Leather sources head East
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 10, 2006
High Point — In recent years, Italian leather upholstery producers have seen the advantages of having a manufacturing presence in Asia.
Prime examples include Natuzzi, Nicoletti and DeCoro, each of which has invested millions of dollars to open leather plants in China.
But Italian producers aren't the only ones taking this route. In 2004, Kathy Ireland Home by Standard Furniture partnered with Soho Furnishings and sister company International Furniture Marketing to establish a dedicated leather plant in China.
Located three hours northwest of Shanghai, this 100,000-square-foot facility produces roughly 100 containers a month of leather and microfiber upholstery. It now produces 60 SKUs, spread out over 10 leather upholstery groups and two microfiber groups.
The project, which involved upfitting an existing building, was a multi-million dollar investment in equipment alone, said Todd Evans, Standard's vice president of sales and marketing.
IFM, a China-based quality control and sourcing company that Standard purchased in the early 1990s, put up the capital for the project. Soho, a sister company of IFM, operates the plant for Standard.
Getting the operation off the ground wasn't easy, Evans said. Challenges included dealing with regulatory compliance and labor issues and achieving the proper quality control and production standards involved in leather production.
"You have to be selective when you choose a tannery," he said.
"There is a lot of cheap leather available, but that's what it is. You get what you pay for."
Still, he said, having a dedicated leather plant offers major advantages, namely controlling your production and quality.
So far, the facility has been meeting Standard's goals for leather production, Evans said. Depending on how well the line does in the future, Standard may even expand the building to a second floor, which would provide an additional 80 containers a month of production capacity.
Another company producing leather out of a dedicated plant is Kinwai U.S.A., a Union City, Calif.-based importer of case goods and leather.
Kinwai's 1 million-square-foot factory in Jiangmen, China — Jiangmen Kinwai Furniture and Decoration Co. — produces contemporary-style bedroom, dining room, occasional, home office and leather for customers in the United States and Europe.
It also does some OEM business, which opens the two-year-old factory to other importers and retailers.
The biggest challenge in running your own factory is keeping up with the style and quality demands of many different customers. But therein lies the opportunity, said Kinwai U.S.A. operations manager Kelvin Yip.
"We always work harder not only to meet the standard, but go beyond the standard," he said.
