Pascual brings Spanish textiles to U.S.
Interfabrics CEO concentrates on quality, service, delivery
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, March 31, 2003
Alcoy, Spain — Home textiles from Spain are a largely untapped resource for American furniture manufacturers. But the Spanish mill Interfabrics is succeeding in bringing its product to the United States, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of its chief executive, Rafael Pascual, and its U.S. division, Costa Blanca.
Pascual's father launched Antecuir, the predecessor of Interfabrics, in 1962, so Rafael was born into the textile industry. He came to the United States to earn a business degree in New York, returned to Spain and served his mandatory year in the military, then worked in technical positions in the textile industry for two years. He then earned an MBA in Barcelona and joined the family business in 1993.
In addition to running his own business, Pascual, 37, is an active booster of Spanish textiles. He serves as vice president of Home Textiles from Spain, a trade association devoted to enhancing export opportunities, and also is vice president of the organizing committee for Textil Hogar, the fabric show held each January in Valencia.
Most Spanish textile mills are small, averaging about 20 employees and annual sales of about $3 million.
With more than 500 employees and annual sales of more than $80 million, Interfabrics is not typical and neither is Pascual, who is passionate about growing his company at a healthy pace.
"We don't want to be a monster-size company," he said.
"When production becomes more crucial than sales, you have a problem because you are distracted by the need to feed the production monster. The key thing for our team is feeling free to think clearly about what to do next — what is best for our customers, and not what is best for our machines.
"Production becomes important only if we use it in our favor — for product differentiation and best service," he added. "We are happy if our clients are happy and if they know we are here for them."
These days Pascual is overseeing the expansion of the company.
Interfabrics is building a stunning new headquarters, and has an immaculate automated warehouse with the capacity to store 2.5 million square meters of fabric, where 85-foot tall robots move around silently picking rolls of fabric to ship worldwide.
The company has weaving plants — with 60 double-wide looms that are all less than five years old — flocking plants for fabric and yarn, printing and finishing plants that serve third parties as well, and labs and testing facilities.
Costa Blanca, the U.S. division, was launched three years ago with Jack Korngold as vice president of marketing.
Pascual knew he needed Americans on the team because, while European fabric has a certain cachet, the aesthetic doesn't always translate for American consumers, even if the price is right.
Todd Bowles joined the team in 2001 as vice president of merchandising and to help design the Costa Blanca line.
Pascual has a clear commitment to the American market, and attends every High Point furniture show.
"We're looking for mid-size accounts, but we can service large accounts as well," he said.
"Most mills in Spain, and in Portugal and Italy, are very flexible and can deliver small amounts quickly. It's not necessary to be huge. We concentrate on service, and delivering on time, quickly, and with good, consistent quality."
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