Leading global fabric and home fashions manufacturer Home Furnishing International has formed a new joint venture, Palmetto Pedic, LLC, to provide conventional foam and memory foam, mattresses, toppers, pillows, foundations, adjustable bases and accessories to the United States bedding, upholstered furniture and automotive industries.
Home Furnishing International Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Li will serve as Chairman and CEO of the new joint venture firm. Respected Chinese entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Karl Li has been named President of Palmetto Pedic, LLC, reporting to David Li; and veteran bedding retail buyer Michael King has been named Executive Vice President of marketing and merchandising, reporting to Dr. Li.
Home Furnishing International, a privately held vertical fabric and home fashions supplier with annual sales estimated in excess of $200 million, is the majority shareholder of the new company. Palmetto Pedic, LLC has been formed in partnership with a group of investors who own seven foam, mattress, bedding and accessories manufacturing facilities in China totaling more than 3 million square feet.
“The U.S. foam mattress and bedding market represents a huge, untapped opportunity for expansion, and we feel that this new company will help us maximize our potential for growth on a global scale,” explains David Li. “These investors already own and operate state-of-the-art vertical research and design operations, materials manufacturing factories, and finished product manufacturing plants, as well as marketing, sales and distribution facilities in China. These plants have established relationships and supply, directly or indirectly, specialized foam products to many top-tier customers worldwide, including some leading U.S. mattress manufacturers and importers, as well as luxury automobile maker Mercedes-Benz; automotive giant General Motors; intimate apparel trendsetter Triumph; and global consumer innovator 3M.
“Home Furnishing International has a long history of manufacturing in both the U.S. and China; we have the operational infrastructure, a mature and experienced labor force and the extensive retailer and supplier connections that will enable us to quickly get up to speed and capitalize on the growth prospects in the American bedding, upholstery and automotive markets,” David Li continues. “We are already taking orders for mattresses, and expect to begin trial manufacturing foam bedding at our Gaffney, SC plant in April. We expect to begin pouring our own foams in Gaffney by the third quarter of 2019.”
Over the past two years, Home Furnishing International has more than doubled its U.S. manufacturing and distribution facilities in Gaffney, which now total more than 600,000 square feet in two locations. Approximately 50 percent of the Gaffney plants will be dedicated to Palmetto Pedic, LLC manufacturing and distribution, which will focus on providing conventional foam, memory foam, components and finished products to leading American manufacturers as an OEM supplier.
“The foam industry is a very capital- and technology-intensive industry,” David Li says. “We are positioning HFI and Palmetto Pedic, LLC to become a world-class player in this very competitive business.”