Furniture & Fit-out
Hospitality, office and retail furniture — bespoke or catalogue — is a strong China sourcing category. Direct factory pricing plus our quality control lets you fit out a space for far less than buying through UK resellers.
Furniture is one of the categories where the UK reseller margin is hardest to justify once you have seen the factory price. A restaurant fit-out, an office refresh or a retail rollout involves enough units that the difference compounds quickly — and because much of the furniture sold in the UK is manufactured in Asia in the first place, going direct often means buying from the same production line without the layers in between.
Bespoke work is very much possible here, and it is where the category gets interesting. Chinese furniture factories will build to your drawings or from a reference piece, produce a sample for approval, and then run the batch. The two things that determine whether that goes well are how precisely the specification is written and whether anyone physically checks the sample before production. Both are our job, not yours.
What we source
- Hospitality and restaurant furniture
- Office furniture and seating
- Retail shopfitting and displays
- Bespoke joinery
- Tables, counters and cabinetry
- Outdoor furniture
What to consider
- UK upholstery has fire-safety rules — we confirm the relevant requirements before ordering.
- Furniture is bulky, so we plan freight (usually full or shared containers) to keep the landed price low.
- Flat-pack and knock-down construction dramatically improves how much fits in a container, and is worth designing for where the piece allows it.
- For bespoke work, an approved physical sample is the reference the whole batch is judged against — it is the single most valuable step in the process.
Common questions
Can you handle bespoke furniture?
Yes. We work from your drawings or a reference, produce a sample for approval, and manage production and shipping to your door.
Does the volume of furniture make freight uneconomic?
It is the main cost variable, which is why we plan it from the start rather than at the end. A container filled efficiently, and flat-pack construction where the design permits, is usually what decides whether the numbers work.
What about fire-safety regulations on upholstered items?
UK requirements for upholstery are specific and we confirm them before ordering, as part of the specification. This is not something to resolve after goods have shipped.
Related guides
- Sourcing furniture from China: fire safety, freight and finishFurniture is bulky, fragile and heavily regulated for fire safety in the UK. How to specify it, ship it economically and avoid the expensive failures.
- Sea vs air freight: cost and timeSea is cheaper per kilogram and measured in weeks; air is measured in days and costs several times more. The decision is what the extra weeks cost you, not which is faster.
- How to write a product spec that gets accurate quotesA specification is what makes a delivery capable of failing. Dimensions with tolerances, materials by grade, colour to a physical reference, packing, and the defect standard with an agreed inspection rule.
- Understanding your landed priceLanded price is what one sellable unit costs by the time it is in your warehouse: goods, freight, duty, clearance and delivery, plus tooling spread across the run, divided by the units you can actually sell.