DANVILLE, PA. Michael Feterik, who made his fortune in the corrugated box industry, has purchased Fabtex, Inc., considered to be the largest fabricator of hospitality industry bedding and window treatments in the USA with $50 million in sales.

“However, Feterik expects to build this business to $300 million through growth and acquisition of supply chain vendors and competitors,” according Adam Jurlin, newly named President of Fabtex. He was previously Vice President of Operations and will continue to focus on operations at Fabtex, he says. Jurlin, joined Fabtex three years ago to help find a buyer, he says.

Fabtex is also seeing a growth trend in hard window treatments in the hospitality industry, supplying motorized solar shades and other products. “Boutique hotel and casino owners want easily cleanable window treatments,” Jurlin says. “Right now our hard window treatment business is 15% of our total vs. 85% for draperies.  The trend is moving more towards a 50/50 split.  That's why our investment in new manufacturing ways and expansion is a key component for Fabtex.”

As owner, Feterik has assumed the positions of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the Danville, PA, based company specializing in hotels, healthcare, cruise lines and government. About 95 percent of the business is devoted to hospitality, Jurlin says.

Glenn Halterman, former CEO will also remain with Fabtex as Chief Financial Officer. Jurlin and Haltermann are also partners with Feterik. The 300 employees are being retained with three manufacturing plants in Danville (corporate headquarters), Lumberton, NC and Orange, CA. Jurlin says.

Feterik's announcement signals a major expansion strategy for the company. It also continues a consolidation process among vendors in the hospitality supply industry. Founded in 1986 by Robert Snyder, the former owner, “Fabtex has experienced recent rapid growth and is poised for further expansion, according to Jurlin. Jurlin says Feterik's ownership and leadership "is perfectly timed given Feterik's many years of financial management and acquisition experience."

A legend in the transportation, corrugated box and container industries, Feterik launched Orange County Container Group in 1981. Starting with only four employees, Feterik built Orange County Container Group into a $500 million business with more than 2,700 employees.

Feterik has a BA in Business Administration from California State University Long Beach and an MA degree In Industrial Psychology and Counseling from the University of Michigan. He also is a former owner of the Canadian Football League (CFL) Calgary Stampeders of Calgary, Alberta.

In addition to fabricating proprietary hotel brands and its own exclusive lines of bedding, drapery, curtains and hardware, Fabtex has developed a host of related companies.

The Fabtex corporate family includes FabriLux, durable easy-care luxury fabric; FabriViron, environmental fabrics; Pure Shade, motorized window treatment systems based on NASA solar science; the Coulisse/Fabtex collection of Euro designed shades; Spec-Tex , wide width textile solutions, and FabriSafe, powerful environmentally-safe microbe protection for textiles.

Coulisse, based in Enter, Netherlands, is an independent company which produces and imports hard window fabrics which it sells exclusively through Fabtex in the USA.