Posts Tagged ‘Furniture’

Copeland Furniture wins Sage environmental award

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Manufacturer honored at AHFA’s Sustainability Summit

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Case goods manufacturer Copeland Furniture was named Wednesday as the winner of the second annual Sage Award sponsored by the American Home Furnishings Alliance and Cargill BioH Polyols.

Copeland was recognized at the AHFA’s second Sustainability Summit, taking place here this week. The Sage Award recognizes excellence in home furnishings through sustainable business practices.

For several years, Copeland has made case goods using wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which has helped it win Silver Exemplary Status from the Sustainable Furnishings Council, of which it is a founding member.

Copeland now has eight product groups that qualify for FSC certification. The company sources a majority of its wood within 500 miles of its plant in Vermont.

Also at the Summit, Bill Perdue, vice president of environmental affairs for the AHFA, said that Kincaid Furniture would win the organization’s Environmental Excellence Award.

He also said that the AHFA’s Environmental Leadership Award would be presented to Lewis Herman, corporate environmental and facilities engineer at Kincaid, a La-Z-Boy division. Herman is responsible for environmental compliance, oversight and environmental stewardship for La-Z-Boy’s case goods group.

Kincaid’s Sustainable by Design program was the first case goods operation to receive registration from the AHFA.

Hickory Chair was named the first Sage Award winner last year.

Source: www.furnituretoday.com

www.HowardsFurnitureandDecoratingCenter.com

Simmons sighs in relief as deal announced

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

So now we know that those Serta-Simmons rumors were true, sort of.

The purchase agreement announced today between Simmons and an investor group led by Ares Management and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the owners of Serta, would dramatically change the face of the bedding landscape, sort of.

It will create a new No. 1 in the mattress world: Simmons plus Serta is almost $2 billion in sales, compared to $1.2 billion for Sealy, the way things stood at the end of last year.

But I’m sure you didn’t miss the point that Serta’s owners made about intending to operate Simmons and Serta as separate and distinct entities. There is more than a little skepticism about that claim in industry circles. Time, of course, will tell.

It’s also worth noting that the deal has not closed, and that the Federal Trade Commission’s review of the implications of the proposed transaction continues. Some believe the FTC will squash the deal. Again, time will tell.

For now, Simmons has to be pleased that it is finally moving toward the conclusion of a process that has dragged on for month after agonizing month. Uncertainty in business is usually not a good thing. Simmons took a big step forward in announcing the purchase agreement.

Source: www.furnituretoday.com

www.HowardsFurnitureandDecoratingCenter.com