The recession of the early 90's was a tough time for the business, but by that stage we were actually selling more of our output in France than at home, and so were to some degree protected from the UK's decline in furniture retailing. As the recession eased, interest from other British chains in the futon mattress escalated.

Our first colour advertisement for mail order was published in 1993 and was a great success. This marked the beginning of our direct selling activity, which has continued ever since.

Although we were busy opening shops, and building a loyal customer base in most corners of the UK, by the end of the '90s we had also become the largest manufacturer of futons in Europe. And we had opened more than 30 stores. It was during this period that most of our current managers joined us. They've nearly all been here for 15 years or more. This was to count for a great deal in the subsequent decade.

New product development became our main focus. One of the Company's founders had a spell in a tiny apartment in Japan, and this led to the expansion of our small space living range. This has proved to be very popular, and we remain industry leading experts in small space living.

In 2001 we excitedly launched our first web site. It was expensive and results were not great. But at least we now had an internet presence.

With internet shopping getting under way all around us, web site development now became a priority. We re-launched the site with full user-friendly e-commerce. It did not perform very well initially and we had to ask ourselves whether it was worth the effort and expense. But customer feedback was very positive, and with patience and some careful refinement we experienced a very satisfying increase in web sales. Gradually the website took over the sales that we had previously made through our mail order advertising.

The shock of the financial crisis pulled the whole industry up short, and we were one of the just a few high street furniture chains to survive unscathed. We regretfully closed some non-performing stores and re-doubled our efforts to come up with useful but unusual product. Our long-serving management team steered us through those uncertain times, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.

Keeping up with digital technology has become a priority, and a series of further serious web site upgrades has created even more interest in our ranges. A trip to India led us to add some very beautiful ethnic designs to our product mix, bringing additional charm to an otherwise deliberately functional range.

We didn't know it at the time, but the Tottenham riots of 2011 were to trigger a major change of housing strategy in the area, resulting in the conversion of many industrial units, including our own, to residential use. So once again we had to re-locate, and this time we chose a brand new warehouse, office and workshop in leafy Highams Park. The increased space this provided allowed us to grow comfortably for two more years.

This year we took on yet more space at our new location. Since 1980 we've made well over two million futons. Some of our highly experienced futon makers and designers have been with us for over 30 years. Our web site is now our biggest store. Futon Company continues to adapt and thrive.

Just before the pandemic hit in April 2020 we launched our new ERP system to run the key areas of the company. It appeared to be a business saviour as the new system was instrumental in overcoming the challenges of the pandemic and subsequent shift to internet-only retailing during the lockdowns.

Both pandemic and post pandemic years appeared to be a big success for our company as customer demand for our products significantly increased.

Our first mobile App was launched in February 2022 and a further improved new website made its debut in September 2022.

We continue to work on expanding our product range, improving design and quality, streamlining business operations and enhancing our business technology solutions. Our bespoke ERP system now runs all operations of the business.