Moorpark, CA (USA) - Soft spoken Curt Pindler, president of west-coast based Pindler & Pindler, hardly seems contrarian in nature. Yet this third generation Pindler has steadily led his more than 50-year-old family business from regional obscurity to a $40 million plus national powerhouse by bucking industry trends.

For starters, he doesn't sport an MBA, nor does he claim any textile background. What he does bring to the table is a Fine Arts degree from California State University.

This training imbued Pindler with an appraising eye and a passion for great design. And it's apparent in the company's 120 categories of textile product, four-fifths of which are original designs.

"We are a chameleon," Pindler said. "We're like a supermarket boutique. We tend to explore and take risk with different types of design and color. We're not locked into whatever has been done before."

Pindler said that for all fabric design and color decisions he and his team make, they ask one all important question: Is it liveable? "Will the customer still love our fabrics on their furniture for many years to come?" Pindler said. This focus set the company on a new strategic course some 15 years ago to be "more decorative, more exclusive and more upscale," as Pindler describes it. "We never want to lose customers but as we have become more upscale, we have begun tapping into the better interior designers and working with mills that only make better products."

Pindler took the reins in 1975 from the company his grandfather, Matthew Pindler, started at the onset of World War II. In Curt Pindler's early days with the company he started product development and subsequently has personally developed relationships with jacquard mills in the United States and internationally. "We work closely with their styling departments and their design teams," he said.

Pindler believes that "all interior design starts with color. We have lots of color discussions with our mill sources," he said. "The discussions lead to the development of warp coloring that a mill must offer for at least three to five years."

Pindler & Pindler's specialty is exclusive jacquard upholstery, although the company does offer drapery product and multi-purpose product. Elise Connor, director of design and a 15-year company veteran, said the company "puts collections of fabrics together mixing different textures."

When a designer walks into a company-operated or representative showroom, she can do an entire design job utilizing Pindler & Pindler because the product harmonizes. The company has a presence in all major North American markets through its 28 showrooms in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company also has 35 outside sales representatives.

Pindler & Pindler collections represent 14,000 SKUs of which 80 percent are exclusive. Through a licensing arrangement with Hearst Castle, "we have carte blanche on all product on display at the Castle," Pindler said. "Hearst has cache. We're really responsible for setting a trend, providing color and product that have not been available before. This is all done on an exclusive basis." Pindler said that this product has proved to be a strong seller nationally for the company.

The company has just created a new licensing agreement with The Preservation Society of Newport County, specifically the Newport mansions, which Pindler believes also will sell strongly nationally. Pindler's mill sources and design team started planning this product in June. "We have the mansion on the West Coast and the mansions on the East Coast and we will be offering product in a year and a half."

To stay abreast of trends that lead to imaginative designs and innovative licensing agreements, Pindler said he travels to many different markets domestically and internationally. "It's like subliminal osmosis. I pick up trends talking to people, being a good listener and even walking through apparel departments in better boutiques and department stores," he said.

The company will be represented at 16 show/markets domestically this year ranging from the High Point Market to numerous regional design center shows. Additionally, Pindler said, the company will attend Heimtex, Decosit and Bienalle to look at what international suppliers have to offer. He also said the company has an efficient data processing capability that quickly sorts by product category sales.

Approximately a quarter of Pindler & Pindler product is imported internationally, principally from Europe and Asia.

Pindler said he buys only high-end product from China. "We bring in some silk from China," he said. "The quality is good, but its not terribly sophisticated in design."

While many of his competitors work with large Chinese mills, which are geared for weaving product by the hundreds of yards rather than by the piece, Pindler said he works with smaller more entrepreneurial mills.

"Our mills," he said, "can weave to our spec," and consequently support Pindler's niche, high-end marketing.

Pindler thinks that many of the large U.S. low-end domestic mills are running increasingly scared because Chinese labor is cheap and as the large-scale Chinese mills increase their marketing presence in the U.S., they can weave product for far less than the current low end U.S. mills.

The company sells everything through the interior design trade. Eighty per cent of the company's business is high-end residential. The balance is for hotels, resorts, country clubs, better restaurants, and law offices principally. "We don't design product specifically for the contract market. We offer our high-end residential product which translates very well to high-end hospitality contract use especially in public areas and suites," Pindler said. F&FI