How did we become “The wholesale outdoor furniture specialists“?
Our adventure as the wholesale outdoor furniture specialists began when two long-time friends travelled Far East, to Thailand, in search of opportunities to import products of skilled local manufacturers. They came across a small furniture manufacturer, Water Hyacinth, in the North of Thailand, and that is where their story begins! From market opportunities and beautiful products, to experienced people and famous clients, here is the amazing SIMEXA story.
From Spices to Synthetic Rattan
The SIMEXA story started in 1999 when two experienced purchase managers rushed East, chasing their dream to become international entrepreneurs. Looking for import opportunities in the Far East, they launched SIMEXA as a sourcing company in Thailand.
As generalists, their initial focus was on all types of high quality products, from rubber and spices, to toys, but it was then that they discovered “Water Hyacinth”, a local manufacturer of outdoor furniture. After building a strong partnership, SIMEXA’s team opened a factory, hired 70 employees and commenced export to Europe, USA, and the Middle East.
Considering how everything was running smoothly at the factory, SIMEXA even launched its very own furniture series called Intress that proved to be a major success. It was time to expand and work on a new partnership with an Indonesian factory, PT SKYLINE JAYA. Skyline is an early player in synthetic Rattan, an innovative material that was soon to be recognized as a worldwide success in the outdoor furniture industry. Introduced by the French-German brand DEDON, synthetic rattan was a revolutionary material for an industry that traditionally turned to natural resources and expensive materials to build their products. It looks exactly like Rattan, but is way more durable and resistant, a real innovation in terms of affordability and maintenance.” Synthetic Rattan joined the authentic weaver’s craftsmanship with modern technology. With Synthetic rattan, materials became easier to come by and in turn cheaper to acquire. Colors, shapes and styles became easier to cater to. Durability and weather resistance are a major reason for the switch to synthetic, maintenance became much easier, if not unnecessary.
Through its partnership with PT SKYLINE JAYA, SIMEXA was at the forefront of this industrial revolution.
From Thailand to the Middle East
PT SKYLINE JAYA was looking for new market opportunities for their aluminum and synthetic rattan collections and with connections in the Middle East and North Africa, it was obvious that SIMEXA would become the perfect distributor for the Middle East, alongside the Thai market and other territories.
And it actually did! After four years, SIMEXA was named one of the Top 5 exclusive outdoor furniture suppliers in the MENA region and introduced new collections to its catalogue. Internationally recognized brands like MAIORI or TOLIX chose SIMEXA as their sole distributor for the Levant, and MENA region. After we put on a great show at the Dubai 2002 INDEX, orders started pouring in and we developed new partnerships with retailers and showrooms and expanded our catalogue with even more new and exciting brands.
From just two friends with a dream to Worldwide recognition
Our story started like an exotic business adventure with great successes and a few minor setbacks, but today, we feel as if we have just written the first few lines of this great story. We received international recognition in 2014 with an award for Best Outdoor Products and we now have over 1500 projects and clients from all over the World, including some of the most beautiful villas in Dubai to the largest and most exotic resorts in Tahiti.
But our greatest achievement to date is definitely the lasting relationships we’ve developed with our customers over the years. They love our quality of service, our devotion to their satisfaction, our reliable promises and our exceptional customer support.
That’s why they call us “The Specialists”.
