Time to force offshore quality issues?
Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, February 19, 2007
The use of Chinese-made fabrics on upholstered furniture sold in this country is beginning to happen.
Recent conversations with fabric mavens in the upholstery world indicates there are real concerns about these developments, but there also appears to be a growing feeling that more China fabric sources are offering sufficient consistency, delivery and quality during the life of a fabric or group of fabrics.
These challenges appear to be present whether the fabric program is China to China or China to the United States.
Most of the concerns seem to be focused on fabric suppliers that don't have U.S.-based operations with strong support systems, especially in the areas involving all facets of consistent quality.
A number of fabric folks report that the first shipment from China is right on, but after that the consistency can become questionable, depending on the tenacity of the fabric suppliers' staffs in China.
One upholstery pro told me of several situations where prominent suppliers were not able to live up to the production quality promised and now are on the "do not buy from" list.
There is so much capacity offshore, and so many companies that need to keep their equipment running, that the potential for deviation from standards is ever-increasing.
For a few folks, the probability of federal flammability regulations for upholstered furniture — still only in the talking stage now — is adding to the concern about how well the offshore supplier network will be able to maintain standards in this arena.
As in the bedding world, compliance responsibilities will involve all stages of distribution, including retailers. And that will open even more potential for problems, upholstery folks believe.
The marketplace is far enough into the era of offshore sourcing that it's time to become more diligent in forcing the quality issue.
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