Leah_Beno's Blog

Since I started reporting in the Piedmont, too many of our reports about the furniture industry involve jobs LEAVING the area. Today I had a chance to do the exact opposite.

With the price of fuel skyrocketing, faster then anyone can handle, some business is returning for local furniture manufactures. Casey Hearn started Joseph-Samuel Specialties (named after his two sons). The small furniture making company started filling orders in January. Hearn says about 75% of his business comes from companies who used to have their furniture made overseas, and now want it made in the good old US of A. The owner of the Red Egg, Carol Gregg, is one of Hearn's clients. Gregg says it used to cost her about $1,200 to ship a 40 foot container (that's about 250 pieces of furniture) from China. With today's fuel costs, that same container would cost Gregg about $6,000 to ship the same distance. Not to mention the cost of labor is also going up overseas, just one of  many other factors that comes into play in this debate.

The American Home Furniture Alliance says it's too early to say this is a trend. Domestic manufacturing is competitive with international manufacturing but not necessarily cheaper. The AHFA says companies should consider manufacturing local vs. international on a case by case basis AND it should be a long term decision.

So for all of you furniture experts (or just those of you have lived in the furniture capital longer then I have) what do you think? Do you think high fuel costs can drive the furniture industry back to the piedmont?