Husband and wife team, Steve and Alison Whitehouse, co-owners of West Midlands Upholstery, share an insight into the Company as they celebrate 20 years in business.
West Midlands Upholstery officially turned 20 years old on the 29th July 2024 but they class their anniversary date to be the 13th August, which is the date that the keys were collected to their business premises.
West Midlands Upholstery Ltd was born in Tipton, in the Heart of The Black Country and still holds true to its hard working, fair, down to earth roots. The company was started by Steve Whitehouse, who was involved in a previous upholstery partnership for 17 years but decided to go solo. Shortly after the formation of the Company, Steve was joined by his wife Alison, who had come from a construction management background to help run the business, whilst also fitting working around their two small children.
“We now have a wide customer base throughout the UK,” says Steve. “Surprisingly, many of our customers are based outside of the West Midlands and include AIS members and Minerva members. We have over the past few years increased our supply into Scotland and Wales. We make all our own birch hardwood frames, have our own team of dedicated sewers, upholsterers, cutters and driver.
“Everything is UK made in The Black Country. As we manufacture everything from the frame up, we can custom size our models, which is something the bigger manufacturers may not be able to offer. We’re not about the designer exhibition stands, press releases, swagger and buzz words. The people of the Black Country tend to say things as they are, hence our fundamental business ethic is that of being completely honest and transparent with our customers.
“Honesty always pays as they say, and consequently we have several loyal customers who have kept with us throughout the past 20 years and have built great relationships with them in addition to others who have come on board since.”
Alison added that the company rarely ‘follows trends’ but rather creates their own when implementing new designs. “When we are designing a new model, everyone on the factory floor has an input into the design. All our models are named after special places close to our hearts, for example, our Riviera model is homage to the beautiful English Riviera, where we have enjoyed family holidays over the years.
“Two of our models are named after our children. We still offer some of the more traditional models, which continue to be popular but are finding that customers now want less fuss and more simplistic styles with clean lines. Having said that, we are known for our wonderful patchwork chairs, which are made from 125 individual patches, all top stitched. Each individual piece is unique in design and our customers love their quirkiness. We can even incorporate our customers’ colour schemes.”
Challenges over recent years have been foam shortages post Covid followed by huge energy bills, which has impacted the whole industry and country. “Around 10 years ago, we were all competing with the cheap imported sets coming in from China,” Steve said. “It’s great to see that many customers have now come back to buying British. One of the main challenges is juggling everything that needs to be done on a daily basis, anything else we have managed to get through relatively unscathed!”
Alison continued by saying that business has been busy over the past 18 months. “Like everyone we have seen a dip only very recently, but we are confident that when the sun eventually starts to shine for a few weeks, we will see an upturn. However, we haven’t been quiet since well before Covid and our turnover has increased on a yearly basis.”
Over the next few months, West Midlands Upholstery has plans to showcase at the upcoming South West Furniture Show in September and then onto The January Furniture Show 2025. “Although the big trade shows can be costly, we have learnt how important they can be for the continuity of the business and although extremely hard work, they have proved enjoyable and rewarding,” Steve said. “It’s great to meet our customers, both old and new. Of course, show vans can be a fantastic way of seeing our customers whilst keeping costs down too.”
Having reached their 20th year and taking a moment to reflect on the past two decades, Alison concluded that their ongoing success hasn’t been without its difficulties, but it has been an enjoyable ride. “We enjoy coming in each day and working alongside our great team of people. Our business is all about the relationships we have with our customers, staff, agents, and our suppliers who all support our business.
“We will be having a quiet celebration with our lovely staff, some of whom have been with us from the very beginning. Here’s to the next 20 years!”
