From Antwerp to Australia: with its unique look, Vincent Sheppard's woven furniture can be found in hotels and homes around the world. With the support of KBC Bank USA, the company has now also bought a warehouse in the United States to grow further and speed up deliveries.

Since 1992, this Flemish company has specialised in the traditional Lloyd Loom technique, in which paper is woven around a metal thread. This process produces extremely durable and comfortable furniture, which is also easy to dye in a variety of colours. Employing 400 people, Vincent Sheppard is today the market leader in this highly environmentally friendly furniture-making technique.

Vincent Sheppard mainly targets the high-end market. With its 'affordable luxury' image, it supplies furniture to luxury hotels such as Botanic Sanctuary in Antwerp and Duke's Palace in Bruges. But the company also carries out projects in luxury hotels in far-flung travel destinations such as Tanzania, Mauritius and Australia. For wholesale customers such as hotels, Vincent Sheppard supplies directly from the factory, but private customers can also access the brand through a network of retailers.
. Sustainability is at the heart of Vincent Sheppard's operations. This is reflected in the new, virtually energy-neutral showroom and the maximum focus on recycling materials and fabrics, as well as producing sustainable materials for furniture that will last a lifetime.

Vincent Sheppard exports to 80 countries worldwide, but its international expansion is not yet complete. ‘Over the past five years, we have grown by an average of 12 per cent a year, thanks to new collections and expansion into new markets. In the United States, where we only generate just under 5 per cent of our sales, we will now be working directly with retailers, interior designers and the hospitality sector. There is still great potential there for our business.’
To meet demand better, Vincent Sheppard now plans to build a specialised in-house local sales team. ‘Americans love woven furniture and tend to favour a more classic style. What we consider to be traditional here tends to be seen as contemporary there. Also, a lot more consumers in America are having their homes fully decorated by an interior designer’, says Destrooper.

Another difference compared with Europe is that: e-commerce is much more developed in the US. ‘That's why we want to make sure we always have enough stock of collections that will be available online. If you can't deliver immediately, you quickly disappear from the contenders for the big customers.’ To avoid that, Vincent Sheppard has bought a new warehouse in High Point, North Carolina. ‘High Point is a logistics hotspot for furniture and textiles and we eventually also want to make our cushions there. So the location is a conscious choice, both from the perspective of logistics and the sustainability of our business model’, Destrooper explains.

The purchase of the warehouse is not only an important step in this Flemish SME's long-term strategy, but also represents a considerable investment. ‘Then it’s important to have a bank on your side that you know and with which you nurture a mutual trust.’
So Vincent Sheppard partnered with KBC Bank USA in New York.
‘KBC is the benchmark in commercial banking in Belgium’,' says Jo Vander Stuyft, General Manager at KBC Bank USA. ‘Belgium has an open economy with a focus on exports, which means lots of our companies have an international orientation. So if you are the benchmark in Belgium, as a commercial bank you also have to have a presence abroad.’

Belgian companies with plans in the US often turn to KBC's US division. ‘Our added value lies first of all in our extensive local team, with two Belgians and about 40 Americans. We know the US financial system inside out, and can offer everything a local bank can, from opening accounts to lending. Very specifically for the US, that includes local payment formats, or even cheques, which are still very common here, even for large amounts. Our local presence also makes it easier for us to finance local assets.
Combining those local financial capabilities with the relationship of trust we have with Belgian entrepreneurs as a Belgian bank is what makes our offering so successful. ‘ In short, if Vincent Sheppard wants to buy a warehouse here, we are the ideal local partner.

‘These are definitely advantages that are important to you as a Belgian business’, confirms Destrooper. ‘I can easily compare with countries like Australia or Indonesia, where we also operate. Making a transfer just about works there, but when it comes to credit, things often get much trickier. KBC knows us and trusts us, which makes everything go much more smoothly. In addition, we can manage all our banking data in one app, which greatly simplifies the job of our finance director.’

Besides banking services, KBC Bank USA offers another trump card that local banks do not have. ‘We know how Belgian companies think and where the differences are compared with the American way of doing business. If a problem arises somewhere, I explain to my US colleagues why, say, an SME from West Flanders handles things differently from the way they do. Our support for a Belgian company like Vincent Sheppard also goes way beyond things like solving a payment problem. We have an extensive local network that we are pleased to put at the disposal of our Belgian customers. For example, we can recommend local accountants or legal advisers to a company that we know already has Belgian clients. On top of that, we often know the reputation of a company's business partners. That gives our customers an important edge’, says Vander Stuyft.
KBC Bank USA sees it as its mission to help Belgian companies access the important US export market. 'Look, our country is bursting with high-quality products, from furniture and food to industrial technologies. It's great to be able to help them as they seek to conquer the US market’, concludes Vander Stuyft.