STI Fabrics in Kings Mountain, N.C.
KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The one certainty about the current tariff discussions is that nothing is certain, a factor that creates challenges for businesses attempting to strategize with regard to potential impact.
However, one North Carolina textile operation isn’t changing its go-to-market strategy at all and is instead “doubling down.”
“Since COVID, our strategy has been to introduce as many new yarns as our supply chain could handle,” said Sean Gibbons, CEO of Revolution Performance Fabrics|STI Fabrics|Brentwood Textiles. “We’ve been introducing these exciting new yarns into our fabric constructions over the past two years, and all of that effort is really paying off in new placements for this season, which are three times the normal.”
Gibbons said that STI currently has the “best value fabrics in the history of our company,” adding that the current offerings include “beautiful indoor textures starting at $2.75 a yard.” He noted that the other main focus for STI and Brentwood has been on improving the customer experience with shorter production lead times and stocking programs available for shipment from North Carolina or Mississippi, depending on the customer’s preference.
“The main market we focus on has always been the U.S.,” Gibbons said. “Our goal is to help our domestic furniture manufacturing partners succeed in growing market share during this time of uncertainty.”
Currently, Gibbons doesn’t anticipate any price increases in 2025 given the company’s domestic yarn supply chain and no supply chain risk on materials produced in Canada, Mexico, China or the European Union. All yarns produced or sourced are made in one of the company’s three production plants in Kings Mountain, said Gibbons. He noted that STI does have customers that export the company’s textiles to Mexico, Asia and Canada and said he and his team will continue to monitor the programs and make strategic decisions based on the day-to-day decisions of each government.
“I think the full impact of these tariffs is unknowable today, but if Trump is serious about increasing manufacturing in the United States, upholstered furniture and upholstery fabric are great places to start, and these tariffs are the help we need to finally level the playing field,” Gibbons said. “STI has capacity today, and we are willing to expand if our customers need us too.
“Our focus right now is to contact everyone we sell who cuts and sews in the U.S.,” he added. “We want to continue to partner with those to have supported us in the past. We look forward to continuing to grow with our partners and to make ‘American furniture manufacturing great again.’”