Furniture Today,
HIGH POINT — Italian leather upholstery manufacturer Natale has closed its operations in the United States and Italy and will file for bankruptcy “in the next few weeks,” according to Gabriele Natale, CEO of its U.S. division.


“We had to shut down operations because of the downturn in business,” Natale said in an interview today.

The shutdown affects both Natale, operated by Gabriele Natale in the United States and owned by investors from the United Kingdom, and its Italian parent MAB Ltd., owned and operated by his mother, Rosangela Natale, in Italy.

At its peak in 2002, he said, the company had $92 million in sales of leather upholstery, produced 567,000 seats and employed 1,600 workers.

MAB entered the U.S. marketplace in 1991, opening a showroom in High Point.

Although MAB began with — and later dismantled — a case goods business with product made in northern Italy, Rosangela Natale also was a pioneer as a woman in the leather upholstery industry.

Rather than follow its competitors with production in Asia, Eastern Europe or Latin America, Natale — known for contemporary and transitional styling — adhered to a “Made in Italy” strategy.

“We traded up with better price points but net-net, even when it came from $999 to $1,499, and was definitely competitive with Asian or Third World counties, most retailers felt it was better to buy from those countries. So we did not get the business we anticipated on getting,” Natale said.

He added that from February to July of this year, retail sales in the States and in Europe “have been miserable. We really did not have the chance to get enough business. At the end of August, we did not have enough money to carry on.”

Over the years, Natale also was hampered by a lack of continuity in sales management. Past sales managers have included James Riddle, Les Herman, and John Wampler.

The sale of the U.S. division to British investors some five years ago gave the company additional capital, Natale said.

Natale now hopes to mount a liquidation sale, he said. John McGhee, hired as vice president earlier this year, will assist in the sale.

The manufacturer has about 25 accounts “and five are very good,” Natale said.

“We are talking to a couple of (manufacturing) competitors (in the Bari region of southern Italy) to see if they would be interested in continuing a few good programs for our best retailers,” he said.

In 2000, Natale purchased the former Adams-Millis property at 400 English Road in High Point, paying $775,000 for the three-story former hosiery mill. Ambitious initial plans called for such improvements as a sports bar, which never came to be.

The building was later sold to a group of U.S. investors. Today, Gabriele Natale, who continues to manage the property, is seeking a new tenant for his 11,000- square-foot showroom and office.

In Italy, the company’s 120,000-square-foot production facility is also leased. Most recently, it employed 110 workers.

Natale last exhibited at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas in July. Although the company saw 15 of its major customers and sold some merchandise, “It was not enough,” Natale said. The company had few West Coast customers and no warehouse program, selling by container only.

Natale, who came to the United States in 1984, has a home and a family in High Point. He said he’d like to remain in the industry.

“I hope to stay in furniture; it’s the only thing I know.”