Keeco is here to stay, says CEO

New York – With sales beginning to pick up and new investment flowing in from private equity backer Centre Lane Partners, Keeco sees a number of opportunities for growth ahead.

The largest home textiles supplier to the U.S. retail market, Keeco has been the only company since the early 2000’s to hit $1 billion in annual wholesale volume. That followed its 2022 merger with utility bedding giant Hollander, which was struggling with debt and some outdated production facilities.

Ever since, many in the industry have been expecting it to collapse under its own weight – speculation that grew sharper after the legacy Bed Bath & Beyond company, which had been a significant Keeco account, went out of business.

Don’t bet on it, said CEO Hope Margala, who is now in her 5^th month at the helm.

“Keeco is here to stay. We have support both in our ownership structure and our lenders, who believe in this business and are investing in it.”

Keeco now has the wherewithal to grow by bringing in more innovation and potential new licenses that can expand business with its current customers. The company also sees potential with the top e-commerce platforms.

“When I look at our portfolio of products, there’s a lot of white space there to take more share in every one of our categories,” she said. In terms of channel expansion, she added, “We have a good e-commerce business. We need to continue to drive our omnichannel and figure how to unlock pure play.”

Keeco’s branded business is three-pronged, encompassing private label work for major accounts, a slew of licensed brands and its own brands. The latter include Pacific Coast Feather, SureFit, Live Comfortably, Eclipse and Protect-A-Bed. The company is planning brand refreshes/relaunches for some of the in-house brands later this year or early next year.

“To a lot of our customers, we are their house brands. For some we are opening price point and good; for others we are good and better,” said Margala. “Licensed brands play a part in all of that. We look at it on a customer-by-customer basis. We are open to working with customers on all of them.”

On the back end, the work of streamlining and integrating Keeco’s facilities and those inherited from Hollander wrapped up in the latter part of 2023. The company now operates two distribution centers (one East Coast, one West Coast) and four manufacturing factories in the U.S. (two East Coast, one in Texas and one on the West Coast).

“At the end of the day, we want to provide the lowest cost to our customers,” she said.

Though she is relatively new to the home textiles world, Margala joined Keeco last September with extensive experience in the home business, coming off a turn as president and CEO of NBG, a home décor company. She previously served as CEO of Yankee Candle as part of her nine years there. She also held marketing and merchandising positions with The Longaberger Co., a basket company, as well as retailer Bath and Body Works.

So she is familiar with the consolidation and disruptions that have rippled across the volume retail sphere.

“Times change. We are fortunate to work with some of the leaders in the business,” she said. “We challenge ourselves to look at things differently so we can continue to grow.”

Margala walked into Keeco just days before the fall 2023 New York Home Fashions Market week. By the time spring market begins in March, she will have crossed the half-year mark at the company. She’s optimistic about what lies ahead.

“We have such an incredible team here. They are experts in their categories and experts in the industry. My job is to help them do what they do and drive our growth plans.”

See also:

• Keeco brings in new CEO as Grassi moves to consulting role | UPDATED
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