Homecrest debuts Color My Sling

Staff -- Casual Living, 8/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Homecrest has introduced a patent-pending concept, Color My Sling, to allow nearly all outdoor fabrics to be used on selected sling chairs rather than previously limited fabric choices of acrylic and PVC.

Bright florals, bold geometrics and faux leather now can be used on a Homecrest sling design and still meet industry-standard testing requirements for strength and durability. The fabric option will be available to Homecrest dealers this fall in Southern markets and next spring in Northern markets.

The innovation started with a mistake and some creative thinking. A sling chair for display in the Homecrest showroom was constructed with a cushion-only fabric that was not designed for use on a sling chair. After a Homecrest sales rep examined the chair, he suggested adding layers of the sling fabric to provide support to the cushion fabric.

The Homecrest research and design department followed up on his idea and added two layers of sling fabric to a non-sling fabric. Early prototypes of this tri-sling chair passed industry standard tests applied to all sling chairs. Homecrest also used its own patent-pending sewing technique to reinforce strength and durability. The Color My Sling fabric option is available now exclusively on Homecrest's Affinity, Holly Hill, Kensington II and Palisade collections.

"This is a first for outdoor furniture," said John Sundet, president and CEO of Homecrest. "The classic workhorse of the outdoor furniture industry, the sling chair, has been elevated to a new level of design and color options."

The Color My Sling program prompted strong retail reactions, Sundet said during last month's Casual Furniture premarket in Chicago.