Trend Trackers Blur The Line Between Fashion And Home Decor

When it comes to determining what's hot in home furnishings, fashion is weaving its way into everything from rugs to wallcoverings to paint. So ask retailers how they spot trends in home decor, and chances are they'll say that they take their cues from fashion designers or color and design forecasting companies with fashion veterans at the helm.

One of the key groups that retailers and manufacturers rely on is the 1,700-member Color Marketing Group, an international association for color and design professionals. Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., the CMG hosts four-day conferences in the spring and fall where retailers and manufacturers, as well as many in the fashion industry, collaborate in a series of workshops to decide on color palettes for upcoming seasons.

"What is unique is this face-to-face forum where you are interacting with people on an international level," said Linda Trent, director of color marketing and design for paint maker Sherwin-Williams. "It's an interesting approach to identifying the direction color is going to take. You can be in a workshop and be sitting with 20 people, from industries ranging from wallcoverings to tile to paint. Many of us are competitors, but if you are going to be successful in the marketplace you can't afford to be out in left field."

Trent, who oversees a staff of eight employees, all with memberships in the CMG, said that she has noticed the growing influence fashion is having on home decor, and she takes that into account when making decisions on color.

"Some [fashion trends] will translate into home decor very easily and some won't," said Trent, who has been in charge of Sherwin-Williams' color direction for nearly 20 years. "Case in point, casual fashions of the 1990s had a more laid-back approach with denim and khakis. There was also a real run on neutral colors [in home decor]. It could be grayish-green, khaki or taupe with a plum undertone -- a sophisticated neutral. I think there is more of [a fashion influence] than there used to be."

Cleveland-based Imperial Home Decor Group, which manufactures wallcoverings, is trying to capture fashion-inspired trends by relying on the expertise of a fashion designer. Susan Unger -- a high-end fashion designer for 20 years who has her own collection of bedding and home decor accessories -- produced a wallpaper collection for IHDG that came out in July and is sold through retail outlets such as ABC Carpets.

"What the wallpaper collection encompasses in terms of trends is a return to nature in a contemporary way," Unger said. "Some people find it Zen-like, because the structure and design is what you see in Asian art."

Unger's wallpaper collection for IHDG has a dozen themes that focus on nature, with colors like honey, eggshell, sage green and lavender as well as metallic shades of gold and bronze.

"I find these colors rich and neutral," Unger noted. "They're elegant without being pretentious or sentimental." The patterns focus on geometrical shapes as well as nature scenes such as willow leaves, tree branches and even insects like dragonflies.

Overall, Unger thinks that the home decor industry is becoming more willing to take chances with colors and designs as it moves toward a more seasonal orientation -- the way fashion does. She noted that fashion and home decor have become somewhat interchangeable at times.

"For me, whether I'm making a scarf or I'm making a throw, it's a very fine line," Unger said. "Some people take a scarf and throw it on their piano, or some take a throw and wear it. They are very closely related."

Other experts who track the home decor category agree. Take Fran Sude. As owner of Los Angeles-based Design Options, a color and trend forecasting company, Sude tracks trends for about 1,200 fashion-based clients, but in the past few years, she quickly has expanded her business to include home decor.

"I started realizing that there was a tremendous untapped potential in my business to get involved with the home area," said Sude, who has three decades of experience in the fashion industry -- including a stint as a retailer -- that evolved into the launch of her own trend-tracking company.

"About three years ago, people started to come to us in the home area," Sude explained. "I found myself selling the same color ranges to Bed Bath & Beyond and the Gap at the same time."

Home decor clients make up about 15 percent of her business now. Donna Rogers, director of design for rug manufacturer Bacova, based in Bath County, Va., is one of them. Bacova rugs are sold through a wide variety of retailers including Lowe's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target and Sears.

"I do use her and her [trend] books as one of my main reference materials," said Rogers, who became Sude's client about three years ago when Bacova was a division of Burlington. "I take that knowledge and put it onto a product. I think it helps me with the customers to justify the direction of where we're going."

Two of the latest styles found in Bacova rugs are from Sude's design trends for summer and spring 2002. One is called "Island Fever," which Rogers renamed "Tropical Treasures" for the rug collection. Another is "In Bloom," with lots of florals, which is now called "Bringing Back Romance."

Sude provides her clients with design and color trends twice a year, focusing first on what's hot for spring and summer, then fall and winter. And although Sude sees a clear connection between fashion -- through her clients like Ann Taylor, Victoria's Secret and Lord & Taylor -- and home decor -- through her clients like Bed Bath & Beyond, JC Penney Home, Cone Decorative Home Fumishings, Bardwill Industries and Burlington -- she cautions retailers not to take it too far.

"Our customers are not on the [fashion] runways. Our customers are in America," Sude advised. "They think runways are just in airports, so stick to the mainstream unless you are on the designer level. Give them newness, but don't give them something that's not going to perform at retail. Go with the trends that work within your plan."