Today,
BUENO PARK, Calif. — Case goods and upholstery importer Fairmont Designs has a new upholstery factory in Dongguan, China, replacing its California facility in Pico Rivera.


The company has been shipping fully upholstered goods for the past 90 days from the 50,000-square-foot China plant. President Brian Edwards said the Dongguan facility should be producing 25,000 pieces a month by the end of the year.

“Pico Rivera, at its best, was at 18,000 pieces,” Edwards said.

Fairmont added upholstery to its line five years ago to complement its case goods and occasional collections. The company’s sofas range from $599 to $999 retail, and the idea of moving to Chinese production is “to have a customer look at a $799 sofa and think it’s $999,” said Edwards.

Previously, the company imported cut-and-sewn covers and showood, and assembled the product in California. 

A goal for the company is to ship upholstered and wood furniture in the same container, simplifying the order process for the retailer, Edwards said.

“The key to the program’s strength is when our representative runs in and says to the retailer, ‘We can mix the tables and the upholstery.’ We’re hoping to do that by the third quarter of 2014,” he said.

Upholstery is 8% of Fairmont’s sales, but Edwards would like to see it grow to 12% soon.

Cover options are limited to two fabrics, one considered to have broad appeal and a second that is more fashion-forward.