Is Sourcing Made In The USA Furniture Better, Or Not?
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been working with the interior and kitchen and bath designers in my Facebook Group community, Design Wealth, collecting the names of furniture manufacturers whose products are mainly Made In The USA.
There are about 1700 professional interior & kitchen and bath designers in my Facebook community , many of them top influencers, too, and I did this so they would all have a list of furniture manufacturers whose products would be less impacted by the 145% tariff increase on products made in China - before they started sourcing - especially if they are attending the 2025 Spring High Point Market starting this week.
Doing that led me down the path of thinking, though, how grateful I am for the many companies who DO make some of their products in China or in other countries besides the USA because those companies are, in many cases, the supporters of the educational events and trips that have benefitted me and so many of my interior designer clients and friends.
And that led me to thinking about how we cannot become too focused on Made In The USA because a lot of the to the trade lines of furniture that are extremely beautiful are not Made In The USA and because there is such a wide variety of ownership and manufacturing structures:
1/ There are companies HQ’d in the USA, with American ownership, with almost all of their manufacturing taking place in the USA - although they are dependent on other countries for the parts and pieces that go into their furniture like springs, hinges, glides, sleeper mechanisms, etc.
2/There are companies HQ’d in the USA, with American ownership but whose products are split between manufacturing in the US [generally for upholstery] and with other production [ generally casegoods like dressers, armoires, consoles, bookcases, etc. ] mainly manufactured in other parts of the world.
3/There are companies HQ’d in the USA, with foreign ownership, with their line manufactured mainly or partly in the USA.
4/There are companies not HQ’d in the USA, with foreign ownership, whose products are manufactured mainly in the USA.
5/There are companies not HQ’d in the USA, with foreign ownership, whose products are manufactured in factories around the world.
I’m sure I’ve left some sort of structure out, but you get the idea.
The important point?
Even if the company is foreign owned and/or even if the manufacturing isn’t happening here, all of these companies temploy people here in the USA in various capacities: management, operations, finance, legal, warehousing, sales and marketing, not to mention the many small businesses they all support during tradeshows like event planners and catering businesses.
And as I said before, many of these companies are also the ones that support and underwrite all of the educational programming and trips that are so important to the development of a designer’s career and national visibility.
So, I hope you [ if you’re an interior designer or kitchen and bath designer reading this or even if you’re a consumer ] won’t fixate too much on Made In The USA as being the BEST, or even preferable [ although it would be great if all of the various artisanal skills other countries are so famous for were available in the USA at a price point American consumers could afford ] , but will, instead, seek out those companies whose products [ no matter where they are made ] are truly the best for your clients [ or you ] and their needs [ or your needs ].
If you’re a consumer reading this needing to buy furniture? Your best bet is to hire an interior designer . Almost all interior designers now offer hourly consulting services , by the way.
Why? Interior designers have access to so many furniture sources still not available to you, but also because they can guide you in buying good, better, best so you can get exactly the right furniture for your taste, your home, your needs, your budget and that aligns with your values [something increasingly important to you, as a buyer, I know ] - furniture of high enough quality that it won’t soon end up in a landfill.
To Wrap Up:
It would be great if all furniture manufacturing could be brought back to the USA, and I know a lot of you reading this would love that to happen, but that’s not realistic in today’s current environment. Even if we could snap our fingers and make it happen overnight, most American consumers today [especially those who are younger ] don’t want to buy cheap furniture, but they can’t afford the better quality that’s American made. That’s why the secondhand and thrift and vintage markets are booming.
It’s also a false narrative to say that furniture made in other countries is cheap. That’s not true. Every country around the world has highly skilled artisans…. and I think it’s a disservice to American consumers if designers don’t remain open to specifying the products made by skilled hands, wherever they may be located around the globe.
Why? Because those products ARE, for the time being, less expensive and allow these companies and their associated distribution partners to make the margins they need to make in order to keep their American employees, employed.
What are your thoughts? I’d love to know in the comments.
PS: I won’t be attending #HPMKT this time, [after attending 40 markets over the past 23 years ] but I hope to see you all again in the Fall.
Leslie Carothers
Named One Of Home Furnishing Business Magazine’s Top 40 Most Inspiring Women In Home
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