By Teresa Rivas

In one of my friend's first apartments after college she had an imitation Noguchi coffee table we called the Fauxguchi. She got hers from a flea market, but it has becoming ever easier to buy knockoff furniture and home goods online.

That is at the center of a lawsuit that retailer Williams-Sonoma is bringing against digitally native brand Quince: The former says the latter is selling dupes -- or inferior products that bear a suspiciously similar appearance to their own but sell for much less. Quince, which is privately held, didn't return requests for comment.

In one sense it's no surprise that this issue is cropping up in the home goods sphere given that dupes have become increasingly common across a variety of categories online, as Barron's reported last year. Yet they are just the latest in a series of headwinds that has hurt the furnishings and home improvement industry, as evidenced by cratering stock prices across the category.

Home improvement and furnishings retailers surged during the stay-at-home days of the pandemic, but that boom time didn't last. People don't need to replace many kinds of home goods frequently, and inflation makes it even less likely for them to spend on redecorating or remodeling. A stagnant housing market plagued by unaffordability has further depressed demand, as moving is a big reason why consumers spend on this category.

Those factors have weighed on the stocks this year, as a quick tour of the industry shows. While the S&P 500 has soared double-digits again in 2025, Williams-Sonoma is down about 2% since the start of the year. RH has sunk roughly 60% year to date; Lovesac has tumbled more than 40%; and even after a recent pop La-Z-Boy is off about 10%. Arhaus is the only stock in the black, but it is badly trailing the broader market, up just 6%. The same holds for the major home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe's, both of which are firmly in the red for 2025.

This lackluster performance comes despite a massive winnowing of the field in recent years, as chains including Noble House, Mitchell Gold, Klaussner Home Furnishings, and Z Gallerie have closed up shop. The company formerly known as Overstock purchased the intellectual property of Bed Bath and Beyond after its bankruptcy, and is slightly ahead of the S&P 500, although it sells apparel and accessories as well.

In fact, Wayfair, another digitally native brand, is the only real outperformer of the group, surging 150% since the start of the year.

In short, Williams-Sonoma and others can hardly afford the incursion of cheaper rivals at a time when inflation-weary consumers are laser focused on value and getting more comfortable with buying even big-ticket home items online.

Relief may not be on the way for upper-end retailers. Any effective housing emergency plan has to address the high cost of buying a home and the continuing shortage of housing stock. Even ongoing interest rate cuts don't guarantee lower mortgage rates.

That means dupes are just one of many issues facing home furnishing and improvement stocks that may leave investors feeling like suckers.

Write to Teresa Rivas at teresa.rivas@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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November 25, 2025 16:15 ET (21:15 GMT)

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