— Furniture Today,
DOC application pertains to its three upholstery plants in Mississippi

BELDEN, Miss. — Lane Home Furnishings is asking the federal government to create Foreign Trade Zones for its three upholstery plants in the Tupelo area so it can receive certain fabrics duty free for use in cut-and-sewn kits and finished goods.


The factories employ 3,300 workers and produce up to 1.3 million sofas, chairs and recliners a year. The plants, which also make the cut-and-sew kits, are in what is called Foreign Trade Zone 158 in the Vicksburg-Jackson region.

Lane’s application requests that the company be able to obtain foreign-made microdenier suede fabrics duty free. It plans to ship finished goods both domestically and to export markets.

Duties on these fabrics range from 2.7% to 17.2%, according to a notice published in the Aug. 3 Federal Register. Len said money saved on duties will make its products more competitive in a global marketplace.

The application pertains only to the use of foreign-made microdenier suede fabrics finished with a caustic soda process, which Lane said are not produced by U.S. mills. The FTZ application would not apply to other imported fabrics it uses in its products.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is inviting public comment on Lane’s application. Submissions, including an original and three copies, should be addressed to the Foreign Trade Zone Board’s executive secretary at the Office of the Executive Secretary, Room 2111, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20230-0002. The deadline is Oct. 2.