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Hello. I am wondering if anyone has an opinion to share about what the modern day equivalent to Drexel is (1960s-70s era). Quality-wise and still made in America. Every brand that I had figured was about the same now seems to be building their stuff overseas. Tx in advance.
Century Furniture has an extensive line, made in USA (their quick ship product is imported, but is only about 20% of their line). Councill, Karges and Kindel is all made in Michigan.
Thank you! I had not looked at Century products at all and look forward to reviewing them. I think Karges is out of the price range by a long shot. It looks like Kindel and Council have many of the same styles but are mass produced the way Drexel would have been, and so more affordable. Thanks again for this.
Kindel and Councill are not mass-produced, they are made at the same workshop as Karges. All three lines are together, they are not inexpensive. Nor is Century Domestic.
And here lies the paradox of the US Furniture industry and what the owners of American furniture producers grapple with. Everyone wants USA made, but most are unwilling to pay for it, which is why 90% of all product is imported. The cost of living in the USA is much higher than countries where imports are produced. Wages, OSHA, EPA, Health Care, Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, 401k's, land and building costs and taxes are heavy in the USA. China/Philippines/Vietnam/Mexico/Thailand have no such costs. You can't have it both ways, as it doesn't exist. This is a low margin industry, manufacturers run gross profit margins of around 17%, vs a company like Apple which runs in the neighborhood of 39%. They can't make it for less and stay in business. The same customers who bemoan the loss of USA-made products are shopping at Wal-Mart and Target where non-grocery items are about 80% directly imported from China.
Today however, Covid-19 has blown-up supply chain lines. Container ship transport costs surged 60% in December alone and continue to rise and there are shortages of those containers. End result, you are going to see imports rise in prices as well as long delays to land product. Air freight is simply too expensive. I predict you are going to see a wave of price increases in the furniture industry starting next month that will be breathtaking in the frequency of them and how large they are. You will go into a store for a quote on a price, come back later a few weeks later and the price will have increased.
There are niches of America Made product, and those companies often struggle, and often fail for lack of sustainable orders. If you want American Made Furniture Companies to exist, you have to support them by making purchases from them. otherwise they will dissapear. Don't bemoan their loss, you as the consumer didn't support them.
Karges used to make their stuff in Evansville Indiana. I visited their factory once while on the Bourbon Trail. Sadly they could not make it and everything moved to Michigan.
We have some Karges Dining Room chairs and a Drexel dining room table. All from the 1960s and still very nice.
This is great context and I appreciate it. "Mass-produced" was a flippant choice of phrasing on my part; Kindel and Councill look to be more affordable than Karges and I had wondered if this was due to a greater amount of automation and larger volumes. To stay in budget I would buy one or two items that were made in the country, rather than fill a room with those built elsewhere.
I also think Karges did a crappy marketing job, and their leadership just didn't seem to realize that.
Just building a great product and hoping that people will buy it is a losing strategy in 2021.