Cecil Saydah buys out Louisville biz
Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/17/2002
LOS ANGELES — The Cecil Saydah Company has bought the remaining shares of table linen and decorative pillow manufacturer Louisville/ Saydah Home Fashions, based in Eminence, KY.
"This is such a natural fit for our collective companies," said Harold Schierholt, president, Cecil Saydah. "The combination of our sales, marketing and operations expertise into a new, larger, more dynamic company was the next logical move in our growth strategy."
Schierholt added that the acquisition allows the company to consolidate all of its marketing activities under one roof at its corporate headquarters here at the Los Angeles Art Center as well as provide West Coast distribution of chairpads and pillows "where necessary to help speed product to market and minimize our customers shipping costs," he said.
Louisville/Saydah will continue to manufacture and distribute from its Eminence, KY, facility.
Under the new marketing consolidation efforts, Cecil Saydah has eliminated three positions — two design and one marketing — from its New York showroom.
In addition, John Shawger, formerly national sales manager, has been promoted to vp of sales and marketing. Rick Dudum, former president of Louisville/Saydah, now assumes the roll of vp of tabletop. And Peter Katz, director of marketing, is incorporating all of Louisville/Saydah's product management and design within the Cecil Saydah marketing department and as a result created a new position — tabletop product management. Katz told Home Textiles Today that he is currently accepting applications for the new post.
Brothers Dick and John Saydah, owners of Cecil Saydah, originally purchased minority shares in Louisville/ Saydah several years ago.
At that point Cecil Saydah, which has been in business for more than 50 years, made Louisville/Saydah its table linen and decorative pillow division, adding two more categories to the company's growing roster of products, which also include kitchen textiles, bath towels, bath accessories, beach towels and floor mats.
