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Furniture/Furnishings Weekly

Office furniture will be in our spotlight for the next two weeks. Steelcase reports 4QFY24 on Thursday, March 21 after the close and MillerKnoll reports its 3QFY24 on Wednesday, March 27 after the close. Earlier this month, a Bloomberg News Service article highlighted competition in task seating, which is among the most profitable and important categories for industry players. The reports from these two large commercial/contract furniture manufacturers provide a timely data point to view this article. Herman Miller’s Aeron chair became the iconic category leader after its introduction in the mid-1990s, setting standards for style, comfort, and adaptability. Competitors met with limited success. Steelcase’s Leap chair had been the most prominent contender for the task seating crown. A year ago, Steelcase introduced Karman, a new competitor that claims to go one better than Aeron in comfort and durability. It’s named for the Karman line that divides the terrestrial atmosphere from the edge of weightlessness in space. With mesh seating, it resembles the Aeron, but Steelcase asserts that its flexible frame and superior mesh fabric deliver a better experience. The recent employment reports caught our attention, and not in a good way. On March 8, the Labor Department reported that the economy added 275,000 jobs in February, which was better than expected. Yet, in the same report, it revised January job growth lower from 353,000 to 229,000. That revision, along with an uptick in the unemployment rate and the low-wage sector job growth (health care and food service), sparks concerns. BLS job growth is based on a statistical model. The January error magnitude raises the specter of an economy inflecting, suggesting its model may not reflect current reality.