A Thousand Thanks

By Bruce Birnbach, American Leather President

As we prepare to spend the holidays giving thanks with families and friends, it’s also a good time to give our thanks—on behalf of the entire American Leather team—to those responsible for making what we do possible.

For over two decades, American Leather has been crafting custom upholstered furniture three times faster than the industry average—a capability which has kept us at the forefront of our industry. We’ve also been the leader in developing innovative products that redefine the industry standard – from sofa sleepers to recliners to home theater designs.

But we’re only able to do this because of the support and committed focus we receive from our talented designers and product development teams; skillful factory workers and engineers; driven sales, marketing and business staff; loyal customers and dedicated vendors. Each and every one plays a significant role in our end product – from the initial brainstorming to final purchasing stages – and we’re thankful to have you in our corner.

Because of you, we can:

Design Differently.  By applying modern, "just-in-time” manufacturing methods to the “old line” furniture industry, we’ve been able to revitalize the way furniture is designed and delivered. Our collections consist of original designs by some of the industry’s leading international designers – many of whom have brought us award-winning designs. And we are constantly coming up with ways to provide functional, solution-based modern and long-lasting designs compatible with a variety of styles.

Innovate and Create. At American Leather, we’re about forging new roads in the industry – not retreading the same ones. With over 50% of our business being patented designs, our designers and engineers take our collections one step further. Our product development teams are renowned in the furniture business for designing innovative, proprietary products that fill unmet needs in the market, and bring unprecedented comfort to the way we sit, relax, recline and sleep.  Today our Comfort Sleeper^® is in hundreds of thousands of homes and hotels worldwide, and our Comfort Recliner™ and Comfort Theatre^® collections are a growing presence in home theaters and living rooms everywhere. 

Feel at Home. There’s a lot to be said for a furniture company that can create quality products and deliver them at a fast pace. And it’s even more impressive when its 450+ member workforce can be kept 100% in the U.S.  By having our headquarters in a 250,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in South Dallas, we’re able to maintain the highest quality manufacturing standards and attract a very talented team of factory workers, engineers and corporate staff alike – a reality that many overseas manufactures can’t claim. Additionally, we’re able to offer our employees all the comforts of home—such as a state-of-the-art wellness facility—as they work to make your home more comfortable, too!

Our way of doing things is what sets us apart from others in this industry, but our support—both internally and externally—is what makes it all possible. Thank you for standing by us for another year of style and success.  

Solving decorating problems two at a time: Pairs of chairs

Chairs don’t get enough credit. In the furniture world, the sofa is the headliner attracting the most attention. We understand why: The sofa -- or the sectional -- is often the focal point, the place where the most people sit and the centerpiece of the room.

But where chairs really stand out in ways that sofas can’t match is as style accents, much like jewelry for the room. On top of their strong style statements, chairs are physically smaller, which allows people to place them in settings where sofas just won’t fit.

So, since we are soon promoting a Chairs & Pairs sale with some of our best retail partners, let’s talk a bit about how chairs are effectively employed, especially the Accent & Occasional chairs from the American Leather catalog.

This vignette created by our friends at 24e in Savannah, Ga., shows how a pair of chairs creates an intimate seating area perfect for conversation or, with the window nearby, reading. The Cole chairs shown here have a clean, appealing, modern design, and they are also quite comfortable.

A sofa would be so wrong here because it would block the beautiful piano and probably hinder access to the French doors. Instead, the Cantoni designer who created this gorgeous setting employed four swivel Feliz chairs around an ottoman and a leopard-pattern rug. With the swivel feature, which American Leather offers as an option as many of its chairs, attention turns easily to the piano. Notice, too, how the shape of the Feliz chairs is similar to the taller bowl on the piano. Nice touch!

From the Robert Legere Design Center in Asbury Park, N.J., another sumptuous example of the Cole chair being put to great use. With the round table over the round shag rug, this is a fun setting that just calls out for people to sit down and enjoy each other. Beautiful!

In this wonderful display created by Isidro Dunbar Modern Interiors in Destin, Fla., the sweeping curve of the Alyssa swivel chairs make the strongest style statement while the stainless steel base serves as a design link between the Rex bench in the foreground and the Savino sofa.

As we said, chairs deserve more credit. For more ideas on how chairs can make a style statement, check out our assortment here. Or use the Dealer Locator at the top of our web page to find the American Leather retailer nearest you.

American Leather in the news: Monarch

We never get tired of seeing our products featured in beautiful homes or prestigious publications. So, we were doubly pleased to see a sumptuous Monarch sectional featured in a recent slideshow by The New York Times in its Great Homes and Destinations series.

The featured home in the Jan. 15 feature on “What You Get for … $900,000” was a midcentury modern ranch-style home in Portland, Ore., and the Monarch configuration showed up in the first interior photo of the slideshow.

Monarchis one of the more unique designs in our catalog. The arms and the back of each piece have an overhang that allows a bench – or benches -- to slide snugly underneath, creating additional seating. It’s all very informal and fun, especially with the abundance of pillows that are included with each Monarch seating piece.

Here’s one of our photos of the Monarch, showing how the arms overhang – allowing the benches to slide underneath:

Lounging in style, like a Monarch.

In The Times feature, every inch of the 1951 house, surrounded by towering pine trees, is lovely and appealing, but we were so pleased to see how the three-piece Monarch sectional was set up as the focal piece of the simple yet elegant living room. The sectional is covered in rich velvety fabric in a dark mustard color, set off nicely in both contrast and color by the linen pillows. Here is a link to the slideshow featuring the Monarch: http://tiny.cc/9buiax

Several accent chairs in our collection would be right at home in any room of this house, like the Aaron and Cole.

The Aaron has a beautiful sculpted walnut base with a retro feel. The Aaron and Cole chairs are going to included in our Chairs and Pairs promotion starting February 7. Please contact your retailers for more details.

A fine complement to the Monarch, Aaron keeps the midcentury vibe going.

3 more reasons to love leather

The leather on this Danford sectional is inviting you to sit down and relax!

It shouldn’t come as too big a surprise to learn that we think leather is great for covering furniture. It is, after all, part of our name.

Leather has been such a big part of what American Leather has been doing these past 23 years that we occasionally find ourselves assuming that everybody already knows what makes leather such an excellent choice in home furnishings. But we still find ourselves explaining the advantages of leather: It’s a combination of things, actually, ranging from esthetic appeal to enduring value, but here are some of our faves.

There’s a reason Rod Stewart wore those pants: We’re just going to put it out there: Leather has sex appeal. Something about leather makes most of us want to touch it, see how it feels. It’s appealing to the eye like few other natural materials, and it draws us in. We usually recommend that shoppers fondle our leather so that they select the one that looks and feels best.

Leather wears in; it doesn’t wear out:  It lasts four times longer than most upholstery fabrics, and while a fabric sofa will never look better than the day it is delivered, leather gets better looking all the time. As we use our leather sofas and chairs, an attractive patina develops, and the leather seems to develop more character.  Few things in this world look more inviting than a well-used and loved leather chair.

Good leather breathes: It’s cool to the touch in the summer and warm in the winter. American Leather uses only top-grain and full top-grain leathers. Without getting too technical, we’ll say that these are top quality, and like all good leathers, they “breathe.” What that means is that natural oils and moisture moving back and forth in the leather – transpiration -- which keeps the material soft and supple. Your skin won’t stick to it, and it will adjust quickly to temperature changes because it breathes.

We could go on and on about why we are proud to make beautiful, comfortable furniture covered in leather, but we’re going to get back to filling our Christmas orders so that everybody gets what they want when Santa arrives with his delivery truck.

5 more reasons you'll love Ultrasuede

The Malibu sectional in  a chocolate Ultrasuede with a Pink Ribbon chair in the foreground.  With 97 colors, Ultrasuede lets you go radical or keep it on the down low.

American Leather has been offering Ultrasuede by Toray for more than a decade. It was the first fabric we added to our line because of its unique combination of luxury and performance. Simply put, it’s got a great hand and it tailors beautifully. But the beauty of Ultrasuede, which just feels better than any microfiber, is more than skin deep. Here are five reasons why:

You can’t kill it: Ultrasuede carries a 10-year warranty, but that’s the minimum life expectancy. It does not wear out. Period. Our mother has an Ultrasuede pants suit from the 1970s in her closet, and it looks great, even if the lapels are a bit wide. We could bore you with the overwhelming scientific data about double-rubs in fabric-testing labs, but the point is that it stands up to use as well or better than any other upholstery cover, which makes Ultrasuede a great value.

More colors than the rainbow: We use Ultrasuede HP, formerly Ultrasuede Ambience. There are 97 colors in the line. From earth tones like Pebble and Maple Wood to brilliant eye-grabbers like Pink Ribbon and Robin’s Egg, Ultrasuede has the colors that make beautiful rooms.

Unlike the rainbow, these colors don’t fade: Besides being soft, supple and sensuous to the touch, Ultrasuede is also resistant to stains and discoloration. It's even machine-washable or dry-cleanable. The color-fast properties of Ultrasuede make it suitable for demanding use in office furniture and even automobiles.

It’s pet friendly: Nothing will protect furniture 100 percent from aggressive claws or gnaws. But Ultrasuede is better than most. It resists scratching, there are no threads to pull or fray, and it won’t absorb stray hairs. In the event of pet “accidents,” Ultrasuede also resists staining and odor absorption. Most still-wet stains will come up with some gentle patting with a paper towel.  For dried stains, start with gentle brushing, and if that doesn’t work, try wiping the stained area from the outside in with a well-wrung cloth dampened in lukewarm water.

It’s environmentally friendly: American Leather takes pride in being a responsible manufacturer, minimizing the resources we use, recycling wherever possible and leaving the smallest possible impact on the environment. Toray, makers of Ultrasuede, share our values, and Ultrasuede is almost entirely a recycled product, purely reconstituted from such post-industrial material as scrap polyester film. And Toray’s production process reduces both energy consumption and CO² emission by as much as 80 percent compared with conventional recycling.

Bonus reason: It goes great with leather. For subtle yet sophisticated looks, Ultrasuede

can be matched up with leather beautifully, creating a sumptuous monochromatic look or an appealing contrast. Many of American Leather's sofas can be two-toned, with leather on the frame and Ultrasuede seat and back cushions. Your choice! 

 

Menlo Park chairs in two colors of Ultrasuede. Yummy!

Some of you might find this weird, but sometimes while watching a movie or TV show I find myself paying more attention to the furniture than the characters. Beautiful, charismatic Ryan Gosling can be on the screen but all I can think is “OH MY GOODNESS THAT IS OUR MALIBU SOFA IN THE BACKGROUND!!” (See photo evidence for proof). 

I guess that’s what happens when you work in our industry. Everywhere we go, whether it’s a friend’s house or a restaurant, we take note of the décor and layout of each room. It’s a gift really, because what you surround yourself with is an expression of where you’ve been and who you are.

The only problem with falling in love with a room on screen is not knowing where to find the furniture. Set designers are great at scouring through hundreds of options to find the perfect piece, so why not take a note from them and recreate your favorite room scenes found in the movies? This will be our first installment of movie room inspirations, and for this first round we are focusing on the very stylish and mod influence of the 1960s.

Down With Love

Set in 1962 New York City, the film definitely shows off the flair and colorful appeal of this the era. Here’s a great shot of the apartment set up for the main character, Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger).

Want to bring the spirit of the 60s in your home? Check out our Menlo Parksectional. This is just ONE configuration, the options are endless! In the image below, the piece is covered in Ultrasuede Hot Pink which helps give it that cool, groovy vibe!  

Mad Men

I don’t think this show needs an intro, I think we all know why we watch it…

Just kidding, there’s a lot more to the show than just the ever-so-cool Don Draper. Set in 1960s Manhattan, Mad Men’s set decorators bring the ‘60s to life with every episode. This show has so many great room settings we couldn’t pick just one inspiration.

The first is the Draper formal living room before Betty’s redecoration in Season 3.

How cool is that sofa?! The clean lines, interesting shape, and colorful pattern make it the perfect piece to play off of throughout the room. Want something similar in your home? Check out one of our newest additions – the Oliver. Here it is covered in classic Bison White leather, with an updated design and added comfort of down seats.

Next we move into a Mad Men office. Again the mid-century modern look of the 1960s comes through with the low, clean lines of both the upholstery and the coffee table. Not to mention the vertical wood panel walls, lamp shades and interesting artwork. 

Want to bring a bit of that charm into your office or home? Easy! Here’s our Parker sofa in Haven Pesto leather, and the Tristan chair in Haze Oyster fabric. The Parker shares the clean lines and tufted look of the Mad Men office all while keeping you comfortable with the plush foam seats. Tristan has some of the same great angles of the Mad Men office chairs, but with a little modern flare of the wood base and metal legs. 

From the office to Don Draper’s new apartment, the classic ‘60s style carries through. A person can only dream of having an apartment as spacious and beautiful as Don’s in NYC. Even Don knew the best way to fill the space was with a big, open sectional. Some people might think of sectionals as a bulky addition to small rooms, but as you can see in the picture below there are several types of sofas that can keep the small scale with the benefits of extra seating.

The low profile look seen here can be recreated with our Quincy sectional in Phoebe Café. The Quincyis perfect for a nice, upright sit and totally fits into the mid-century modern inspired look. And bonus for the short people – the seat depth is only 21”!

 

If you want to check out any of these or one of our over 4 million options (no joke!) then head on over to www.americanleather.com and browse through our catalog. Don’t forget to use our dealer locator to find a retailer close to you. 

-Laleh Kadjar, Marketing Coordinator & TV addict.

Square pegs, round holes – We have them both

Uno ottomans, now available round as well as square, continue to be among our most functional and versatile pieces.

Whether you employ them as TV-dinner trays or overflow seating, the Uno makes life easy, rolling smartly into position on casters and always looks good doing it.

We’ve been making these adorable little scamps for the past decade, and they continue to be crowd pleasers, especially since last year when we added the cylindrical version to go with the long-running cube.

 

A seat, a table, a stylish way to store your extra stuff…The beauty is that you can have it any way you like, and the top is an upholstered cushion or, flip it over, and it’s a tray table.

This assumption could be a shot in the dark, but we strongly suspect that the hidden storage under the lid is frequently a quick-and-easy catch-all for table clutter just before the guests arrive – at least, it is in our house.

We have seen that Uno’s work really well in pairs, and more than a few times, people have put four squares together to create a large and extremely versatile cocktail table. For measurements and more information, go here.

Lean back and set a spell – and look good doing it

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it? American Leather’s Comfort Recliners provide infinite comfort while maintaining a room’s design integrity.

The age-old problem with the recliner is the married couple’s lament - he likes it because it’s comfortable, great for watching games, movies or for snoozing, and she objects to furniture with all the style and shape of a marshmallow man. To make matters worse, when the chair opens, the metal mechanism has all the charm of a medieval torture device.

Comfort Recliners are the solution to settle both sides of that argument. They sit just as comfortably as any recliner. In fact, because each style is available in four sizes and can be adjusted any number of ways, the Comfort Recliner provides a custom fit. Here’s how:

·      The height on the swivel version is adjustable from 19 inches seat height to a bit more than 21 inches.

·      The headrest pillow slides up or down and it can be tilted forward for optimum TV-viewing posture.

·      The footrest operates independently from the reclining back, allowing users to prop their feet up without leaning back – great for reading newspapers and magazines.

·      Infinitely adjustable. Set the footrest as high or low as you want it with our patented Comfort Release handle. The back operates intuitively. It goes back only as far as you want to lean back.

Just as important, they just look great. Open or closed.

Even when they are closed, the seven Comfort Recliner styles have more design panache than the typical recliner, but when they open – oh, my – that’s when they really sparkle. 

You see, the footrest is fully upholstered so there’s no comfort gap under your legs. This helps hide the mechanism, but even if you duck under the chair to look, you will see that the mechanism under the foot rest is entirely in a polished stainless-steel finished metal. It bears repeating: the Comfort Recliner looks great open or closed.

And you have tons of options to further customize your best seat in the house. Such as:

The swivel base is available upholstered with the same leather or fabric that the chair is covered in, or you can have it in metal with a stainless finish, or you can have it in wood with Espresso, Acorn or Walnut finish.

If you don’t need or want a swivel base, get it with wood legs in Espresso, Acorn or Walnut.

With the four distinct sizes, we have one to fit everyone from petite women to LARGE men.

Visit one of our Comfort Recliner gallery dealers to sit test this innovative new product.

Resolved: A more beautiful, more comfortable home

Make a bold style statement for 2013!

Many of us have made promises to ourselves pledging to be better, healthier people in 2013. At the same time, quite a few of us are also looking to give that same sort of attention and effort to our homes.

It makes sense: We’ve enjoyed some free time at home, often with holiday guests, and attended parties at the homes of friends and relatives. All this socializing helps us see what’s right and what’s not so right about our homes. It also helps that the visits to our friends have exposed us to new ideas in colors, design or furnishings.

Perhaps we don’t make home-décor resolutions with the same solemnity that we use when we pledge to eat less and exercise more, but most of us recognize that a more attractive and comfortable home cannot hurt our pursuit of inner peace and calm.

So, knowing that January has always been a big month for redecorating – whether because of New Year’s resolutions or just because folks want to spruce up for the Super Bowl, we would like to offer a few suggestions.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew: Work one room at a time. Make a priority list and try to make orderly progress. Nothing’s more discouraging than starting too many projects at once and never really finishing any of them.

Remember that a redo can be almost effective as an overhaul: A new paint color, a few new accent pieces, or a new arrangement of your furniture can refresh a room nearly as well as if you renovated everything.

Put the strongest accent on comfort: American Leather has built its business with great style and innovative design, but underneath it all, we know that we can never lose sight of the comfort imperative. As you consider new furnishings or new room arrangements, always ask yourself: Is it comfortable?

Have fun with colors and style, but always keep it comfortable.

Be fresh and have fun: For some adventurous souls, this advice is unnecessary, but many among us are quite cautious about taking style risks. Still, we believe the use of vibrant colors and style makes a room more beautiful and more comfortable. If you aren’t sure what works, there are tremendous resources available in the form of design professionals, books and the web. Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest for a bit extra inspiration, http://pinterest.com/americanleather.

Don’t forget the most important rule, have fun!

Tis the season ...

I do come home at Christmas. We all do, or we all should. We all come home, or ought to come home, for a short holiday -- the longer, the better -- from the great boarding school where we are forever working at our arithmetical slates, to take, and give a rest.

 -- Charles Dickens

The American Leather factory will be closed next week. This is the way we do it in the furniture industry, rather than try to limp along for a week with a skeleton crew, everybody stays home for a week (except for some office staff who are available to answer the phones).

We do the same thing for the week of July 4^th.  It’s a nice way to let everyone know we put a priority on strong families and happy team members. Nothing is more important.

As we all make those frantic final efforts to tie up all the loose ends at work while simultaneously finishing preparations for the holidays, now might be a good time to suggest that we all take a few deep breaths to relax and remember the simpler things in life.

Remember that the best moments have little to do with whether your pies came out perfect, or if your gifts were exactly what they needed. More important, we urge you to relax and take the time to surround yourself in the company of people who know and love you. That, after all, is what it’s all about.

Color of the year is a real gem: Emerald Green

Pantone’s crowned Emerald as the color that will rise to prominence in 2013, and we think it’s going to be a real gem.

We’re pretty jazzed about Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2013. Besides the fact that it ties in so nicely with Christmas and the holidays, Emerald Green – specifically Pantone 17-5641 – works really well with our palette of fabrics and leathers.

Jessica Green, our Merchandising Manager, tells us that Emerald is extremely versatile and will probably be used most frequently in home furnishings as a finishing touch, “a crowning jewel.”

It should be an appealing compliment to neutral tones, Jessica said: “This soft tone will pair great with our gray spectrum (which is becoming more and more important and slowly overtaking the neutrals) and will spice up warmer neutrals in the cream and beige families. It will look fresh with white and khaki/caramel, a little edgy with black.”

We like that Emerald moves away from deeper, more traditional green and has softer, bluish undertones that allow it to be a chameleon. Jessica also added that “It will be able to work with bright, deep pinks and electric blues, strengthening the vibrancy of saturated palettes with a European sensibility.”

Pantone, which provides color standards for the design industries, makes its annual color forecast based on trends in a number of industries including home fashions, as well as beauty, fashion, entertainment, art, technology and sports. Succeeding Tangerine Tango, 2012’s color of the year, Emerald was selected since it is expected to rise in prominence, in fashion, beauty, interiors, print and graphic design over the coming twelve months.

Describing Emerald as “sophisticated and luxurious,” the Pantone announcement says, this luminous, magnificent hue has been the color of beauty and new life in many cultures and religions. It’s also the color of growth, renewal and prosperity – no other color conveys regeneration more than green. For centuries, many countries have chosen green represent healing and unity.”

Now, we can’t say with complete confidence that Emerald Green is going to bring us world or even inner harmony and enlightenment, but are looking forward to seeing how our designers put it to work to create beautiful homes and inviting rooms.

Conversectionals and other ruminations on seating options

Limitless configurations, more seating capacity and comfortable conversations are just some of the reasons why sectionals are so popular.

Home styling is so much more eclectic these days, and most of us no longer feel that our furnishings have to “match.” Creative designers now want to create coordinated rooms where all the elements work together, where the colors, shapes and proportions are complimentary but not necessarily identical.

Certainly, we in the furniture industry have seen an overwhelming trend toward item buying and away from what we used to call suites (pronounced like suits) of furniture, with each piece in the same finish and the same style. The old days of building a room around a sofa-loveseat-chair combination are long gone.

Each of these key items – sofa, loveseat, chair and even matching ottoman – still play an important role in furnishing beautiful and comfortable rooms. But we’ve seen a powerful move toward sectionals, especially as decorating “rules” relax and more emphasis is placed on casual lifestyles.

Obviously, a sectional can be designed to provide more seating, often in less space than standalone pieces. Because most of our collections include armless pieces, we can build sectionals to go around the wall and down the hall. We can even pave a room with an endless sectional if that’s what somebody really wants.

But sectionals can also be quite small. For instance, in a cramped space, a sectional could be set up with a one-armed loveseat at one end and a one-armed chair with a corner piece in the center. This would give more seating capacity in less space than a loveseat-chair combination, but the overall footprint of the configuration is quite small.

This small Malibu sectional provides more seating in less space than two free-standing pieces.

Sectionals are social. People tend to sit a little closer and are in a more relaxed posture. That’s one reason we’ve always loved what we call our wedge sectionals: two pieces that each have 22.5-degree angle. This is a great configuration for watching television – everybody’s seat is oriented toward the screen – but it’s also an intimate set-up for sitting and talking.

A “wedge” sectional is an excellent choice for both conversation and TV watching.

And sectionals can quite dramatic, too. At the High Point furniture market, we regularly show an armless sofa bracketed by chaises. Matched with an ottoman, this creates something akin to a pit group, even if you don't have to dive into it. But there's plenty of room for lounging, sprawling or whatever word you want to use for leaning back and relaxing.

We've always loved this configuration, with a chaise on either end of an armless sofa. This is the Grant, but you can do this with just about any of our sofa collections.

Here are a couple more of our favorites:

If space isn't an issue, this 10-piece Menlo Park layout ought to make a dramatic statement.

A one-armed sofa with a return, a simple sectional, from our Astoria Park collection.

More drama: The Corbin's unusual arm placement creates a sofa with two sides for sitting.

Have fun! Create the sectional that has the style, shape and seating capacity that's perfect for your room.