Dan River stays close to home

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Dan River Home Fashions

Danville, VA

Home fashions president: Tom Muscalino

Principal businesses: bedroom furnishings

According to Tom Muscalino, president of Dan River Home Fashions, there is one overriding factor when it comes to this company deciding to go somewhere outside for an item.

"We will not compromise our own quality standards," he said. "Absolutely not."

The home textiles arm of Dan River currently sources products it does not make internally from a wide range of locations, including India, China, Pakistan, Turkey and Portugal through its own Import Specialty Products Group. If the company does opt to import overseas goods, then "our intent on parallel products would be to use sourced capability, foreign or domestic, to augment current manufacturing capabilities," Muscalino said.

He said that, oftentimes, sourcing has not made sense for the company since the cost of goods at the quality and quantity needed, combined with shipping and import costs, was not much different than if Dan River decided to make it itself.

"So, clearly it makes no sense for us to trade highly productive and low-cost fixed assets for outside sourcing," he said.

Like its fellow mills, Dan River's agenda is to continue to grow, but not at the cost of its domestic production.