OCTOBER 8, 2009 ISSUE
Boone Industries Goes International
Local Company Ships Orders To Japan, Mexico This Week
Over the past few decades, it seems that all industry in America is vulnerable to outsourcing for cheaper labor overseas, so it’s worth noting that a company based in Boone, Boone Industries, Inc., is going the opposite direction and attracting foreign business to the High Country.
This week, Boone Industries Owner David Pace (pictured seated in the middle) and his staff (pictured, from left to right, Christy McKinney, Juan Trejo, Derek Ball, Laura Wilcox Pace, Peter Jones and Kimberly Edmisten) shipped out 140 pieces of furniture—80 captain’s chairs, 50 rocking chairs and 10 deacon’s benches—to Nagoya University in Japan, and 25 rocking chairs to the east coast of Mexico. The company’s handmade products—which include personalized captain’s chairs, deacon’s benches, Boston rocking chairs and footstools—have been in high demand in the United States for decades and now, thanks to extra marketing work by Pace, product orders are now coming in from overseas.
“I think these orders speak to the uniqueness of our business,” said Pace. “It’s a niche market that we have slid into; our furniture has become very popular.”
The furniture is so popular in fact that every American president, aside from George Bush, owns one of the company’s captain’s chairs. Rev. Billy Graham bought seven chairs from the company for his front porch and countless U.S. naval and army admirals and generals, as well as the current directors of the FBI and Homeland Security, feature the chairs in their offices. Many universities and colleges order the furniture to commemorate special occasions.
Aside from a model of screw that is unavailable from American manufacturers, every component of Boone Industries’ products is made in the United States. “And 70 percent [of the components] are from North Carolina,” Pace added. “We’re trying to reach 100 percent American made.”
For more information on Boone Industries, click to www.booneindustries.com or call 828-264-7913. Photos by Ken Ketchie
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