Coley Collett Hull has combined lessons passed down by the women in her family with her own modern sensibilities to create a flourishing local furniture business, Coley Home.
Her grandparents, Dottie and Bill Coley, founded Lee Industries, the upscale furniture manufacturer in Newton, N.C., more than 50 years ago. Hull studied textiles at N.C. State and spent four years in textile design in New York City, before moving back to Charlotte with her husband and opening Coley Home in 2019.
Her initial concept of making beds expanded to include upholstered chairs, sofas, sectionals and more, emphasizing direct sales to the consumer, as well as to designers.
Hull, who is expecting her third child, sat down with Queen City publisher Liz Brown and editor Carroll Walton to talk about her family legacy, balancing work and motherhood, and the powerful influence of women in her life.
Tell us about your family legacy in the furniture business.
My grandparents started Lee Industries, another furniture manufacturer in the Hickory, Conover area. They sell to Crate & Barrel, Circa (and other) stores. My mom (Ginny Collett) worked there her whole life. She grew up in Hickory, and then moved to Charlotte and had all of us. She was a sales rep for a while and then took over all the design and fabric sourcing. My grandmother did all the fabrics before her. So I was around it a lot. We were always going to High Point Market. I went to school for textile design. I always knew I wanted to do something with it.
How did the concept of Coley Home come about?
When I moved back here, we had this idea of just doing this bed-in-the-box product, which was our first launch. The headboard is foam and rolls up and expands, like the Casper mattress. The bed frame also fits in a box.
What challenges did you encounter as a new business?
At first, we were set on manufacturing in Charlotte, and that was a terrible idea. We didn’t have the skilled labor to sew the slipcovers. I can do the marketing and the design, but I don't know how to sew. It's hard to manage something you don't know how to do.
Who did you turn to?
Trent Wright, who was the head of manufacturing at Lee. He had over 700 employees. He left four or five years ago for another manufacturing company. He said, “Coley, let me make your headboards, cut and sew your upholstery, and then we'll send it back to Charlotte and package it.” So we did that for a while. During COVID, U.S. manufacturing was quite challenging because they were shutting down (and businesses) were importing. Then, the building next door came up for sale. At that time, we had 30 employees. We just moved all the employees over to the other building and started our own manufacturing.
How was manufacturing yourself important?
It is the key to the whole thing. Everyone's been through so much with COVID and the supply chain. If you don't have the right leader getting the right team together, it can be really challenging. Being able to control the whole thing from start to finish is so key. For a customer, if we have damage, we can fix it quickly. Our lead times go up. We wouldn't be where we are if we didn't run our manufacturing.
What advantages come from serving customers directly online?
They can send in their own fabrics. Twenty or 30 percent of our business is customer's own material. They can go to Schumacher and source a fabric, send it to us and put it on our frame.
What’s been the evolution of your product?
At first, we pictured it as a slightly lower-end, more youthful furniture solution for someone moving to New York for the first time, wanting an easy bed. That's not what it is now. We still have foam headboards, and we sell a lot of them. But now we have hardwood beds, too.
How did you decide to expand?
My mom always says it's never a straight line. Our customers started to want sofas and sectionals. My mom and I wanted that too. We were designing for ourselves, and we have higher taste, so it morphed in that direction. But once we had the capabilities and the (product development) team in place, we followed that direction.
What are your mom's strengths in business and have you borrowed some of her ideas?
We're really similar. We look alike. Everyone says, “You're twins.” She's good at making decisions. She makes them and moves on, which is important. And she's always open to trying new things. She took Lee to the next level, design-wise. My grandmother had a beautiful, traditional taste. My mom is still traditional but added a little bit of youthfulness.
How do you balance your work and home life, as a soon-to-be mom of three under the age of 5?
My house is chaotic because my kids are so young. There's no working from home. There's so much to do; I just want to clean or organize. I'm a big [proponent of] when I'm home, I'm home, and when I work, I'm at work. I feel like it's really important to have boundaries. When we started Coley Home, I didn't have kids. My husband and I would work all the time. Now the weekends are for my family.
Is continuing your family legacy important to you?
Definitely. My grandmother and my mom were such a big part of Lee. Now my mom and I get to do this together, so it's really fun.
Given your father’s success as a commercial developer (John Collett), did you and your sister want to follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps? [Addy Collett owns The Health Club in Charlotte.]
My dad loves business. He had restaurants growing up, Harper's, Upstream, Mimosa, Mama Fu's and Moe’s, as an investor. He gets so inspired by what people are doing. And with my mom and my grandparents, Lee has an incredible culture. I feel like Coley Home does, too, now. Everyone's like a family.
Learn more at ColeyHome.com.