PENNSAUKEN, New Jersey — United Fabrics is a family owned business which concentrates on strong, in-stock, customer service for rural re-upholsterers, small manufacturers and the decorator trade in the USA.

“We like to think of this as a family business,” said Scott Warwick, president, and a second generation principal  along with partners Robert and Neal Grobman and Mitch Warwick, Scott’s father. United was started from a car trunk by two cousins, Barney Beifield and Robert Grobman. Scott is president and Neal Grobman, Robert’s son, is running the business today.

“This industry has been difficult but we are growing again,” Scott confirmed. United carries Naugahyde vinyls, urethanes; solids, [plaids and dobbies from Glen Raven Sunbrella®, Sunbury, Victor and Valdese Mills; and performance fabrics for the contract/hospitality market. “We’ve upped our game from a range of $25-$35 to as high as $50-$60.” Nearly 100% of our lines are in stock,” he said.

United is a 50 employee company with an estimated $15 million in sales that was established in 1946 in Philadelphia. It acquired Pacific Hide in Los Angeles in 1986 and now has 50 employees. United moved to its current location in Pennsauken and combined both companies in the 12,000 square foot Long Beach, CA. warehouse. 

Mitch is now chairman; Scott, 45, is president and is responsible for marketing and sales; Neal, executive vice president, handles operations and finances; Robert, 35, handles operations, customer service and human resources. 

Mitch, Scott, Neal and Robert are the partners. Lindsey Baker, Robert Grobman and Scott Warwick

Pacific Hide has a showroom in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles where it showcases both United and Pacific lines. Pacific caters to the design trade and stocks leather. Pacific will sell as little as half a hide. While the leather is imported, United’s lines are primarily domestic and sees domestic as the way the market is going.

United and Pacific Hide both sells lots of Naugahyde vinyl along with the leather and fabrics. The company’s first priority is customer service. It offers bread and butter lines in middle to lower end price points  to many out of the way accounts which might fall under the radar of the competition. “Two guys in a garage as well as smaller furniture manufacturers are typically good accounts for us,” Scott pointed out.

United’s expertise in shipping small packages has turned it into an exporter of fabrics to England, Australia and Asia. “We continue to expand to do business everywhere,” Scott said, “but we’re moving more into decorative fabrics than previously through our network of 15 reps. If it’s in our sample book, we stock it.”

Pacific Hide originally was a United customer. Pacific was first a tannery and then a distributor of leather. Pacific also carries the higher end part of the United Fabrics collection mixed with its leather hides, mostly from South America. 

Lindsey Baker is the buyers/designer for United and picks all products.

Mitch Warwick, Scott’s father joined the company as an account receivables clerk in 1962 and eventually worked his way up as partner. “Mitch is a salesman at heart. He celebrated his 50th anniversary with United in January,” Scott said. As part of a regular update of the Pacific Hide showroom in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, the company decided to showcase the variety of leathers  it carries. Pacific Hide refers to the leather mosaics as “moo-saic”. According to Bob Grobman, The large “Bull’s Head” mosaic is made up of over 4,800 one-and-a-half inch leather squares hand cut and applied by three staff members over a four week period.  The “Bull’s Head” design was inspired from a Pacific Hide & Leather logo from the 1970’s that was digitally redrawn and reproduced on large vinyl boards.  These boards were then applied to a thin sheet of plywood and attached to a wall at headquarters in Pennsauken, NJ.  After placing all the squares, the mosaic was disassembled and shipped to California for installation in the showcase outside the showroom.  Overall, the mosaic measures seventy-eight inches tall by ninety-three inches wide.  The second mosaic, the current logo, was made from the same squares and also installed by hand over a traditional wood door cut down to size.

“In the first week, we already received an offer to purchase the smaller mosaic.  However, it’s not for sale,” Grobman said.