Peachtree to open flexible factory in China
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, May 28, 2006
Atlanta — Textile supplier Peachtree Fabrics is opening a 250,000-square-foot factory in Beijing in June with its Chinese partner, D&P Global. The facility will offer furniture makers everything from fabric to finished product, including completely upholstered furniture.
Peachtree CEO Steve Dutson said the "multi-purpose facility will allow manufacturers who want to supplement their domestic lines with sourced products to visit the facility, then put together a complete program, without dealing with other China plants.
"We have capacity for everything — fabric, finishing, embroidering, quilting, staging, quality inspection, cut-and-sew and full manufacturing — and it's all with Peachtree Fabrics," he said.
The three-building complex includes a 1,800-square-foot showroom for Peachtree Fabrics, as well as additional showrooms to highlight upholstered furniture, top-of-bed vignettes, and products such as pillows and dog beds.
Dutson credits President Steve Turner with the development of the new venture, which he believes is the first of its kind, allowing manufacturers to order smaller quantities than are typical from China, as well as flexibility in shipping.
"We can either ship individual containers directly to the manufacturer, or their product can come over in our containers with our fabrics and then be shipped FOB from Atlanta," Dutson said. Peachtree has a 65,000-square-foot distribution center in Atlanta.
Another added value, Dutson said, is that "there's no 'mark-up mark-up' because, on the furniture side, customers will deal directly with D&P Global."
"My partner in China handles product development, but we steer it and we have people there to ride herd on everything," Dutson said. "We'll expand quickly as the volume develops because my China partner is very aggressive and we have plenty of capacity."
Peachtree Fabrics is represented to the furniture industry by HomCraft, which maintains a showroom in High Point at 329 S. Wrenn St., suite 201. The company will participate in next week's Summer Showtime fabric event.
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