RETAIL MARKET REVEALS SHEER DRIVE FOR SUCCESS

It’s tempting to imagine that somewhere in Australia, there’s a store doing a roaring trade in bold palettes, exotic floral prints and eye-popping geometrics. However businesses canvassed by WFA across the nation have almost universally confirmed that attractive variations on sheers and neutrals are the real sales drivers, influenced by practical concerns and interest in a natural aesthetic.

VICTORIA
Jenny from Arrow Curtains & Blinds in the inner Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn says curtains and roller blinds are among the retailer’s strongest sellers at the moment. Demand for curtain fabrics remains dominated by neutrals and linen style curtains. “And we’re noticing that customers are still very interested in sheers, particularly with an S-fold and Wave fold hang. It’s just a trend that keeps going. In particular the fabrics that are washable are in demand because they’re so practical”.

The retailer services customers within a 20 mile radius of its Hawthorn location, she adds. “The roller blinds are mainly for use in apartments where people are going for a clean modern look, and they’re generally picking-off white or charcoal for their blinds.”

Overall, she says business is a little down compared to the same time last year. “We’re seeing things starting to pick up now though in the lead up to Christmas.”

Essential Living Curtains and Blinds of Wangaratta in regional Victoria services a range of customers along with its sister store in Yarrawonga, which caters in large part to Melburnians’ holiday homes. “We find people are going for a fresh modern farmhouse look; and there’s a lot of interest in whites and neutrals. Everyone wants sheers and plantation shutters.” The trend for ‘outdoor rooms’ is driving interest in zip track style awnings, often with motorisation, she says. “We have a fair bit of new development happening in this area, which is certainly good for business.”

TASMANIA
Andrea of Inspire Curtains and Blinds in Burnie confirms the store, which services the north-west coast of the island state and beyond, “sells a bit of everything”, although sheers and rollers are among its staple sellers. “People are definitely drawn to neutrals,” she confirms. The Tasmanian market remains strong for curtains, with customers typically opting for budget conscious options such as blockout fabrics as opposed to lined drapes. The store’s focus is on high quality, mid-market and price accessible products, with a primary market comprising local home and business owners, as well as new arrivals from interstate drawn by the attractions of the Tasmanian lifestyle. “They’re often quite trend-driven and have a pretty strong idea of what they want,” says Andrea.

NEW SOUTH WALES
Yasmin from the Art of Windows in Sydney’s Double Bay concurs that the neutral and sheers trend continues apace in her local market. “Sheers and linen like fabrics just keep going because they’re so versatile and they offer privacy while softening any room,” she says. “We’re doing a lot of double tracked curtains with a blockout curtain and a sheer. This works better than blinds because the curtains follow the movement of sliding doors and also you don’t get that annoying banging noise you can get with blinds when there’s a bit of a breeze. Most of our curtains tend to be an s-fold hang with a chain weight at the bottom, which is flexible enough to work with the more relaxed hang”.

Another strong trend at the moment is for shutter venetians with a wide 85 mm vane and, unusually, people are increasingly requesting them in black. “A lot of the modern apartment developments have dark window frames so the dark venetians give a really elegant look. We do also get requests for plantation shutters for period homes but they tend to be white.”

Yasmin says business is up on the same time last year. “It’s really taken off in the last couple of months. You could speculate that it’s because of interest rate cuts, but I’m really not sure. I do think a lot of the new builds are reaching completion right now so we’re getting new business from that. We get a lot of business via builders and of course you have to compete for that; we’re in a good position because we manufacture our own products and can offer a quick turnaround. We’ve been here for 22 years so people know they can rely on us.”

Another new trend she’s noticed is for roman blinds. “They seem to really be coming back at the moment, in particular sheer roman blinds. They’re not a low cost option though; sheer romans are about 35 per cent more expensive than standard romans because you’ve got to deal with the movement of the fabric and so on.”

While lighter neutrals continue to be a key trend, she says darker tones are popular. “Fabrics like Charles Parsons Parisi in Tarmac are selling well at the moment. It’s a dark almost black colour but it also has a touch of beige in it. It looks good in modern developments where the window frames are often dark in colour.”

Operating out of the coastal regional centre of Newcastle, Valley Vogue’s Belinda confirms the Newcastle based business services customers in the mid- to high end of the market across Newcastle, The Hunter Valley, Port Stephens and parts of Sydney.

Sheer curtains continue to be the business’ strongest sellers, adding softness and privacy, she says, adding that even beyond sheers, demand for Valley Vogue’s curtains and blinds is fairly uniform. “Everyone wants linen!”

With the current market uncertainty resulting in a more than typically cautious customer base, the business continues to effectively promote itself through Instagram.

QUEENSLAND
Dean from Andersons Window Furnishings concurs that the widespread interest in sheers continues as part of a wider move back towards curtains. “For customers in Brisbane blockouts are always going to be in demand. And curtains are also popular as insulation for the cooler months, but also because they always give a room a softer, cosier look. In sheers, we’ve seen a few customers go for a dramatic ombre look, where the curtain starts dark at the bottom and fades up to white at the top.”

“One of the biggest stories we’re seeing at the moment is in curtain motorisation. As well as being a retailer we’re also a distributor for Rollease Acmeda and their recently released curtain motorisation solution, which is internet enabled and links through to other window furnishings controls throughout the house, is doing very well for us. One reason for this is because it’s so price competitive; and it’s really user friendly.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Jeanette of Northside Curtains & Blinds in Adelaide says clean fresh and light looks continue to dominate customer demand at the moment. “For want of a better phrase it’s really all about that Hamptons look,” she says. “In terms of fabrics it’s linens, ash hues and yes a lot of sheers. Where people do go for colour we’re seeing a move towards very soft, light greens. Plantation shutters continue to be a big seller; but here in Adelaide there’s still a lot of demand for heavier curtains too. They’re always lined because of the strong South Australian sun here and also the coldness of our winters. Often people will ask for pelmets for both practical heat retention and visual reasons. I had one rep tell me recently that Adelaide is the biggest market for pelmets! And yes, everything tends to be on the neutral side. We do occasionally sell a printed curtain but that’s more for older customers from the country who want a bit of colour in their homes.”

Andrew of Sawade Curtains & Blinds in Campbelltown confirms blinds, curtains and shutters remain strong internally with the strongest growth in curtains. “In terms of external products, Zipscreen and Ziptrak blinds continue to be strong sellers although there has been some plateau of these products in the South Australian market.”

“We’re noticing more interest in softer looking products such as Vertisheer and Verishade, alongside curtains. Shows like ‘The Block’ are creating desire and value in customers’ minds in terms of softer window coverings.”

“We do sell to a broad market, but our aim is to target aspirational, value-focused customers who are most often homeowners between 35-65 with the primary contact being the female. We are not price oriented so we aim for the middle market.”

“The market has been soft with reasonable interest but a generally cautious customer feeling. The Adelaide market generally doesn’t feel as hot or cold as the markets of the eastern states.”

In terms of promoting the business, Andrew says thoughtful online marketing is working well for the business. TV or radio advertising remain the only mass market marketing options suitable for the Adelaide market, he says.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Heading west, Faz, of Eiffel Curtains & Blinds in the Perth suburb of Como, says local customers rarely ask for complicated or heavy lined curtains any more. “It’s really sheers and roller blinds and the occasional venetian,” she says. She describes Como as an affluent suburb characterised by both new developments and older period homes, but she indicates that generally the local business economy isn’t strong due to the wider impacts of Perth’s softening economy. “Having said that, our own business is up on last year, mainly because we’ve expanded from being a workroom to having our own showroom. So, we’ve made the transition to retail and we’ve noticed a growth in our own business,” she says.

NORTHERN TERRITORY
Darwin has faced challenges in recent times due to the impacts of the wider softening economy and more locally specific events, says Margaret, owner of Curtains on Cavenagh in Darwin. “The market has pretty much died up here,” she says. “We had 5000 workers and their families who came into Darwin to build the gas works up here, but when they left there was a big impact. At the height of the market there were about 16,800 businesses up here and now there are less than 8000.”

The business has competition from another local player that offers lower cost imported product, so while money isn’t in abundance, she says it does still make sense to differentiate the business by focusing on relatively high end product.

“We’re noticing a big move away from blinds back to curtains, and a lot of that is for functional reasons. It gets so hot up here in the warmer months and people are realising that the blockout and sheer combination of drapes works really well, particularly if the blockout is positioned as close to the window glass as possible. Our customers buy a lot of silicon backed blockout and polyester sheer curtains, also for practical reasons. For about seven or eight months of the year we have absolutely no rain, meaning it gets very dusty. For the rest of the time we have heavy rainfall which means mould, so washable products are very important. The polyester sheers will wash without shrinking which is a real plus.”