Non Kitchen may be an answer. Elle Decor’s angle came more from how much we are combining our living and kitchen space so now really need the kitchen to if not be there, then disappear.

It’s perhaps the one area I felt Meredith Corporation didn’t cover (from NKBIS)….but this is extremely contemporary so at least right now a smaller segment of the market.

This is the Tivali kitchen which can be put in the center of a room and act as a room divider.

From Dada. If you visit their site, be sure to visit the Hi-Line, top image, and the Tivali, to get more than one perspective……

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