[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 145 (Wednesday, November 14, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6790-S6791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING ETHAN ALLEN FURNITURE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, one of Vermont's premier businesses is 
celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. Ethan Allen Furniture has 
come to represent the very highest standards and quality that Vermont 
has to offer.
  In 1932, two brothers-in-law from New York City established a 
wholesale company that sold small housewares. Four years later, they 
purchased a bankrupt furniture factory in Beecher Falls, VT, and began 
manufacturing early American furniture branded as the Ethan Allen line. 
They eventually renamed the company after Ethan Allen, a Revolutionary 
War hero who played an integral role in America's fight for 
independence and Vermont's admission to the Union as the 14th State.
  Over the years, Ethan Allen Furniture has grown into one of the 
world's most prominent furniture makers and interior design 
specialists, with over 300 stores worldwide and manufacturing centers 
around the globe.
  This world-renowned company has remained close to its Vermont roots 
and continues to employ many Vermonters because of their unique talent 
and experience in finely crafted furniture. It was great to see that 
the company's president, CEO, and chairman, Farooq Kathwari, recently 
visited with employees at the Orleans, VT, facility to celebrate the 
company's anniversary and its return to profitability.
  I congratulate Ethan Allen Furniture on this monumental anniversary, 
and I wish them much success in the future.
  I ask unanimous consent that the September 26, 2012, Caledonian 
Record article entitled ``Ethan Allen Celebrates 80 Years'' be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

              [From the Caledonian Record, Sept. 26, 2012]

                    Ethan Allen Celebrates 80 Years

                            (By Robin Smith)

       Ethan Allen CEO, President and Chairman Farooq Kathwari 
     praised his employees in Vermont Tuesday afternoon and 
     announced performance raises as part of the company's 80th 
     anniversary.
       Ethan Allen plants in Orleans and Beecher Falls are 
     profitable now for the first time since the Great Recession, 
     Kathwari told employees who gathered in a plant storage 
     facility at the Orleans facility to eat cake and celebrate.
       The company wanted to begin the big anniversary celebration 
     in Vermont where it began 80 years ago in Beecher Falls.
       This morning, Kathwari and Ethan Allen officials will ring 
     the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange. And in the next 
     several weeks, the company will unveil a new line of American 
     furniture and launch a marketing campaign, Kathwari said.
       The company converted its operation in Orleans and 
     elsewhere from mass production to custom-manufacturing over a 
     year and a half, he said. The profitability and efficiency in 
     Orleans is up 30 to 40 percent in the last two years, he 
     added.
       And now, instead of buying products from China, Kathwari 
     said Ethan Allen is selling its furniture to China.
       Ethan Allen received a fairly large order from China last 
     year and has retail stores there.
       ``You folks will make orders for China. Think of that,'' he 
     said.
       ``If someone had said . . . we would make lamps for China, 
     we would have said `That's crazy.' ''
       Kathwari invited a select group of company retailers, 
     marketers, designers, board members and initial investors, 
     plus local legislators, to a tour of the Orleans plant before 
     he spoke to employees. Kathwari recognized long-time 
     employees at the plant, one of whom had been at the plant for 
     53 years and introduced company leaders who had longevity 
     with the company.
       That's how Ethan Allen has survived 80 years and grown, he 
     said, because experience and longevity allows nimble 
     adaptability. ``To be around for 80 years, you have to by 
     plan or by accident reinvent it,'' he said.
       Ethan Allen survived the Great Depression, he said, and now 
     the Great Recession.
       The company kept 70 percent of its manufacturing in the 
     U.S., Kathwari said, ``which is remarkable.''
       The company is committed to the Orleans plant, where 320 
     employees make tables, chairs and other furniture that has 
     the name of the customer on the bar code label. Each piece 
     being manufactured in Orleans is already sold ``and our 
     people know it,'' Kathwari said.
       The Orleans staff have tremendous experience and knowledge, 
     the Orleans and Beecher

[[Page S6791]]

     Falls plants have technological improvements from ongoing 
     investments over the years and the area has the best 
     sustainable hardwood resources in the world, he said.
       Because of these things and the productivity and quality in 
     Orleans, Kathwari announced the reintroduction of performance 
     raises this year.
       ``Those who have done a good job will get an increase,'' he 
     said.
       He said the new plant in Honduras, like the Mexican plant, 
     turns raw resources into materials for the upholstery 
     manufacturing plant in North Carolina, he said.
       Without that Mexican plant, Ethan Allen would not have been 
     profitable during the recession, he said.
       The company's vertical integration, from bringing in raw 
     wood at Beecher Falls, to wood work in Orleans to the 
     company's own stores and interior designers, means it was 
     able to survive and change in reaction to globalization and 
     mass market changes.
       The company is public but is fortunate in being able to 
     think long term, Kathwari said, noting that he has served as 
     CEO for 40 years.
       Challenges remain for the company in Vermont, including the 
     high price of electricity, at two times that in North 
     Carolina and three to four times that of overseas where the 
     price is kept down by government, he said.
       Also the increasing cost of health care is a concern, he 
     said.
       The founders bought the Beecher Falls wood plant and 
     renamed it Ethan Allen, a mark of the colonial American 
     furniture the company made.
       Kathwari said the company will unveil five new American 
     lifestyle lines of furniture, from modern to classic--
     reflecting the global style of America today. Sneak peeks 
     were available from the classic-lined wood chairs and tables 
     and headboards, in Fiesta Ware type colors, and other 
     beautiful pieces in various stages of construction at the 
     plant Tuesday.
       He hopes to see sales continue to increase, as they have 
     for the past two years, he said by about 15 percent each 
     year.

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