HIGH POINT – Mattress ticking and fabric supplier Culp Inc. plans to buy the remaining 50% interest in its cut-and-sew mattress cover facility in Haiti, which will give the company full control of the operation. In addition, the company has secured a supply agreement with its previous joint venture partner.
Culp started production in Haiti in 2018 in an 80,000-square-foot facility. Since that time, the company has invested in additional facilities in the area and recently added 40,000 square feet to manufacture and distribute sewn mattress covers.
“We are very pleased with our Haiti operation, which has proven to be an ideal location for our growing sewn mattress cover business,” said Iv Culp, president and CEO. “Through our strategic investments, we have demonstrated our ability to improve our operating efficiencies, and we believe there are additional opportunities within Culp to leverage the production capacity and distribution capabilities from Haiti.”
By gaining full ownership at the operation, the company said it will better be able to manage its global cut-and-sew platform.
“With our recent investments in Haiti, we have expanded our capacity and improved our ability to meet growing customer demand,” said Sandy Brown, president of Culp Home Fashions. “We continue to see favorable growth trends in our sewn mattress cover business, with current and expected demand exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels.”
Brown said ongoing growth in the boxed bed category is helping drive the business. “Through our production and sourcing capabilities in the U.S., Asia and Haiti, we have a flexible, scalable global platform that provides us with a strong competitive advantage,” she said, adding that recent investments in digital and IT help support the company’s design and speed to market.
In addition to the new investment, the company announced it was revising its financial outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2021.
“Our business during the quarter has been better than expected in both divisions, and we are especially pleased with the performance of our upholstery fabrics division against previous expectations,” Culp said. “As a result, we are now projecting meaningfully improved sales and operating income for both divisions for the quarter, as compared with the third quarter of last year.”
The company expects to report its complete financial and operating results for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 in early March.
