Integral Designs USA Inc., a Spokane-based manufacturer of high-end mountain gear thats on pace to post record sales this year, has started construction on a new manufacturing and office facility in the Spokane Valley.


Company President Brian Abrams says the 15,000-square-foot building is being erected on a two-acre parcel at 3520 N. Eden, just west of Barker Road. The project, for which Abrams says hes acting as the general contractor, is scheduled to be completed in July and is expected to cost about $650,000.


Integral Designs plans to add another 5,000 to 7,000 square feet of floor space to that building later, but hasnt set a time line for that project yet. Abrams says the company also has room at that site to build a second, similarly-sized building at some point.


Integral Designs plans to consolidate its office and manufacturing activities at the new facility. Currently, the companys offices are located in a building at 4124 N. Burns and its manufacturing operation is about a mile away in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, at 3808 N. Sullivan.


We find that to be really inconvenient, Abrams says.


As its new manufacturing facility is being built, Integral Designs, which is licensed to make goods with Gore-Tex material, expects to begin producing two new lines of products soon, Abrams says. New customers, coupled with steady work for established customers, have put the company on track to have record-setting sales this year, he says.


He declines to disclose annual sales, but previously had said the companys sales exceeded several million dollars a year.


The increased business will allow the company to add up to 12 employees in the next two months, which would boost its total employment to just over 40 people, Abrams says.


He says the company recently signed a contract to become the exclusive manufacturer of snowmobile outerwear for Jackson, Wyo.-based Teton Outfitters Inc. It is scheduled to begin making garments for that company in June.


We have a tremendous ground-floor opportunity to become a supplier to that company, Abrams says. The bottom line is that its a big damn deal for us.


Integral Designs also is close to signing a deal to make sleeping bags for a high-end, mail-order retailer. He declines to name the retailer until after the deal is signed, but says the bags would be similar to a product Integral Designs made for L.L. Bean Co. a few years ago.