Very few people in the home textiles trade have been as low profile as Louis Hornick, yet even fewer turn out to be as sociable, outgoing and, dare one say, charming as the third generation head of the curtain and drapery company that bears his family name.

Louis Hornick the company remains one of the handful of suppliers in the business that focuses on window fashions exclusively and one of the last where the fourth generation is already being groomed to take over the reigns.

Not that Louis Hornick the person is going anywhere. At age 61, he is very clearly the leader of both the company and the family. HTT sat down with him this fall at the company’s offices tucked into an East Side brownstone for our latest Living & Working Legends interview, continuing the series of asking senior executives who run their companies the same series of questions about their lives … past, present and future.

HTT: How did you get started in the home textiles business?
Louis Hornick: I was born into it. My grandfather started the company and my earliest memories are of going to the factory in Haverstraw, N.Y. It’s not like my father and I played catch together. That’s where we went.

HTT: If you hadn’t gone into this field, what would you have done?
LH: That’s impossible to answer. I never intended to do anything else. I would spend summer vacations at the factory earning $2.35 an hour until I graduated college as an accounting and English major. I joined the company in 1972. My funny answer to the question is that I would have been a buyer.

HTT: When did you know you were going to be successful in this business?
LH: I never doubted I would be successful. The first time was when I solved a production-planning problem when I was 23.  There’s also when I got my first big order from W. T. Grant for tier curtains. I had a big program with Kmart, too, in tiered curtains. Back then they had three buyers just for curtains and two more for draperies.

HTT: What single accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?
LH: It has to be the intersection of manufacturing, marketing and selling. I did that three or four times like with Snowflake, which was the leader in the tab top business.  Heimtextil had a profound effect on us in terms of the product I wanted to develop. It was everything. I wanted home textiles products that would last a lifetime, not like today.

HTT: If you had to do something over what would it be and how would you do it differently?
LH: I didn’t fire people fast enough. I don’t think anybody would accuse me of being a nice guy. There were people I hired who lasted five or ten years and they should have lasted six months. I thought they needed more time. It’s a mistake; you really need to fire people, if you can, in the first three months. I guess one of my mistakes was having an HR department.  I never got better at it. I was never able to find as good people as my father hired and I grew up with. I think the talent pool dried up and this industry is not as attractive as apparel.

HTT: What’s the single biggest change you’ve seen in the industry?
LH: Globalization – in a bad way. Did I see it coming? Yeah, I thought I could beat it with hubris. It’s a classic Greek tragedy. It happened very quickly. I saw it coming, but not as fast as it happened – but neither did most other companies. The people who were successful in imports were the people who never manufactured here in the first place. It’s hard for small and medium-sized companies to deal with globalization. The textiles industry was sacrificed for other industries. It was a bad trade for this country, but what’s done is done.

HTT: If you could do one thing to improve the industry’s overall business what would it be?
LH: We don’t want the government getting rid of industries or creating them because of too much regulation. There should be a consumption tax rather than a payroll tax. Nobody wants to be the last buggy whip manufacturer, but we must balance manufacturing and service. This is going to be very important for the United States. My other answer would be: I think the consumer has to purchase curtains and draperies.

HTT: What’s your exit strategy?
LH: Death is my exit strategy. Our 100th anniversary will be in 2018, and that’s not far away.

Reprinted with permission of Jennifer Marks, Editor-In-Chief, Home Textiles Today

www.hometextilestoday.com

Louis Hornick & Co, Inc., the provider of America’s window fashions since 1918, welcomes its retail partners to the March 2012 NY Home Fashions Market.

Hornick has opened a Pop-Up showroom at 7W featuring a fresh look directly facing the Empire State Building.

Located in Suite 813, this new space is in addition to Hornick’s global headquarters and showroom space located at 117 East 38th Street.

Appointments are by reservation only and can be made by calling (212) 679-2448.

HTT’s twitter feed is @HomeTextilesTod

The HFPA Young Professionals Committee is co-chaired by Louis Hornick III, Chief Operating Officer, of Louis Hornick & Co.

Details of the event can be found on the HFPA website:  www.homefashionproducts.com

As listed in the press release:

“An all-star panel of industry veterans will discuss how, given a price driven industry focused on branding, one can develop and place new product, effectively manage supply chain in an increasingly volatile world, and grasp the future of domestic production.”

The HFPA Young Professionals Committee is co-chaired by Louis Hornick III, Chief Operating Officer, of Louis Hornick & Co.

Details of the event can be found on the HFPA website:  www.homefashionproducts.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Louis Hornick & Co, Inc., the provider of America’s window fashions since 1918, has opened a Pop-Up showroom at 7W for the March 2012 N.Y. Home Fashions Market.

Located in Suite 813, this new space is in addition to Hornick’s global headquarters and showroom space located at 117 East 38th Street.

7W provides a compelling atmosphere for Hornick to showcase its new and expanded fabric offerings and product categories to a wider distribution of markets.

Louis Hornick III, COO, of Louis Hornick & Co., Inc. offerred his thoughts in the “Homegrown Sales” article written by Editor-In-Chief, Wanda Jankowski:

“Whether products are 100 percent made in the U.S. or made in the U.S. of imported fabric, it is an unparalleled asset in supply-chain optimization and a critical component in meeting and surpassing the quality and delivery expectations of retail customers—and the American public.

It is important to distinguish true American companies making product in the U.S., such as us, from the international corporations that hold a limited American operational presence in order to claim in the press that they are an American company. When you buy American, you should really be buying American.”

For more information please visit www.ldbinteriortextiles.com/

Very few people in the home textiles trade have been as low profile as Louis Hornick, yet even fewer turn out to be as sociable, outgoing and, dare one say, charming as the third generation head of the curtain and drapery company that bears his family name.

Louis Hornick the company remains one of the handful of suppliers in the business that focuses on window fashions exclusively and one of the last where the fourth generation is already being groomed to take over the reigns.

Not that Louis Hornick the person is going anywhere. At age 61, he is very clearly the leader of both the company and the family. HTT sat down with him this fall at the company’s offices tucked into an East Side brownstone for our latest Living & Working Legends interview, continuing the series of asking senior executives who run their companies the same series of questions about their lives … past, present and future.

HTT: How did you get started in the home textiles business?
Louis Hornick: I was born into it. My grandfather started the company and my earliest memories are of going to the factory in Haverstraw, N.Y. It’s not like my father and I played catch together. That’s where we went.

HTT: If you hadn’t gone into this field, what would you have done?
LH: That’s impossible to answer. I never intended to do anything else. I would spend summer vacations at the factory earning $2.35 an hour until I graduated college as an accounting and English major. I joined the company in 1972. My funny answer to the question is that I would have been a buyer.

HTT: When did you know you were going to be successful in this business?
LH: I never doubted I would be successful. The first time was when I solved a production-planning problem when I was 23.  There’s also when I got my first big order from W. T. Grant for tier curtains. I had a big program with Kmart, too, in tiered curtains. Back then they had three buyers just for curtains and two more for draperies.

HTT: What single accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?
LH: It has to be the intersection of manufacturing, marketing and selling. I did that three or four times like with Snowflake, which was the leader in the tab top business.  Heimtextil had a profound effect on us in terms of the product I wanted to develop. It was everything. I wanted home textiles products that would last a lifetime, not like today.

HTT: If you had to do something over what would it be and how would you do it differently?
LH: I didn’t fire people fast enough. I don’t think anybody would accuse me of being a nice guy. There were people I hired who lasted five or ten years and they should have lasted six months. I thought they needed more time. It’s a mistake; you really need to fire people, if you can, in the first three months. I guess one of my mistakes was having an HR department.  I never got better at it. I was never able to find as good people as my father hired and I grew up with. I think the talent pool dried up and this industry is not as attractive as apparel.

HTT: What’s the single biggest change you’ve seen in the industry?
LH: Globalization – in a bad way. Did I see it coming? Yeah, I thought I could beat it with hubris. It’s a classic Greek tragedy. It happened very quickly. I saw it coming, but not as fast as it happened – but neither did most other companies. The people who were successful in imports were the people who never manufactured here in the first place. It’s hard for small and medium-sized companies to deal with globalization. The textiles industry was sacrificed for other industries. It was a bad trade for this country, but what’s done is done.

HTT: If you could do one thing to improve the industry’s overall business what would it be?
LH: We don’t want the government getting rid of industries or creating them because of too much regulation. There should be a consumption tax rather than a payroll tax. Nobody wants to be the last buggy whip manufacturer, but we must balance manufacturing and service. This is going to be very important for the United States. My other answer would be: I think the consumer has to purchase curtains and draperies.

HTT: What’s your exit strategy?
LH: Death is my exit strategy. Our 100th anniversary will be in 2018, and that’s not far away.

Reprinted with permission of Jennifer Marks, Editor-In-Chief, Home Textiles Today

www.hometextilestoday.com

The final issue of 2011 featured Mr. Hornick on the cover with a subsequent interview.

As described by Home Textiles Today:

“Home Textiles Today’s series Living – & Working – Legends, interviews executives who have spent their careers in the home textiles industry and continue to manage the companies they own or help run.”

A full copy of the interview will be posted shortly.

For more information, visit www.hometextilestoday.com

Louis Hornick and Company is a founding member of the HFPA.

More information on the HFPA and the Young Professionals can be found at www.homefashionproducts.com

The article, written by Editor-In-Chief Wanda Jankowski quotes Mr. Hornick extensively and can be found on the LDB Interior Textiles website:

www.ldbinteriortextiles.com