Factory Direct Sofas: One Sofa, Two Journeys

The usual way: seven stops to your living room

Across the furniture industry, the standard route from maker to home looks something like this.

1. Product sourcing. Frames, foam, fabric and leather are bought in, often from different suppliers.
2. Research and development. A design is drawn up and tested, sometimes by a separate studio.
3. Manufacturing. A factory builds the sofa, usually for a brand it doesn't own.
4. Agents. A sales agent finds buyers for that factory and takes a commission.
5. Distributors. A distributor buys in bulk, stores the stock and sells it on.
6. Retailers. A shop or website buys from the distributor and sets the shelf price.
7. You. The sofa finally arrives, carrying every cost added on the way.

None of these businesses is doing anything wrong. Each one has staff, warehouses, showrooms and trucks to pay for. That is simply how the industry is built.

Where the mark-ups come from

Every business in the chain needs to make a profit. So every time a sofa changes hands, its price goes up.

The agent adds a commission. The distributor adds a margin to cover storage and transport. The retailer adds the biggest margin of all, to pay for showrooms, staff and advertising. That's three mark-ups before you even sit down.

This is also why so many furniture brands run constant sales. When the starting price carries that much margin, there is room to knock a large percentage off and still make money. The "50% off" sticker often tells you more about the original price than the deal.

The sofa itself doesn't get any better at each stop. The frame, the foam and the leather stay exactly the same. Only the price changes.

The SUPERBA way: our factory, straight to you

We took the middle out. SUPERBA sofas are designed by us and handcrafted in our own workshops. From there, they come straight to your door.

That's two stops instead of seven, and no mark-ups in between. No agents. No distributors. No retail margin on top.

Because we own the whole journey, we can be open about it. We call it radical transparency. You know who made your sofa, where it was made and what you are paying for.

It also means we don't need gimmicks. We never run sales, because our prices aren't inflated to begin with. You get our best price every day of the year.

What factory direct means for you

The money that would go to the middlemen goes into the sofa instead. Here is where you'll notice it.

• Better materials. Our leather sofas use Italian leather that softens and gains character with age. Frames are solid wood and FSC certified.
• Luxury without the luxury mark-up. Luxury leather sofas and premium leather sofas usually carry the heaviest retail margins. We price ours on what they cost to make well.
• Made for your room. Every piece is made to order, from small sofas for flats to a modular sofa that grows with you. Allow 6 to 8 weeks.
• Built to last. Every frame comes with a lifetime guarantee.
• Easy to try. Order free swatches first. Delivery is free and white glove, with assembly and packaging taken away. If it isn't right, you have 30 days to return it and we collect it for free.

Questions people ask