North Carolina furniture manufacturer: Business is great; Trump’s tariffs are one reason

HIGH POINT — Last fall, Chris Morris saw an opportunity in residential upholstery manufacturing and decided to revise his business strategy to accommodate it.

With an eye on upholstery manufacturers seeking out a domestic, private-label partner, Morris created a plan to increase production for residential upholstery at his Vision Contract Manufacturing factory in High Point. Less than a year since implementing the change, the North Carolina entrepreneur says he’s seen a significant increase in business.

“We have experienced a spike with companies wanting to onshore,” said Morris. “If I had to put a percentage, I would say 25% increase since October 2024. But we will not see that business until after the spring market. A lot of recent customers are launching their new collections during the 2025 spring market.”

Morris said that the residential customers he is working with “tend to cater to the mid/upper market.” As a private-label manufacturer, he does not identify many of the companies he serves but does note a successful partnership with Eichholtz and four new collections planned for launch during the spring High Point Market.

“We also do a lot of motion furniture, and our recliner and sleeper business are rapidly growing,” Morris said. “We work very closely with Ultra-Mek, who is a domestic mechanism manufacturer.”

Many of the companies interested in partnering with Morris are looking for a domestic manufacturer that is “scalable and affordable,” he said. The 200,000-square-foot facility has 12 dock doors and room for expansion, according to Morris.

“Depending on the product mix, we do between 100 and 125 units per day. With that stated, we are only using a third of our production capacity, and I feel we could double in a short time frame. In addition to our upholstery factory, we have a sister company that produces our framers and that factory is 100,000 square feet with 75 employees. We have four 3-axis and five 5-axis CNCs on site, including four finishing booths.”

Currently, Vision employs 50 people in production at the High Point facility. Morris said he could rapidly add 15 to 20 upholsterers and five to 10 more sewers as needed. The company is also expanding its product development department and currently has three full-time pattern makers and two frame designers.

“Made-to-order has also been a big part of my business,” Morris said. “Both Valdese and Crypton have great domestic stocking programs that allow our customers to utilize their fabric offerings without having to invest in heavy fabric inventory.”

As the countdown for the next High Point Market continues against a backdrop of uncertainty over reciprocal tariffs and the impact on the furniture industry, Morris said he is expecting his business to continue to grow, both in hospitality and residential.

“Hospitality is going great,” he said. “I tend to play in the mid/upper part of the hospitality industry. As of today, we are producing a 1,500-room property for Hilton in Orlando. With our largest customer, Great Wolf Lodge, we have four 500-room properties in the pipeline for 2025.”

Morris expects the residential category of his business to grow to two-thirds of the company’s sales volume by the end of 2025.

“We have always done residential; it was just a smaller part of my overall business,” said Morris. “Before the tariffs, our biggest challenge was U.S. cost vs Asia/Mexico.

“I know people are not happy about the tariffs,” he concluded. “But the tariffs are helping my company grow and are responsible for creating jobs in our community. In short, my company is an example of what tariffs can do for domestic manufacturing. I have been getting inquiries from import companies that would have never given me the time of day a year ago.”