Gary Broom, Sales, Marketing & Design Director at Sherborne Upholstery, talks about new launches at the January Furniture Show and how investments in people are pushing the business forward.
Upholstered furniture manufacturer Sherborne Upholstery has reaffirmed its commitment to people and products as the business looks ahead to 2025 after what has been a challenging year for the industry as a whole.
“It’s been a challenging year for the furniture trade in 2024,” Gary says. “The cost-of-living crisis has gripped the nation but we have refreshed some products and released some cost initiatives to help our retailers through these times, which has helped us to keep looking forwards with optimism.”
One such challenge that continues to be a persistent theme across the furniture trade is the skills shortage. Sherborne has been proactive on this front, investing in both machinery and personnel over the last few years.
“There is still a lack of skills that are needed in the furniture trade,” continues Gary. “We have been training in-house for a while now to ensure we have the right skill sets moving forward. “The need to multi-skill is paramount which benefits the company but ensures progress in people’s abilities and secures their futures.
“We have invested heavily in machinery in the past few years to keep us up to date with efficiencies and technology. More recently, people are our biggest investment, ensuring a younger, dynamic group are pushing through to enhance the future at Sherborne Upholstery.”
The Bradford-based company, which was crowned ‘Best Supplier for Customer Service’ in the Big Furniture Awards 2024, as voted by the industry, has been a family run business for 95 years, working independently and funding itself through good and tough times.
Well-known and respected in the furniture industry, and renowned for comfort and quality at an affordable price, Sherborne aims to be the company retailers think of first when they are looking for a partner to work with to help their business flourish.
For 2025, and launching at the January Furniture Show (JFS), Sherborne has a number of new products to display, as well as a new fabric too. Encouraging visitors to find out exactly what that means, Gary said: “For us, JFS is the biggest event of the year and sets our year off on a strong footing by being able to see so many of our customers in one space.
“We have a great new launch for January that we are really excited about and I’m sure our customers will be too. This will be a winner without doubt and a new fabric launch to bring that little bit of something extra.”
Find Sherborne Upholstery in Hall 5 on Stand D10 during JFS. “I invite all our customers and new customers we haven’t met yet to come along to Hall 5 and visit our stand,” Gary adds. “You can’t miss us and we will be more than happy to see you.”
