Would work; Manufacturers say they can't afford to make furniture in America. Bob Timberlake makes sure some of his is.

• Author: Parry, Amanda
• Position: COVER STORY

Stacks of headless bedposts and orphaned dresser drawers exude the acrid aroma of cut, cured hardwood. The screeching of planers, sanders and saws bounces off cavernous walls that echo workers calling one another from around the room. Despite the scent and sound, the place seems empty. Rows of machinery lie quiet. Most of the floor and all but one office are dark. In Plant 2's prime 20 years ago, every machine would have been humming, every square foot of factory flooded with light.

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Many of Linwood Furniture Inc.'s 135 employees were among the 500 people who worked here then. For them, this isn't a matter of whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. Little more than two years ago, the glass was drained. Lexington Home Brands closed the plant in December 2005, moving the last of its case-good manufacturing to China. More than 360 men and women were out of work. For those who have jobs now, the glass is overflowing.

North Carolina has lost more than 26,000 jobs in furniture manufacturing since 2000. In the 1980s, about half the furniture sold in the U.S. was made in this state; employment shriveled 41% from 1990 to 2006. Linwood represents a rare instance when someone who had the power to save jobs did. The company got its start when artist Bob Timberlake refused to allow one of his furniture lines to be made overseas. This stance left the licensee scrambling to find a domestic manufacturer. A group of investors--including Timberlake's son--bought Plant 2, signed a contract to make The World of Bob Timberlake line and in March 2006 opened Linwood, named for the community where the factory sits.

It was--and is--a gamble for Timber-lake. He licenses rights to produce

the collections to Lexington Home Brands. If the furniture giant had stopped production, he would have missed out on thousands, possibly millions, of dollars in royalties. But it was hardly a David-versus-Goliath scenario. Bob Timberlake, 71, has more than a slingshot in his arsenal. He has a huge following--"limited edition" prints of his rural North Carolina landscapes sell in batches of 50,000--and his name has become a brand unto itself. Bob Timberlake Inc. works with more than 25 licensees on products ranging from molding to menswear--the latter, incidentally, made in Asia. In squaring off with Lexington, he wielded the ultimate weapon: The World of Bob Timberlake is the most successful furniture line ever, with sales of more than $1 billion since its debut in 1990.

The risk was much greater for the people who formed Linwood. Spearheaded by Dan Timberlake, Bob's son, and local businessman Jimmy Kepley and backed by 23 investors, including NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, the venture flew in the face of conventional wisdom. With nearly every other company shifting production overseas, it is trying to compete against the cheap labor of Asia and Latin America. "People asked us if we were crazy," says Brian Starnes, senior vice president of operations. "They still do."

The city of Lexington, population 20,927, has hundreds of acres devoted to an industry that's barely there anymore. Once furniture was as ubiquitous as its barbecue. Off South Main Street sits a million square feet of factories, none of it used for manufacturing anymore. Side roads around town end at entrances to shuttered plants, empty parking lots sprawling like gray puddles around them. Lexington Home Brands Plant 1 covers nine city blocks, its buildings peeling paint, one sprouting weeds as thick as grass on the roof. "In its heyday, there were probably 4,000 jobs alone attributable to what became...