ALTAMURA, Italy — Italian leather upholstery manufacturer DiGió Leather Sofas has expanded its factory in Altamura, Italy, to create additional capacity for meeting growing demand.

The plant, located in southern Italy’s Murgiano furniture district, has almost doubled its footprint from 250,000 to 462,000 square feet, bringing capacity from around 140 containers a month to 235. With additional production lines, capacity can be further increased to 500 containers per month as demand dictates. The expanded factory features new state-of-the-art equipment, including laser leather cutting machines.

The expansion addresses increased demand over the past six months, according to DiGió President of Sales Steve Lush.

“There are several factors driving this, the most important being our expanding product line, including the recently launched collaboration with Kathy Ireland Worldwide,” he said. “The brand resonates with retailers and consumers, and the product has started to hit dealers’ floors and is retailing extremely well.”

Beyond product, Lush cited logistic and supply chain issues that have increased demand for Italian-sourced goods.

“We are currently running a five-week production cycle, so total time from order to receipt at the dealer’s warehouse is around nine weeks,” Lush said. “This helps our customers flow their inventory better.

“In addition, ocean freight rates from Italy have remained remarkably stable, with only a slight increase,” he added. “Ocean freight from Italy is running less than half of current Asia rates. And obviously, there is no tariff on goods from Italy to the U.S., nor is there a threat of a tariff in the foreseeable future. ‘Made in Italy’ used to carry a significant premium, but the effect of the tariffs and ocean freight rates have helped this difference to virtually disappear.”

Lush also noted that a stable trading relationship between the United States and Europe provides more stability for supply chain managers.

“I’ve had many of our dealers tell me they continue to diversify their manufacturing base, and that Italy is a very attractive alternative,” he said.

In addition, a “made in Italy” story appears to resonate at retail, where most of DiGió’s dealers have in-store signage or tags identifying the Italian product.

“I do believe that there is a certain cache associated with Italian design and quality of workmanship, and this helps to sell the product at retail,” Lush said. “And the sense of pride the Italians take in their product is evident in the finished goods. Consumers can see the quality of the leathers, the crisp tailoring and the attention to detail.”

DiGió was founded in 1990 by Giovanni Sforza, the company’s general manager and stylist, and is owned and operated by the Sforza family. DiGió focuses on container-direct service for goods at middle- to upper-middle price points. Those include top-grain leather stationary sofas retailing from $1,199 to $1,799, and premium top-grain leather sleeper sofas from $1,799 to $2,299 retail range.

While leather is the primary focus, fabric is a growing part of the assortment.