By Kirk Maltais

Colleen Bennett has a habit of opening new businesses at the toughest possible times.

Bennett opened an interior design business right before the Covid-19 pandemic. This time, she's opening a furniture manufacturing venture -- and in the time of tariffs, she's hoping it will be an easier journey.

Bennett, 43, is making this play in a part of North Carolina that was once home to the "Furniture Capital of the World."

"Where we live is where it was born and bred," said Bennett. "The goal is to bring that back."

But years of off-shoring, consolidation and cheap Chinese imports led to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and the crumbling of an industry that once was a way of life. Hometown companies like Henredon Furniture and Drexel Heritage got swept up in corporate takeovers and others fell into bankruptcy, leaving plants empty and unused.

It's not going to be an easy journey. This part of North Carolina, known as the Piedmont, has lost much of the know-how that defined it for decades. Though far from those glory days, manufacturers and sellers hope higher quality, locally made pieces will lure customers back to showrooms.

President Trump said in a Truth Social post he wants to bring back furniture production to North Carolina, and he would impose "substantial tariffs" on any country that doesn't make furniture in the U.S. Earlier this month, new 25% tariffs on lumber, upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets went into effect.

But industry executives say that rising tariffs on imported parts have already started to bite into profits.

Bassett Furniture CEO Robert Spilman Jr. said half of Bassett's fabrics came from China and the company discontinued a lot of that. Bassett also imports fabrics, plywood, componentry and finished goods from Vietnam and India which have been hit by tariffs. So, despite having 80% of its wholesale shipments manufactured or assembled in the U.S., the company raised retail prices in July. Spilman said the company has been "somewhat insulated" by its domestic manufacturing, but today's furniture industry is truly a global enterprise.

Winds of Change

Before the new tariffs, manufacturers finally felt like they were in a stable position, learning how to adapt to the flood of cheaper imported furniture over the past two decades from places like China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Bigger companies, like Ethan Allen Interiors were able to slim down operations, getting core materials like wood from domestic suppliers while things like fabric and structural components come for cheaper from Asia.

Ethan Allen -- a publicly traded company with 2025 sales of over $614 million -- maintains a presence in North Carolina with plants in Maiden and Old Fort. Having its core supply chain stateside has allowed the company to handle higher-quality orders in a way that manufacturers that moved overseas cannot, says its top executive.

"We decided that customization would give us a great advantage," said Ethan Allen CEO Farooq Kathwari.

Making its operations nimble required Ethan Allen to tighten its belt -- paring its warehouse count and reducing its staff by 35% in the past six years, and cutting 5% to 6% of its staff in fiscal 2025, Kathwari said on an earnings call in July.

Ethan Allen says that it makes 75% of its furniture in North America -- with the remaining 25% made overseas, including at a partner plant in Indonesia. But that 75% isn't just the U.S.; there are newer plants in Mexico and Honduras, where labor is considerably more affordable.

In Need of Workers

If tariffs are able to create new investment, finding skilled labor may be a challenge. Laborers trained to do jobs like sewing and woodworking were left behind after companies fled overseas. These workers were then forced to find new jobs and learn different skills -- allowing the knowledge and expertise of the previous generations to be lost.

"This rebuild is going to require another generation of craftspeople," said Dixon Mitchell, who runs Fairfield Chair Co. out of Lenoir, N.C.

From 1990 to 2010, furniture employment in North Carolina plummeted to just over 30,000 jobs from 90,000 jobs, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meanwhile, furniture imports from overseas exploded. China accounted for 2% of the furniture imported to the U.S. in 1990, at just over $100 million, according to data from the International Trade Commission. By 2000 that number had ballooned to $4.1 billion, and by 2010 to over $14 billion, or nearly half of all furniture imports to the U.S.

Mitchell's company employs 450 people and provides apprenticeships to young workers joining its ranks, and works with the local community college system to help train up students to be able work on a factory floor.

Bennett is confident that her new manufacturing venture, a plant building upholstered furniture, will be able to find the workers it needs. But she acknowledges that it may be difficult to get new people interested in rejoining the industry.

"No 23-year-old is like 'I want to be an upholsterer when I get out of school,'" said Bennett.

Bracing for Price Hikes

Meanwhile, Bennett says the new round of tariffs forced her to expedite the shipping of components, like fabric, to avoid paying significantly more for them once tariffs went into effect.

"We're literally having to airfreight stuff," said Bennett.

Her interior design company has grown beyond the original six clients -- to 150 clients internationally that contract her to furnish and stage their homes. The latest tariffs threaten to expose Bennett, a 20-year veteran of the industry, to more price hikes.

As an interior designer, Bennett's business makes money by charging clients a premium to the wholesale prices she pays for the furniture she acquires. But higher prices mean that she has to pay more up front, and convince her clients to absorb the steeper costs.

"I have to go back to the client and say 'Guess what, I'm not eating that,'" she said, one of many business owners in the Piedmont who expects to pass cost increases onto customers.

Though consumers being cautious about their spending, Bennett believes that jumping into the fire now is a business risk that pays off. The factory will attempt to source all of its components from other suppliers in North Carolina, building sofas and chairs that middle-class consumers can afford.

"If you have a forest fire and you're the last tree standing, you're the tallest tree," she said.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 24, 2025 15:02 ET (19:02 GMT)

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