PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (13 July 2012) – Leather upholstery manufacturer DeCoro will make its return to the North American market at an invitation-only event to be held next month at the UBC Boat House in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, British Columbia.

This will be the first time the company has shown its product in North America in three years after resuming operations here late last year. DeCoro ceased operations in China two years ago.

The show will be held from August 13 to 18 and feature more than 25 leather groups that will be available to retailers in both Canada and the United States this fall.

“The event will be a great opportunity to introduce our 2012 furniture collection to the public,” DeCoro’s founder Luca Ricci said in a statement. “Our new state-of-the-art factory in Cambodia has given us the opportunity to innovate, while preserving the beautiful craftsmanship and details already found in our furniture.”

The company said showings will be by appointment only, and reservations must be made by July 31. Canadian customers should contact Mannie Bains at .

Bains, who represents DeCoro in Western Canada, told Home Goods Online the company currently has about 40 active retail accounts in his territory. The company has been shipping some product out of its new 1.5 million square foot state-of-the-art facility in Cambodia to retailers in Canada and the U.S. since April, he said, adding the product has been well received.

“We have seen a strong reaction to the product in the West,” he said. “We have been aggressive with our price points and retailers seem to be open to our value-oriented product.”

“We got an edge by manufacturing in Cambodia,” Bains continued, adding, “the labour costs are much lower. The work force is well educated and they want to work.”

The Model 109 sofa, seen here, is just one of 25 that DeCoro will show when it returns to North America at the UBC Boathouse in Richmond, B.C. next month.

DeCoro was founded in 1997 and was one of the first companies to mass produce upholstery in China. Ricci was credited with revolutionizing the leather upholstery business by driving down costs and making the product available at a wider array of price points.

The company eventually operated two factories with 2.8 million square feet of production space in Shenzhen, China. Sales peaked at $300 million in 2006, according to estimates published by Furniture Today.

When the recession struck two years later, DeCoro struggled after several of its major U.S. retail accounts went out of business, prompting the company to shut down in 2009 and abandon its factories.

Ricci said his company is the first international sofa manufacturer in Cambodia. For every item it produces there, DeCoro donates money to the Cambodian operations of the Amici dei Bambini Association; an Italian non-profit group that helps find adoptive families for children in orphanages. For every item it produces, DeCoro donates 75 cents to the group’s efforts in Cambodia.