Furniture making comeback at Klaussner

ASHEBORO — Furniture production has returned to Klaussner, which once was hailed as the largest private employer in the state.

Olive Branch Productions is now building upholstered furniture at the former Klaussner property on Lewallen Road in Asheboro. 

With just four workers, it’s a far cry from the days of 3,000 employees and hundreds of pieces coming off the line every day.

But you have to start somewhere. Think Stuart Love.

Sol Kagan and Eric Acosta have teamed up to use their unique talents and experiences to bring new life to a portion of the building once known as Klaussner Plant 20 on the south side of the 78-acre site. They’re leasing 50,000 square feet with plans to restore the air-conditioning and update the facility in several ways to pass factory audits.

The business was formed as a limited liability corporation on May 17, 2025.

Kagan and Acosta met July 16 with Asheboro City Manager Donald Duncan, Crystal Gettys of the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation and Neal Hughes, who manages the former Klaussner property.

“Every journey begins somewhere,” said Kagan, whose background is in architectural design and management. After leaving NC State University, then UCLA, he worked with architects, designers and builders in Boston and California. He returned to North Carolina to run his family’s legacy furniture business in High Point, Kagan’s Furniture.

At the end of the tough road of liquidating the family business, Kagan was invited to an exhibit at the International Furniture Market in High Point. He met Acosta several weeks prior and the two decided to collaborate on a set of unique custom chairs and the chemistry was evident from the start.

With the closing of the family store, Kagan told Acosta “I’m ready for the next challenge!” So, the two teamed up to start a “manufacturing business around our capabilities and know-how in America.”

They knew about the closing of Klaussner last August and the purchase of the property by John Schwarz with plans to lease space to businesses.

 “We actually sold Klaussner products in our store for many years,” Kagan said. “We see a good opportunity here, with the wealth of talented labor in Asheboro, and the real appetite for growing domestic production.”

Kagan and Acosta moved into the Klaussner building back in November and have been working to get all the details completed. 

Workers are now producing furniture on a small scale as the two are building out their back end technology, upgrading their tooling and honing their production processes.

Olive Branch Productions has plenty of room to grow. Hopes are to expand the workforce to 18 to 20 people in their current space and go from there.

Kagan called it “lean manufacturing. People want to develop local industry, making and producing in America. We’re still small and humble but we will have the ‘Made in America’ label on our products.’”

While Kagan specializes in design and operations, Acosta has experience in production. 

“I grew up in a factory in New Jersey,” he said. “At 6 years old, I was sewing T-shirts.”

His father heard of “a place in North Carolina called Asheboro” and they moved here, actually starting out as a sewer at Klaussner. Acosta considers himself an Asheboro native, playing football for the Asheboro Blue Comets, even being named “King Comet.”

Then in 2012, Acosta, developing his skill as a sewer and manager, set out on his own and began outsourcing for Klaussner with a workforce of 28 by 2013. He moved into the commercial side of the industry, supplying hotels, luxury lounge seating for airlines and hospitality projects around the country.

When he and Kagan teamed up, the thinking was, “We can take it this to the next level,” with Kagan managing operations and leading design and Acosta in charge of production and product development.

“Klaussner had a great system and I learned from that,” Acosta said. “I’m excited about the whole transition and we’re willing to work hard to get where we want to be.”

Kagan offered a note of caution, saying, “We don’t want to grow too fast, but we welcome growth and are preparing for it.”

Acosta agreed: “It’s gonna be slow but steady,” adding that future growth could mean eventually expanding into much more available space in the building.

Duncan said, “From the city aspect, we’re glad to have you, glad to get back to small businesses, to see them grow.”

Hughes said several small businesses have located in the Klaussner property with about half the available space leased. “It’s great to have good people like Sol and Eric.”

The plan for Olive Branch is to out-source framing to start while currently performing nearly every type of upholstery operation in the plant. Acosta said during a tour that some furniture pieces in a corner were to be reupholstered for airports “because we know we’re going to do chairs for them.” He said they’re providing custom furnishings for universities, healthcare, airports and hotels, while also building furniture for other manufacturers. 

“I built furniture for lounges in places like LaGuardia Airport with my label, and so many others as well,” Acosta said.

Kagan came up with the Olive Branch name. “I had done a graphic design incorporating olive branches and I thought it felt inviting and welcoming and also it had a nice ring to it.”

He then explained the three lines of their business. First, project-based, including contract work and outsourcing. Second, primary manufacturing for trade partners selling direct to consumer and private labels. Finally, their own brands, still in early development stages. 

In some ways, Kagan and Acosta are starting out like Stuart Love, founder of what became Klaussner Furniture Industries. Love began small but had a vision.

Time will tell how far vision will carry Olive Branch.