International Home Fashions Hires Fraser

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/5/2006 12:00:00 AM

Black Mountain, N.C. — —

Black Mountain, N.C. — Beefing up its sales and marketing team, International Home Fashions, a blankets, throw, and decorative bedding supplier, has named industry veteran Dave Fraser senior vp of marketing and sourcing, a new position.

Fraser joins the company after leaving Charles D. Owen Mfg., the blanket manufacturing division of Springs Global, in June. Fraser had worked more than six years at Owen as national sales manager. He now reports to Tedd Smith, IHF executive vp.

In another hire, Kelly Lowe has joined the IHF team with responsibility for Northeast sales. Lowe had been Southeast regional sales manager for Owen.

Both Fraser and Lowe join an IHF sales team made up largely of veterans of Charles D. Owen and Beacon Mfg., founded more than a century ago by the Owen family, and more recently the blanket division of the former Pillowtex Corp. Among the Owen/Beacon veterans at IHF are sales and marketing associates Mike Banks, Frank Cesario, Tom Gibbs, Sandy Craig, and Susan Melton.

In an unrelated move, Kenny Hines, president and a co-founder of the company, has left IHF to form another firm, Custom Home Fashions, headquartered in Forest City, N.C.

Succeeding Hines as president is Jim Mitchell of Morrill Motors, Irwin, Tenn., a principal of the investor group that holds a controlling interest in IHF.

At the same time, IHF has formed a strategic alliance with Sunrise of China, a fleece producer headquartered in Zhangjiagang China, to create a broad line of fleece products for IHF, including blankets, throws, automatic blankets and fleece sheets.

“We're feeling really good, making some nice progress, and we've got a lot of things flying,” said Smith. “I think this could be one fun market for us.”