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Vaughan Furniture: A Forward Looking Legacy

By Nicole Liang

Even at 85 years old, Vaughan Furniture finds no reason to retire into dated practices or take license in reminiscing. Instead, the Galax veteran is decidedly forward-looking.

In 1923, two brothers, raised on a small farm in southwest Virginia, founded Vaughan Furniture Company. Taylor G Vaughan, Sr and his brother Bunyan C Vaughan and members of their families and friends set out to begin a furniture manufacturing business to sell a line of dining room furniture to complement another company’s line of bedroom furniture.

Since then, it has seen three plant closures in the US, changes in product offerings and shifts in major markets. Taking each of these challenges in stride and facing up to the winds of change, Vaughan Furniture continues its legacy today with what it calls “revitalised optimism”. Even at 85 years old, Vaughan Furniture finds no reason to retire into dated practices or take license in reminiscing. Instead, the Galax veteran is decidedly forward-looking.

Early this year, Vaughan Furniture stepped out of its comfort zone to sign a partnership with Kathy Ireland Worldwide (KIWW), a home furniture designer brand with annual sales that run over US$1.4 billion. Leveraging on its production heritage, Vaughan Furniture will manufacture a complete resource for import bedroom, dining, occasional and youth furniture which will express KIWW designs. The products will be marketed as ‘Kathy Ireland Home from Vaughan Furniture’.

Partnering With Kathy Ireland

Prior to this alliance, Vaughan Furniture was looking for effective marketing strategies to enhance slowing furniture sales in its major markets the US and Canada, said its Senior Vice President for sales, Roger E Porter. “We have to keep generating fresh ideas. There is always going to be furniture sales and only those products that make it to the floor will sell. We need fresh designs and good prices that generate good interests, which in turn can stimulate more floor placements. This is the way to keep a business coming despite a slowdown,” he said.

The “fresh idea” struck, when the CEO, founder and chief designer of KIWW, Kathy Ireland, wanted to partner with a company that has a great history in the furniture business, said Porter. “Vaughan, as you know, has been in business since 1923. She wanted someone that understood how the furniture should be made as well as someone to help market the product. We in turn are able to gain national exposure due to her great branding power of the Kathy Ireland World Wide brand.”

For Ireland, this collaboration is “a dream come true”. This new partnership will complement KIWW’s efforts to “progress from promotional manufacturers to those of exquisite quality. KIWW considers this the successful result of years that we’ve auditioned for Vaughan,” she said. “Our case goods price to value ratio, design integrity, quality control and our safety and environmental standards have reached new heights,” she continued.

“Moreover,” Porter added, “the KIWW brand is not new to us. We are the right fit. We have the styles and quality that she wants to do. We also have the sales force intact to sell to retailers”.

As win-win partnerships ideally work, these qualities are what KIWW intends to ride on. “Holistic sharing of retail information is crucial to brand building for operations of our scale. Kathy Ireland Home from Vaughan Furniture will be unique in our ability to serve retailers and our manufacturers with design collaboration and sales information in a powerful way,” said Stephen Roseberry, President and COO of KIWW.

Vaughan Furniture has a distribution network of 3,000 dealers worldwide. Its headquarters in Galax employs a sales force of about 55. An approximate 29,000 sq ft (2,694 sq m) showroom in Plaza Suites (PS-210) in High Point, North Carolina, serves as the primary display location for products, shown twice each year, at the Spring and Fall Furniture Markets.

The Kathy Ireland Home from Vaughan Furniture brand debuted in a soft launch during the Spring High Point Market. It showcased 230 SKUs in seven initial collections that reflect Kathy Ireland Home Style Guides. There will be an official launch at the Fall 2009 High Point Market. “The response has been outstanding. The two brands go hand and hand together,” Porter said.

Moving On, Moving Production

Taylor Vaughan, who is President, Chairman, President and CEO, now manages the third-generation family business. The company no longer manufactures in the US, though there were previously three factories in the US – one each in Galax, Virginia; Johnson City, Tennessee; and Stuart, Virginia. The last plant closed in May of 2008. According to Porter, the reason was to help compete in the global market as jobs were sourced out.

Moving with the times, Vaughan Furniture now works with OEMs in Vietnam, China, Indonesia and Malaysia. An office in Ho Chi Minh City has been in operation for four years. “This office, with our on the ground quality control teams, helps us bring in product direct from the factories as well as working with a select group of OEMs,” Porter said.

Vaughan Furniture, however, still retains a 500,000 sq ft warehouse in Galax as a distribution centre. It has an additional 250,000 sq ft warehouse, also in Galax. Its buyers may also choose to ship direct from its sources in Asia.

New Markets

Setting up warehousing facilities in the US makes logistical sense to Vaughan Furniture, since the bulk of its sales come from within the country. Additionally, “in Canada we do sell to several major accounts and were shopped at market by many we are trying to sell to. We also saw several in Malaysia,” Porter said.

Porter and the company recently exhibited at the Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) for the second time in March 2009. Malaysia is intended to serve as a launch pad for Vaughan Furniture to extend its reach into regions such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East. “We’ve received good response at the MIFF and are happy with everything. Here, we can reach our potential clients and continue to concrete our relationship with existing ones,” Porter said.

Many of these clients have over the years requested for Vaughan Furniture to offer collections for its casegoods. “We have focused on bringing our several collections rather than suites to help separate our company from the others trying to sell the same customer. These consist of bedroom, dining room, occasional tables, and entertainment. In the future we will expand the offerings to include more bedroom, both master and youth. We will also have dining room and occasional tables,” Porter elaborated.

“We are very flexible and can adapt to market needs. For example, Saudi Arabians like large wardrobes and our designers in the US can accommodate their specifications,” he added.