Thomas Russell — Furniture Today,
AT THE MARKET — When Michael Foster formed his case goods import company in 2012, he could have emphasized the company brand, JT Michael Designs.


Instead, he chose to create collections that ultimately would become private-label business for his dealers.
The strategy has caught on. Today, nearly 11 months after he began shipping product, Foster said there are 30 retailers around the country doing private-label business with JT Michael Designs. Those products represent about 75% of his sales.

“The consumer is less and less concerned about brand name as much as good quality at a fair price,” he said. He also noted that retailers spend millions to promote their own names in their markets, and can benefit from having product bearing the same name.

This market, the company is launching three collections that will help retailers further that goal. They include a casual contemporary collection called Carlyle, an antique Caribbean-style collection called Cottage Retreat, and an urban casual design, Pavilion.

Foster said his Shenzhen, China source factory has begun cuttings on the groups, and that they’ll ship in late November. The new lines and four other existing private-label collections are exclusive to certain retailers in their respective markets, he said.

“In addition to them (our retail partners) taking ownership of it, it gives us an assurance and credibility with other retailers that what we’ve done is right,” said Foster, a former executive with Lexington and Pennsylvania House.

He also said the private- label business can help boost a retailer’s profitability. On a typical bedroom or dining room set retailing between $1,999 and $2,999, it’s not unusual for a retailer to make a 50% margin or more, he said.

JT Michael has container-direct warehousing in China and a domestic warehouse program in Martinsville, Va., with Warren Trucking.

One retailer partnering with Foster’s company is Coconut Creek, Fla.-based Carl’s Furniture, which has 11 stores in southeast Florida.

“Michael obviously has terrific contacts overseas, and he’s talented in product development,” said Jayson Friedman, Carl’s vice president of merchandising. “What he is doing and what he is creating is indicative of what’s happening today. It’s the direction that Carl’s is going after, which is working with someone exclusively to develop product and putting our name on it and having an exclusive in our marketplace.”

For the past two years, Carl’s also has worked with other suppliers in the private-label business. While Friedman said private label isn’t a large part of the retailer’s business yet, it is helping to fuel profitability. Foster’s private-label goods are achieving a 50% margin, he said.

That doesn’t mean Carl’s plans to drop branded goods, however.

“Being a medium to high-end retailer, brand names are still important,” Friedman said. “But you have to have that fine line between brand names and being able to mix in some private-label business to create exclusivity and a difference in your marketplace.”

Washington-based Belfort Furniture is another retailer that has worked with Foster on exclusive product. It carries those goods under its Belfort Signature label, a high-end division of the company.

“They are not the first ones we brought in as private label,” said Belfort CEO Michael Huber. “But they are the first ones we put our name on. We are picky quality-wise about who we would use to represent us.”
He added that the product’s construction and price point makes it very competitive with brands such as Pennsylvania House and Thomasville.

JT Michael Design’s showroom is at 325 E. Russell Ave., Suite 105.