Another trip to Hancock and Moore's Factories May 2021

I made a trip to Hancock and Moore last week on Wed/Thur which was a 7 hour drive from my store. I had not planned to go there, however the prior week I was unpacking a larger order for delivery to a client in Richmond and cut the leather on the outboard arm ever-so-slightly. In thirty-five years, this was the third time I have done this out of thousands of pieces. An expensive chair in Markle Graphite, this leather is non-repairable. I took this photo and sent it to the customer prior to delivery and offered him $ 500 off the price of the chair to keep as is (this was not cut all the way through). The customer declined and wanted it fixed, which meant a return to H&M for re-leathering of the arm. Normally, I would pack the chair in a box, ship it there and then it would take 6 weeks to cycle back.

However, I had some sun-faded chairs and footstool in my own home and also there were about ten piece ready to ship at H&M. I decided to make the trip in my truck primarily to get a quick turnaround on the damaged piece. I worked it out with everyone ahead of time and if I could be at the Motion Plant loading dock at 6:30 a.m. they would have the chair fixed and ready by 2:00 p.m. Then I could deliver it on the way back to my store as the client lived in Richmond (hour and half south of my store). They could also repair my sun damaged chairs at the Main Plant loading dock by 7:15 a.m. The two plants are 15 minutes away from one another.

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I dropped off the Westwood Tilt Back Chair in Markle Graphite at exactly 6:30 a.m. and they already had the leather pulled based on a swatch that I had sent them days earlier and the arm pre-sewn. They got right on it and worked on it the whole day. This was very complex and not a simple task. Turned out they had to run over to the frame shop and get an entire new left side arm made, Hancock and Moore frames are not designed to come apart, and the entire left side was removed from the chair and replaced. When done at 2:30 p.m., it was perfect, and I delivered this back to the customer in Richmond at 8:20 p.m. that evening. It was a very long day (didn't get home until 11 p.m)

I have two 11-year-old Tannery Chairs with a boot stool from H&M that are in my home library and were sun-faded. I took those to the main plant and Melissa, who is the burnishing guru at H&M said she would fix me up as good as new on them. The original color was Hand-Antiqued Sunset Burnished, and here's what they looked like when I dropped them off. Melissa asked me what "Tone" did I want, Red? Brown? Amber? I said "surprise me, you have artistic freedom" and she got to work, while I went over to Taylor King to pickup three pieces of furniture they had ready for me that my decorator customer was begging me to have my Monday the 26th, so I decided that was critical load and I would get on the trip as well

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And here's the road you take from Hancock and Moore Plant 1 to Taylor King, Beautiful Country!

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After I made the pickup at Taylor King I returned to Plant 1 at H&M and Melissa was working away on my chairs. Wow.

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The next four hours I went all over the plants (more later on that) with Phil Brown, executive VP and have lots to share about that in a later post. Melissa finished up my two chairs and Footstool, and here they are the next morning at my home after I unloaded them. Amazing work! These are like new again.

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And here's the thing. Hancock and Moore is the ONLY maker I know that will do this for any of their customers. You get the piece back to them, they will fix it up for you. If there is a charge, its nominal. Every other maker will just laugh at you if asked to do some restoration work, they would say "sorry, but you have to buy a new chair". Not H&M, their work ethic is quite simply "We want the customer to be happy. We build the best furniture in America and are proud of that, and we do this for our customers". It's not a slogan, its the truth. Sure you have to get it back to them, but this part of America is so beautiful, make time to drop it off yourself, and go to Asheville or the Smokey Mountains for a day or two and they will likely have it ready for you in a day or so to take home. My wife was thrilled with how these came out, and so am I. Melissa did an amazing job.

Here's a Boho Chair being made at Hancock & Moore. This was being done in a custom leather from Moore & Giles and I just thought it so unique and beautiful that I told their VP he has to add it to the H&M offerings. Then I ordered a Boho Sofa and Chair in the same hide, just like the style being made in the photo. This hide is an Italian Pull-Up, and I have no idea of what it costs....lol. Seriously.

This look is what I really like, sort of a British Tan Pub look. Look at how it comes in, with a high wax and then as its applied to the frame the wax dissipates and goes matte. That - is - magnificent ! This is a stiff leather, and I think once my floor models arrive it will sell like gangbusters. Once you see hides like this on a piece, the promotional discount leathers from China and South America are just a bit boring and plain.

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Wow your chair and stool came out really nice! I am envious. :)

My wife and I had a great trip out there. It certainly came out of the middle of nowhere when we finally made it to the factory. Wish we had time to look around. Maybe this next time when we are picking up more pieces! :)

Meet Roger, he's hand tying the suspension on a Hancock and Moore sofa frame. He works fast and proud, and told me "I've been doing this 23 years and guarantee my work for LIFE. One of these ever breaks you bring it back to me and I'll fix it no charge". Then I asked him how many has he had to fix and he gave me a smile and said "none!". He makes no wasted movement and every tie is stopped and knotted, not looped. This is how you do it right. I'm actually amazed his hands are not a bleeding mess...

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Rick Fox, Plant Supervisor for Factory 1, came up to me while I was there and said "Duane, I'm retiring next year and if I don't see you after today I want to tell you now "Thank You" for making my life, and my family's life good all these years. Your orders have put food on the table at my house and let me send my kids to college, and I appreciate every single one that comes in, I really do. I know - we all know - you love the Hancock and Moore brand as much as we do, and I want to thank you for your support." He really caught me off-guard, what do you say to that??! Rick is in the middle of this photo in the black Polo shirt - he's going to not like retirement, this job is in his blood.

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And see the tall man to the right of Rick? That's Lee Sherrill, one of the very top Master Upholsters at Hancock and Moore. His job is to fix problems, every single day. He doesn't do regular production upholstery, he does fixes. When I as there last week he had an armchair all tore down because one of their new Trimmers that came from another company install the welt butt seam on the front leading edge of the chair wing. The new employee didn't know the H&M standard, which is to never put a butt joint welt where its visible from the front. A minor thing that maybe most customers would never notice, but its not the H&M way. So the chair comes apart and the butt seam will be re-located to the back of the chair.

I stopped and spoke with one of the ladies sewing the leather, and marveling at how fine her work was. She's been there ten years now and her Mother was there before her. Her Mom is a bit of a legend at Hancock and Moore (her name escapes me) and she was one of the original employees. She had a stroke at her sewing machine 20 minutes before quitting time one day and she refused to quit because "it wouldn't be right" to leave the sofa panels unfinished on the one she was working on. She reportedly finished everything, and tried really hard to walk normal to her car, but knew something was really wrong. When she made it to her car she called her daughter to come take her to the hospital. She was never able to return to work after that, but I have to say that's some kind of dedication.

One other thing I was really glad to see was every single piece of furniture now being made has leather "Booties" wrapped around the finished legs while they are being made. I had complained about nicks and wear in the feet of pieces a month ago and we had a 30 minute conference call with all the executives and plant managers about it. Also, about better packing on premium finishes, which are extremely hard to touch-up for the dealers. They are pro-active at H&M and took my suggestions seriously, and now the new pieces are coming in much, much better. I know that I can tell many companies about issues they have and nothing is never done about it - but not at Hancock and Moore, they listen and act upon it. Quickly, too.

I love that couch it's like the utopia with different arms. What model is it?

That is a Harvest Tufted Sofa, which is no longer offered (they may have some frames left however). The companion chair is still in the line.

I hope they have a frame left I finally found a sofa my husband and I both loved.

I called H&M and all frames for that sofa are gone and patterns destroyed, sorry!

I know many of the people at Hancock and Moore, and if you go to their website, you will see three photos on the home page who are not models, but real workers.

Photo 1 is of Melissa Sigmon. She does the burnishing on your leather and is such a sweetheart. She's not real tall, but always has a smile and is expecting her first grandchild soon. Melissa fixed up my sun damaged chairs for me last week.

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Photo 2 if of Bryan Craft. He is the Motion Plant Supervisor at the factory on Rink Dam Road. Bryan LOVES his job and is all over that factory floor, you can never find him because he's always busy. Many years ago he worked at Bradington Young, but came to H&M and worked his way up to a job overseeing a large staff and innovating new product. Now is the first there at the plant at 6:30 a.m. and last to leave around 5.00 p.m. He's a tornado, always thinking of better ways to do things and had to show me the new $ 12,000 sewing machine he just got for the plant that does special stitches I can't even begin to understand.

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Photo 3 is of Laura Phillips who is the Supervisor of Sanding Operations at the Frame Plant. I don't go there often as its 20 minutes away from Plants 1 and 3. Did you know every frame at Hancock and Moore is hand-sanded? That's hard work, too.

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Covid is easing. Tours will resume shortly at Hancock and Moore and you will meet these people on your tour, they are all very friendly and love to talk about what they do.