History
In 1998 a business opportunity presented itself from a personal friend who worked for a major furniture manufacturer in the Tupelo, Miss. area. Knowing we had started an embroidery company-which to him only meant sewing logos onto garments-he expressed that his company was in need of an additional supplier for sewing swatches for their sales personnel and retail store outlets such as JC Penney, Sears, and regional furniture stores. He asked if we would be interested in a trial order for sewing their swatch samples. We followed up and were awarded that order.
I contacted a previous embroidery client who had been the plant manager and production supervisor for a clothing manufacturing company. That company had closed only months earlier, so we hired her to help us provide the first swatch rush order. Through her connections in the manufacturing industry, she was able to borrow a sewing machine and produce the first trial order. From that one order and a borrowed machine Tupelo Samples came into existence.
Over the course of the next six months, we added sewing machines and more employees to produce the ever increasing swatches that were ordered. During the next two years, sales to our first client increased, requiring us to add even more employees. Tupelo Samples gained a reputation by working with one of the leading recliner manufacturers in the United States, and sales and orders increased. We added yet more employees, more sewing machines, grommet machines, cutting tables and die-cut machines.
To further its proficiency for detail and inventory control, Tupelo Samples began to inventory swatch samples for our customers in order to provide immediate shipment of the most commonly used swatches. We expanded our facility adding more work space, allowing us to inventory minimum levels of approximately 3,000 different varieties of swatches for some of the leading national furniture brands, and several smaller furniture operations in Northeast Mississippi.
Tupelo Samples has exceeded its initial goal of simply providing the sewing functions of making these swatches. We now provide printing of all headers as well as maintaining inventory levels for the headers, die cutting functions, and computerized inventory control. With our computerized inventory controls, Tupelo Samples now has personnel in place to receive fabric shipments directly from fabric manufacturers, saving a cost for our customers as well as saving time in completion of orders. Tupelo Samples ties our furniture manufacturers to our shipping computer system, meaning we ship directly to our customers’ end users. This not only saves money for the furniture manufacturers, it also decreases the production time, allowing the end user to receive their swatches at least five days sooner than the previous method.
Tupelo Samples’ commitment to our customers guarantees you receive the highest efficiency and quality available in the industry. We welcome your swatch problems and specialty projects. We are here to serve you.
