Custom sizes, finishes keep U.S. plants busy
Thomas Russell, Associate editor -- Furniture Today, February 16, 2009
Given the demise of U.S. manufacturing, retailers and designers usually are hard pressed to find domestically produced furniture. That wasn't so at the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market in January.
The show had a number of mostly higher-end U.S. producers of bedroom, dining room and even occasional furniture. What they have in common is an ability to provide custom finishes as well as custom sizes.
Another advantage of the domestic producers remains their proximity to the market and ability to provide a fairly quick turnaround in terms of delivery. Importers can do this, too — if they warehouse the product. But that means carrying a lot of inventory on goods that may not sell, versus producing on a made-to-order basis like the U.S. manufacturers.
Here are some of the companies I saw at the show:
• Toccoa, Ga.-based Eddy West showed a line of bedroom, dining room, home entertainment and home office and library furniture. These and other pieces are available in about 70 colors, which offer a rich, multi-step and multi-layered finishing approach.
• Grandview, Mo.-based British Traditions also showed a line of large-scale pieces including buffet hutch units, entertainment centers, occasional tables and even custom kitchen furniture. It offers some 200 finish options and tailors its production to the exact size a customer wants. According to national sales manager Karon McGlinn, custom work represented a quarter of the company's business five years ago. Today it's at least a third, if not more.
• Seabrook, S.C.-based Seabrook Classics has been offering coastal-themed furniture for more than 10 years. Since then, its color palette has grown to some 50 colors and nine stains. In Atlanta, it showed these on both finish panels and finished product ranging from bedroom to occasional furniture. Such color options complemented upholstery pieces shown in the same space by Seagrove, N.C., upholstery producer Four Seasons.
• Northport, Ala.-based Ashlen Mfg. showed a line of dining tables and chairs, case pieces and occasional tables. These and other pieces are made with solids such as poplar, pine, tiger maple and cherry. The end result is a selection of pieces that looks like they were built in the 18th or 19th century.
President Ashlee Potter said Ashlen offers custom finishes and sizes. She added that the company also builds to order and thus carries no inventory, which reduces its risk as a small producer.
These are just some of the domestic producers at the Atlanta show. There were several others, too, and their message was consistent: They are here to stay thanks to a strategy that gives the customer exactly what she wants.
That's not a bad way to do business.
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