by The company partnered with CR Laine to debut its Velvet Allure collection in its showroom at market
HIGH POINT — For nearly the entirety of its more than 60-year existence, Sunbrella has been synonymous with outdoor upholstery. The solution-dyed acrylic performance fabric maker has become one of the most recognizable names in outdoor furnishings, but over the past few years, the brand has made a push from the patio indoors.
Two years ago, the company launched its Sunbrella Interiors brand, with designs created for interior rooms that could still be applied to outdoor spaces. And this fall at High Point Market, the performance fabric maker took it one step further, launching a new collection called Velvet Allure designed strictly for indoor use. Sunbrella partnered with CR Laine to debut the collection in their showroom during market.
“We’ve had indoor fabrics in our portfolio for a long time, but we have introduced Velvet Allure specific to interior spaces,” said Karie Davis, senior marketing manager, furnishings, Sunbrella. “This is meant to be a good textural plain to complement the broader Sunbrella offering and fill a gap for us on the indoor side of the business.”
As the name suggests, Velvet Allure is a velvet fabric, available in seven colors ranging from warm neutrals to rich browns and deep greens and blues. The upholstery offers many of the same benefits of Sunbrella’s other performance fabrics, but it’s engineered differently to offer a softer hand than products made to withstand the elements outdoors.
“It has the color fastness, cleanability and stain resistance for inside the home, along with a five-year limited warranty,” Davis said. “It also exceeds ACT (Association for Contract Textiles) standards for pilling and abrasion. It also has a lower tracking — all velvet tracks a little, but we have a lower pile, so when it’s woven on furniture, it won’t split at the seam like other velvets can.”
Sunbrella offered a preview during market in the CR Laine showroom, with Velvet Allure covering chairs, sofas, ottomans and more, showing the versatility of the material. A larger rollout of the collection will happen later this month during the Interwoven Textile Fair.
Sunbrella chose CR Laine for this first introduction since they’ve been a strong partner with the broader interiors line, and presenting the fabric in an indoor-only showroom helps drive home the message that this is strictly for indoor applications.
“Because our brand is so heavily associated with outdoor, getting people to shift their mindset is important,” Davis said. “We do have a lot of partners and consumers who use Sunbrella inside, but our Interiors line is taking an application-based brand strategy. So having product that is for interiors only is really important in bringing that to life and making that strategy work.”
Greg Voorhis, executive director of global design at Sunbrella, said the choice to introduce interior-only fabric with a velvet was made to further differentiate the line from its indoor-outdoor products.
“(Velvet) was a hole in the portfolio, and this was the best way to deliver this type of product for this space,” he said. “There are performance velvets that can be used outdoors, but you don’t see them very often — velvet is more important for the interior space. And we engineered ours a bit differently and offer the most comprehensive warranty compared to other performance velvets.”
Voorhis said the design team also selected the collection’s colors to differentiate Velvet Allure from what’s already available in the marketplace.
“There are color gaps in the market with some of the richness and the very deep tones that we know people want,” he said.
Currently, the Velvet Allure collection is only available to the trade, unlike many of Sunbrella’s fabrics, which can be directly purchased by consumers.
“It will be through manufacturers or retailers at this point, so from a consumer standpoint, this is not something they will be using for DIY,” Davis said.
Davis said the team received positive feedback on Velvet Allure at High Point Market, and they look forward to widening the release at Interwoven.
“We’re really excited about it as we continue to expand more intentionally into the interior market, and this is our first step in that direction,” she said.
