Peking stays loyal to China

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Peking Handicraft

San Francisco

Ceo, owner: Dicky Lo

Senior vp, sales & mktg.: Carl White

Principal businesses: handcrafted bedding, sheets, top of bed

Although many companies may manufacture goods throughout a variety of countries, Peking Handicraft believes it needs only one country right now to fulfill its needs.

For 23 years, Peking, a manufacturer of home textiles, has dealt exclusively with China, and it sees no need to change that strategy.

"As we grow, we'll look at other countries, but at this point there's a lot of opportunities there," said Carl White, senior vp, sales and marketing. "Our strengths are there, it's what we know, and that's what we do."

White said the type of product that Peking is known for, which is hand-pieced goods, is relatively inexpensive in China. As such, it is easier to add more value to the products, whether it be hand-piecing or hand-appliqueing.

That relatively cheap price, White said, was a key point, since the items that consumers and retailers demand at the price points they want were impossible to manufacture in the United States.

Making Peking's process easier is the company's ownership of a factory in Shanghai as well as partial ownership in several others. On top of that, the company also maintains and staffs a Shanghai office and handles its own exporting.