Harlee, as a company, is active in its business community as a knowledgeable source of information on both the import and export disciplines. "We were honored to have been invited several times by the State of California to attend government conferences on international trade. The most recent one was specifically on Pacific Rim trade," he said. People come to these conferences from both sides of the border to discuss and work out the many facets of the import and export business. "Our experience in international trade allows us to be very competitive and also to give our futon furniture buyers, who are now all over the globe, the confidence they need to do business with us," Leichter said.

Harlee has customers on the export side in Taiwan, Korea, Australia, Scandinavia and Western Europe, Africa, Turkey, and a large group in Canada. "We are very lucky to be able to take advantage of the position we are in and the contacts we have made over the past forty years (with my dad's history) and specifically in the past fifteen years with Harlee International."

This experience is also the source of some concern, on Leichter's part, for the futon industry-at-large. "We also see some real mistakes being made along the way," Leichter said. "Harlee makes all its futon frames, manufactured in Indonesia, from selected hardwoods, primarily a wood called 'ramin'," said Woll. "Ramin is a wood that has been used in furniture for many years, and its beauty and durability is well known. We have seen some futon frames recently that are made from soft woods, and we know from experience that some softer woods will not hold up in a convertible frame. Some look like hardwoods on the surface and could be used as a table top but when you put it through the stress factor, in a convertible futon frame, they simply fall apart. This isn't good for any of our futures," he said. Woll said any retailer could discover if they are getting futon frames made of a wood that is too soft, by simply weighing them. "Our typical full size futon frame in ramin wood weighs about sixty-five to seventy-five pounds in the box. Most imported hardwoods should come in at these weights. Soft wood futon frames weigh in at as little as forty pounds," he said.

Harlee is also expanding their presence nationwide. "Our Dallas operation has been going strong for several years and we intend to explore other distribution centers for our futon furniture this year as well," Leichter said. The company is also linked to their bank for Visa® and MasterCard® purchases, "which is unusual for a wholesaler," he said.

Harlee Futures

Steve Leichter made it very clear to me that Harlee is into futon furniture for the long haul. "One reason we've been so successful of late is because we've been around so long. We've made a lot of friends along the way and they believe in us," Leichter said. He is very proud, in the best sense of the word, of what his father began, and he intends to push on, by expanding on that plan into the future. "Listen," said Leichter, "we are a well financed, dedicated, futon design innovator who has the experience and integrity to deliver on our promises. We're not perfect. But we stand behind futon frames that we sell, and we care enough, integrity-wise, not to put inferior goods on the market, and it shows in our 1% to 2% return rate."

Leichter added that I wouldn't find anything patentable in his company's futon conversion mechanisms. "We aren't trying to create excitement by demonstrating our ability to design the perfect mechanism. Consumers don't see all those little springs and thing-a-ma-jigs in the back. What they see is the futon arm style. My father always said, 'Nobody makes their decision to buy a piece of furniture with their brain. They make it with their heart and with their back side.' If they like the way it looks, and it feels good when they sit on it, then they'll probably buy it. And that's the same direction we are taking now."

With fifteen years under their belt, and an industry rapidly growing around them, Harlee International is a company to watch.