For the first time, Sampath Sofa Manufacturing Company, Dibbadda, Panandura will be exporting their products to Singapore and India from December.
Extending its footprint in Sri Lanka, Sampath Sofa will open their first show room in Panadura on October 27 and thereafter open two more show rooms in Wattala and Ambalantota at the end of the year.
Chairman/Managing Director, Sampath Sofa, Sampath Fonseka said he began stitching cushion covers and supplying them to Arpico Super a decade ago. “Later I developed this business to become the number Sofa Manufacturer and Supplier to all leading furniture department stores in Sri Lanka.”
“Today over 90% of the sofas that you find in all leading department stores are designed and manufactured by us and branded to them. But in recent times we observe that my designs are 100% shamelessly and unethically copied and hence I decided to open my own show rooms all over Sri Lanka starting from Panadura on October 27.”
Fonseka said that most of the latex foam is imported and in some instances the quality is questionable. “Due to this, sofas tend to shrink. To overcome this I will invest over Rs. 40 million to construct a modern cushion latex foam factory.”
“However, for the last one and half years I have been requesting land from the Panadura Industrial Park from relevant authorities with no success.”
He said that manufacturing latex foam locally would also result in saving huge forex to the country and the price of sofas in the local market too would come down making the product affordable even to a low income family. The company won many awards and was presented the Gold award in the Wood and Wood-based Products category at the Industrial Development Board of Ceylon (IDB) organized annual awards ceremony for the SME sector recently.
“For the first time in Sri Lanka I will also introduce the ‘sofa trading concept’ after the showroom opening.” He also said that they will also have a mobile sofa repairing unit to attend to minor repairs since households find it hard to transport sofas.
Meanwhile the new Marketing Manager Chanaka Silva said that for the first time Sampath Sofa has moved to the manufacture of Melamine furniture. “Since melamine furniture lasts for a longer time there is an emerging demand for this and we have launched a new range for homes and offices and have a very positive response.”
With over 150 employees Sampath Sofa is also now moving into the apartment market supplier segment as well as they can make sofas to particular sizes and designs provided by architects.
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