Some furniture companies are ratcheting up their investment in U.S. manufacturing and production as new tariffs take effect.
Sara Sugarman, founder and CEO of the rug and home decor brand Lulu and Georgia, said she’s been bringing more upholstery work to suppliers in North Carolina.
“We were already set up with a lot of American factories on our upholstery anyway, and we’re leaning into that more by looking at what could be made in America,” she said.
This month, new tariffs on cabinets, furniture and lumber went into effect as part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing changes to U.S. trade policy. This includes a 25% tariff on upholstered furniture that will go up to 30% come 2026 — on top of existing China-specific tariffs, and without exemptions for imports from Canada and Mexico. Kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and “associated products” are subject to a 50% tariff.
As Sugarman from Lulu and Georgia said, North Carolina has long been a hub for furniture and upholstery manufacturing. Many U.S. businesses — like Ashley Furniture, Bassett Furniture, and Thomasville Furniture — already make much of their furniture there. But other companies, such as hidden door and cabinetry brand Murphy Door, are using this time to build out their own infrastructure.
Jeremy Barker, CEO at Murphy Door, said most of its materials come from Oregon, Louisiana, Washington or Montana. Its products are built in manufacturing hubs in Utah and Kentucky. But this fall, it’s starting to build out a new manufacturing plant in Dallas. Barker said it will cost about $7 million to retrofit a 100,000-square-foot warehouse with the equipment needed to make its products.
From a consumer perspective, Barker said he doesn’t think the “made in USA” label adds much to his top line. The customer, he said, wants “what they want, when they want it, and to be able to fully customize it.”
But he does find that having a U.S.-based supply chain helps ensure fast customization and quick shipping, and allows the company to avoid global shipping bottlenecks like those that happened during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Everything is here, made by us, for us, right now, and it can flow,” he said. Murphy Door, which did $28 million in sales last year, is forecasting 70% growth for the year.
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