[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.
____________________