Sofology (formerly known as Sofaworks, CSL, Clayton Salerooms, and CS Lounge Suites Ltd), is a British furniture retailer specialising in

sofa A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport (sofa), davenport, is a cushioned piece of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench (furniture), bench with Upholstery, upholstered ...

History

Sofology started out as CSL Sofas, and was originally an

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

rooms based in

Clayton-le-Moors Clayton-le-Moors is an industrial town in the Borough of Hyndburn in the county of Lancashire, England. located two miles north of Accrington. The town has a population of 8,522 according to the 2011 census. To the west lies Rishton, to the n ...

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. In 1982, after including catalogue seconds lounge furniture, they moved into specialist sofa retail and manufacture. The company originally started as a high street store chain, selling only its own products. Around 2002, CSL Sofas ceased sofa manufacture in the United Kingdom, citing that it could source products in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

at better value. The business focuses on retailing leather sofas, fabric sofas, corner sofas and recliner sofas. In December 2015, Sofaworks re branded to Sofology, following the loss of a court case against a competitor who argued that the Sofaworks name infringed on one of its owned brands. In December 2010, it saw 260 complaints to the

ASA Asa may refer to: People and fictional characters * Asa (given name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters so named * Asa people, an ethnic group based in Tanzania * Aṣa, Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and reco ...

. This was as a result of an advert created to remake " Girls on Film", by

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

. This used scantily clad women around the sofas. However, the complaints were not upheld, and the advert was allowed to run. In October 2017, DFS announced the purchase of Sofology in a £25 million deal. The acquisition was ratified by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair beh ...

in November 2017. The business was runner-up in the 2010 ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

'' ''Business of the Year'' (lost to

Pets at Home Pets at Home Group PLC (sometimes shortened to Pets) is a British retailer selling pets (not limited to rabbits, rodents and fish), pet food, toys, bedding and medication. Founded in 1991, the company operates 453 stores across the UK, as wel ...

). However, in 2010, it came first in Business XL ''Fastest Growing Business''. From 2013 to 2017, adverts for the company featured a

Three-toed sloth The three-toed or three-fingered sloths are arboreal neotropical mammals. They are the only members of the genus ''Bradypus'' (meaning "slow-footed") and the family Bradypodidae. The five living species of three-toed sloths are the brown-throa ...

named Neal and they were narrated by English actor

Craig Cash Craig Cash (born 11 September 1960)
Retri ...

. Sofology featured

Owen Wilson Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has frequently worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson, with whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and ''T ...

in two marketing campaigns, which began in November 2017. From May 2021,

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, List of awards and nominations received by Helena Bonham Carter ...

has featured in their commercials.

References

{{Reflist Companies based in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Retail companies established in 1974 Furniture retailers of the United Kingdom 2017 mergers and acquisitions