1. Kanto Living Acquires Furrion from Lippert
Related: Kanto Living Acquires Assets for Furrion Outdoor TV Product Line from Lippert
Summer’s in full swing, and that means people are looking for outdoor TVs en masse. Which mean’s it’s also a perfect time for outdoor living brands to reassess and grow out their portfolios. At least, that’s what I like to imagine was what prompted the recent purchase of Furrion’s assets by Kanto Living.
Longtime residents of the CI channel have likely heard of Kanto by this point, with the company being already tapped into the AV product sphere through manufacturing products like speakers, TV mounts and other AV accessories. Furrion, too, is likely a familiar name, as the company manufactures outdoor TVs, a product category that has seen increasing interest from the client’s side over the years.
In my opinion, it’s a purchase that makes complete and total sense, and others in the industry seem to hold that sentiment as well. As Robb Stott, Editor-in-Chief over at Connected Design noted when talking about Lippert’s original acquisition of Furrion back in 2021:
“It just didn’t seem to fit alongside the heating and cooling, kitchen, and camera/observation systems. Instead, it felt like something someone inside the company got excited about and wanted for their own RV setup, so they brought it within the fold of the larger company.”
Why integrators should take note
The fact that an AV company (especially one that is already doing business in the channel) is getting its hands on the Furrion line should be nothing but good news for integrators. I don’t intend for this to sound like Lippert was a poor partner for integrators; instead, I mean to say that, by comparison, Kanto is going to be a little bit tapped into the specific business needs and challenges of the AV industry than Lippert was.
That’s not to mention how the Furrion acquisition pairs with everything else Kanto already offers. Outdoor TVs like Furrion typically require mounts (of which Kanto already has many on offer) and discerning clients generally like to listen to their TV audio through a set of dedicated speakers (which Kanto also offers). The ecosystem is interconnected, but not siloed, a critical distinction for any manufacturer in this industry.
Kanto in this exchange gains the ability to offer a nice, complete outdoor entertainment package, while Lippert can now really start to focus on building themselves up as an outdoor lifestyle brand.
Funnily enough, I feel like Lippert being able to do that is a secret boon for integrators, as the crossover between clients able to afford a luxury home as well as a kick-ass glamping set-up must be about as frequent as those who own yachts. Maybe integrators won’t be working directly with Lippert anymore, but that added focus can only mean good things for the market.
2. SI Introduces KAOS Vinyl Product
Related: The New SI KAOS Vinyl Lets the Sun in without the Rest of the Outdoors
Being able to use an outdoor enclosure year-round (especially if you’re a resident of the North) is a particular luxury, though the one thing that I always lamented was the fact that, as things get cold and the screens come down, you still lose one of the main draws of the space: feeling as though you’re immersed in the natural environment. My guess is that Shade Innovations (SI) felt the same way.
The company revealed its new KAOS Vinyl product this week, which adds a new clear vinyl screen option to its KAOS platform, reopening the window (in a very figurative sense) to the outdoors by making its screens see-through. The vinyl itself can reportedly survive a temperature range of 120F to -10 Degrees without fogging, cracking or shrinking and comes available in sizes up to 24 feet wide.
Like the Kanto deal, it’s another move that makes an incredible amount of sense. So much so that it got me wondering: is this the first time we’ve gotten a clear vinyl offering for outdoor screens in the CI channel? After doing a bit of research, that does seem to be the case here.
Yes, residential motorized screens exist on the market with a clear vinyl option, but, from my research, it seems that SI is the first company with an emphasis on having its products integrate into control systems that has introduced this product offering (but please correct me if I’m wrong so I can give credit where it’s due).
Why integrators should take note
If clear vinyl shades don’t already exist as offerings within the channel, I wouldn’t be surprised if this release triggered some new entrants from SI competitors as a result. The availability of clear vinyl as a screen option strikes me as one that will be universally desired by clients with outdoor enclosures once they’re aware of its existence.
One major reason is that its main drawback (that being its potential to create a greenhouse effect when in use) is a huge benefit during the season it might see the most use: the winter. The other reason is that if you give someone the option between sunlight and great views and no sunlight and no views, they’re going to pick the former every time.
There’s another interesting parallel, though, and that’s how, technically, you could consider this another commercial crossover into luxury residential (akin to the current video wall craze). Fine dining establishments utilize clear vinyl shading all the time to extend eating spaces into the outdoors without adding unwanted elements to the mix. And with how many luxury residential projects are focused on adding commercial hospitality elements for hosting, I think that’s an important parallel to recognize.
In larger, luxury spaces, the line between residence and resort gets thin, but even before you hit the estate level, there are plenty of projects that look to inject a bit of hospitality experience into their home. Is it reaching to say clear vinyl shading is part of that experience? Maybe. But I’m willing to put a stake on this one.
The Week in Playback is CE Pro’s weekly recap segment providing extra opinions and analysis on major news stories from across the custom integration (CI) and smart home industries, focusing on recent and breaking stories ranked on importance and interest to the professional install channel. Any opinions expressed here do not reflect the opinions of other editors or that of CE Pro as a whole.
