Hilb buys Heritage House

By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 1/20/2003 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Tom Hilb, president of Heritage House Fabrics, has purchased the company from founders Jeffrey Erdheim and Jeffrey Goldman.

Heritage House was started as a business separate from Jeffrey Fabrics which also is owned by Erdheim and Goldman, in 1997. Hilb joined the company in August 1999.

Today, Heritage House has expanded from its original concept as a converter of primarily sheers. Hilb explained, "As the market changed, if we could find the greige goods here or offshore, we couldn't find finishers here."

The company also expanded its merchandise offering, moving beyond sheers and embroideries to laces, solid color multi-purpose fabrics, dobbies, jacquards, some FR and a few prints, Hilb explained.

The first jacquard program, Hilb added, "has been very important, and the category will be an important part of what we doing moving forward."

Hilb, who closed in the purchase earlier this month, emphasized, "I couldn't have made the purchase without the Jeffreys' help."

Speaking for the Jeffreys, Goldman noted, "Tom's talented, and our business is getting so time-consuming; it became difficult to run both."

Purchase price was not disclosed.