Peroda prepares to go into battle with leather sofa range – ‘We’ve got the ammunition,’ says Langford

15th January | supply | Well-known furniture agent David Langford has vowed to bounce back after what he described as his ‘toughest year in the furniture trade.’ Langford’s firm, Peroda Furniture, was stung when its Chinese supplier Eurosofa failed to pay ‘several hundred thousand pounds’ in commission, which Langford admits almost put the Oxfordshire firm out of business.

This was despite Peroda achieving orders totaling £5m at Interiors Birmingham in January last year when it launched the Eurosofa range. Since it ceased its association with the Chinese supplier, Peroda has found a new manufacturer for its designs that launched so successfully in Birmingham last year.

It will reintroduce the collection at Interiors Birmingham next week through a partnership with CDI, a southern Italian manufacturer, with Langford confident it ‘has the ammunition to fight the battle in 2009.’

‘Last year was a nightmare,’ said Langford, ‘and trying to take the Chinese firm through the legal system over there was near impossible.’

‘We have had to reorganise our whole operation in terms of both product and manufacturers but we are now positioned to deal with the challenges of 2009 and offer products and price points to deal with the needs of the market.’

Besides its leather collections, Peroda will also take a number of cabinet ranges to the NEC, along with a UK manufactured upholstery line ‘to give buyers the choice between imported or home produced product,’ he says.