Posted January 19, 2016
By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)
HIGH POINT, N.C. – About a year and a half after Burlington Technologies of Gibsonville, N.C., announced the acquisition of Keystone Weaving of Lebanon, Pa., a company leader said the transition has been smooth.
“Sometimes they say ‘a marriage made in heaven,’ but you really don't know until you get into it,” Mike Durham, Burlington Technologies’ president and COO, said during the ITMA Showtime decorative fabric show here last month. “But things are working out beautifully.”
The acquisition meant integrating Burlington Technologies’ two flagship companies – Se7en, which provides woven jacquard fabrics for home furnishings markets, and Bentex, which makes fabrics for corporate, healthcare and hospitality spaces – with Keystone, a fabric maker for high-end apparel, home décor and a wide variety of other applications.
The purchase also involved moving dobby and jacquard looms and other equipment south, to the company’s 300,000-square-foot facility in North Carolina, and hiring more employees – the latter of which has been the bigger struggle, Durham said.
ITMA SHOWTIME – Part 2
BT’s acquisition of Keystone working out ‘beautifully’
Ray McKinnon and Mike Durham in one of the Keystone showrooms.
Ray McKinnon and Mike Durham in one of the Se7en showrooms.
Ray McKinnon and Mike Durham in one of the Keystone showrooms.
Paul Romer with his sons Hal (C) and Andrew in the Tempo Fabrics showroom.
Posted January 19, 2016
By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)
HIGH POINT, N.C. – At the ITMA Showtime decorative fabric show here last month, eTC visited the showroom of Tempo Fabrics, a family-owned and -operated provider of residential fabrics and pillows.
Paul Romer bought the company, now in its fourth decade, from his uncle 23 years ago. At the time, it was strictly a promotional fabric company with 14 employees, he said.
The company expanded its capabilities over the years, including adding pillows and cushions for major retailers. That business is now equal in size to the fabric business, Romer said.
Tempo Fabrics employs more than 70 people at four locations in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, and is continuing to grow, he added. The company prints most fabrics in the state and weaves some fabrics there, but woven production is mainly handled in Taiwan and China.
Romer’s sons each run a division of the company and his wife is its comptroller. Andrew Romer, who has been with the company 12 years, heads the pillow division. Hal Romer practiced law in New York for eight years before joining the company five years ago to lead the fabric unit.
“Business is good,” Paul Romer said. “There are peaks and valleys, like everybody else in this industry. But when things are firing on all cylinders, it’s a very nice operation. We enjoy it. We enjoy working together and sometimes we actually enjoy any stress that may come with it.”
Tempo’s new constructions were receiving excellent response at Showtime, he added.
“We’re very excited about that,” he said. “It seems we’ve hit on some winners. We’re very enthusiastic about what 2016 holds in store for us.”
Family-owned Tempo Fabrics
flourishing in growth mode
“Everything was well organized in terms of the move and the footprint,” Durham said. “The real issue in the beginning was finding skilled labor. But since then, we have been running very well. Our efficiency is improving, thought we're still struggling to find folks.
“The perception of the textile industry is changing, however,” he added. “People are now starting to see it as being a stable career again.”
When eTC visited the showroom here, Durham said the company was running 24/7 on three shifts. And the company invested in more looms, harnesses and other equipment in 2015.
Rapid expansion
In 2009, Durham and a handful of other ex-Burlington House executives who were with Burlington Manufacturing Services (BMS) bought the assets and business of Tietex International, Ltd.’s Interiors division and renamed it Se7en. They subsequently changed the corporate name to Burlington Technologies, Inc.
Two years later, the company acquired Verelli, a wall-covering business. In 2012, the company bought Bentex, which produced primarily fabric for privacy curtains for the healthcare trade.
About a year later, Durham and Keystone’s Bob McKinnon, who had known each other for years, began merger and acquisition talks. Bob McKinnon’s wife Ray was also part of the discussions that included how such a combination would strengthen both companies.
“We started talking to customers, who told us that Bob and Ray McKinnon ‘are Keystone,’ ” Durham said. “They really put their mark and their brand on the company and created this wonderful niche business.”
Subsequently, Banyan, a private investment firm headquartered in Miami and majority shareholder of Burlington Technologies (BT), announced the purchase of Keystone, in August 2014.
Bob McKinnon, a former longtime president of Valdese Weavers, joined the company as chairman and CEO and Ray McKinnon came aboard as vice president of Merchandising.
Though the units manufacture in the same facility now, they keep their brands and design teams separate, Durham said.
“We wanted to keep the luxury brand luxury and the Se7en brand what it is while elevating them both and keeping them separate – but keeping both brands strong,” Durham said. “That’s very difficult, but Ray has done a fantastic job.”
‘No one else can do it’
At ITMA Showtime, Keystone and Se7en’s collection were on display in adjacent showrooms, and the design differences were stark. Keystone is the more luxury or boutique brand featuring linen, wool and cotton, with muted colors. Se7en, on the other hand, is more trendy and features brighter colors and more patterns and textures.
Keystone’s Natural Instinct collection of linens drew tremendous interest, in particular, Ray McKinnon said.
“I think it’s one of the strongest lines we’ve ever had,” she said. “We’ve had customers say to us, ‘you are the best at doing those chunky, luxury textures. There is nobody else doing that.’ And that's the greatest compliment you can have.”
“There are a lot of people chasing it, but nobody can do,” McKinnon added. “Folks have talked about Keystone season after season, and I've heard ‘no one else can do.’ too. And they just keep raising the bar. I feel the same way on Se7en, which is more my background.”
The Se7en showroom featured a number of designs with an ethnic feel, with layers of pattern, color and texture.
“They’ve had a great reaction to those looks,” Ray McKinnon said. “It’s been killer.”
Part 1: Crypton homes in on raising residential product awareness.