February 12, 2025
New materials and robust sourcing key for Jensen Outdoor in 2025

The Velo collection includes seating, coffee and side tables. (Image courtesy of Jensen Outdoor)

Company leaders say that innovative materials and strong sourcing are key as it aims to expand its footprint.

RICHMOND, Va. — For casual furniture manufacturers, materials often play a key role in telling a brand’s story. This is especially true for Jensen Outdoor.

Its cornerstone material, ipe wood, is sourced from the dry tropical regions of Bolivia, where Jensen’s ownership company is headquartered. While ipe remains central to Jensen’s design identity, the company is pushing into more performance-focused territory in the new year, with materials such as handwoven fibers and powder-coated aluminum playing a key role as it aims to appeal to a wide range of buyers.

A wider footprint

Marketing Director Phillip Crowe and company President Eric Parsons recently told Furniture Today they hope to push Jensen’s unique product line into new markets next year, with a specific focus on growing the commercial side of the business.

“We as a company want to continue to evolve and develop products that meet our brand standards, but also expand the types of markets that we can serve,” Crowe said. “Traditionally, we’ve had this key differentiator of being able to provide deep chocolate-brown wood that you can put outdoors in our ipe product, which we’ve done very well with. It’s durable, heirloom-quality stuff that you can put a beautiful design on.”

Crowe added that the company is leveraging new sourcing opportunities to diversify its material range. “We also want to explore more and different kinds of materials that we can access now that we’ve got a factory that is up and running in Vietnam.”

Expanding Jensen’s footprint into the commercial space is a priority, where the company is aiming to serve a wider range of buyers. Crowe explained that this expansion is designed to appeal across various customer segments.

“One thing that’s nice about that is, as we expand into things that will appeal to contract on occasion, that also appeals to a homeowner on occasion (and) also appeals to a designer,” Crowe said. “It’s just each use case is slightly different. So we’re not setting them down and forgetting them. We’re just expanding the things they can get from us.”

He also noted that offering easier-maintenance products will be key to success in new markets. “This means we will provide products that are easier maintenance, like woven, that provide that ‘set it and forget it’ level of interaction for a clientele that doesn’t necessarily want to think about refinishing a wood down the line.”

While expanding its market reach, Jensen also is responding to consumer demand for products with a smaller physical footprint. This aligns with current design trends, Parsons said.

“Something else that we consciously brought to market this year were products that were of a smaller scale than we have been offering previously,” he noted. “Even large homes, expensive homes, are being placed in a footprint that has significantly smaller exterior spaces, and our buyers have repeatedly asked us to bring (smaller) product. This also serves to bring the price point down slightly because it lowers material costs.”

Markets and sourcing

The Velo swivel lounge chair

A 2025 introduction that embodies Jensen’s versatile approach is the Velo collection, which pairs woven fiber with powder-coated aluminum frames. The collection includes seating, coffee tables and side tables, offering a broad range of buyers access to Jensen’s design story.

“It’s no fuss, it won’t change color, it’s really light, it’s easy to move around,” Crowe said. “And because it only has the woven component, it’s at a really great price point. So we’re excited to see these types of entries where we bring in a new and exciting take on something unique.”

Jensen will show at the High Point and Atlanta markets this year. According to Parsons, this cadence helps the team align material sourcing with new design introductions.

“We have a team in Vietnam now and another heading to Bolivia next week to review prototypes of the designs we’ve been working on,” Parsons said.

“Our design process typically spans about 15 months. We start evaluating new designs in the spring, and by the following spring, products are shipped from the factories to Richmond. From there, we prepare for our July launch, which is always our target. It’s a consistent, 15-month cadence for us.”

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