Swavelle/Mill Creek celebrates 20th anniversary
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, July 22, 2002
NEW YORK — Associated Textile Converters, parent of major upholstery fabric supplier Swavelle/Mill Creek Fabrics, is celebrating 20 years in business this year.
Swavelle/Mill Creek, which ranks No. 13 on Furniture/ Today's list of the Top 20 fabric sources with estimated revenues in 2001 of $83 million, is the third-largest converter on the list. ATC also supplies fabrics to jobbers and retailers.
With many textile companies on the ropes these days because of political and economic conditions, Jeff Thomases, founder, owner and president, said it's ironic that his company grew out of a bankruptcy situation.
It all started, he said, in 1964, when he went to work for his father, Fred Thomases, who operated a converting business primarily for apparel fabrics. After military service in the late '60s, Jeff Thomases joined Swavelle, which specialized in drapery weight goods.
In 1981, most of the companies owned by Fred Thomases and his partners filed for Chapter 11. Jeff Thomases then formed Associated Textile Converters to purchase Swavelle Fabrics, as well as Piermont Fabrics and Piermont Mills, which supplied fabrics to the ready-made and manufactured housing industries, respectively.
The direction of ATC changed dramatically in 1989 when Richard Hanfling joined the company to head a new division called Mill Creek, which would specialize in 54-inch printed multipurpose goods.
Since then, Swavelle Fabrics and Mill Creek Fabrics have become significant players to jobbers, exporters, retailers and furniture makers.
"We know who we are and what our strengths are," Hanfling said, "and we work hard at maintaining strong relationships with our key customers."
A contract division was created in the early 1990s with a product line that was primarily sheers. Since then, Thomases said, that line has grown to include heat-transfer prints and flame-retardant solids, and a national sales force has been hired to expand sales for the division.
In 1993, Thomases said, "the timing was right to get involved in woven upholstery, since the print business was getting soft." Consequently, Tom Solimine joined the company as vice president of merchandising for the upholstery division in 1993.
Thomases expects the upholstery division to show the largest growth in the coming three to five years.
Solimine credits Swavelle's use of foreign suppliers for the recent growth of the upholstery division. Initially, the company brought in damasks and tapestries from Italy, but now also purchases goods from India and China. "We can achieve better quality at better values because of offshore mills," he said.
In1994, Hanfling brought in Raymond Waites as a licensed designer for the company, an association that generated more than $10 million in sales last year.
In 1998, Lodovici USA was formed to be the sole distributor in North America of Manifattura Lodovici, a major European producer of sheers and jacquards.
David Thomases, Jeff Thomases's oldest son, is president of the Lodovici division.
"When we started," David Thomases said, "we sold what they had in Italy. Then we started gearing new designs toward the U.S. market. Contract sales increased and our jobber distribution expanded significantly."
He said the division has doubled its sales since its first year in operation.
Greg Thomases, Jeff Thomases's youngest son, also is associated with the company. Since 2000, he has been selling to jobber accounts and learning all aspects of the business. His ambition is to be part of corporate management.
"Not many people," Greg Thomases said, "have the opportunity to join a successful family business and have a true passion for it. I hope the company will grow just as much in the next 20 years, and that I am a part of that growth."
Eight associates who have contributed to the company's growth — Joe Cappi, Lloyd Goldstein, Al Hazen, Anne Powers, Mike Richman, Ross Rosenfeld, Jean Santomero and Juan Soto — were honored at a special corporate event at Yankee Stadium.
| Jeff Thomases |
| Hanfling |
