More Industry Profile

Industry Profile

Photography by Dennis Barnes

Joe Ches, vice president, says increased services is bringing a more diversified customer base to Creative Draperies, Inc. D&WC: Please give a detailed description of your company and its history. Joe Ches: Creative Draperies, Inc. is a custom commercial C.O.M. workroom manufacturing draperies, bedspreads and cubical curtains for the health care and hospitality industries. The company was founded in 1968 by my parents, Erwin and Josephine Ches. My mother originally started a custom drapery business in the early 1960s in the basement of her home. The business grew rapidly as a workroom for area decorators. By 1968, the business had become a C.O.M. workroom manufacturing large volume commercial drapery and cubical curtains for Standard Textile, Inc. My father then joined the company as president. The company offered an installation service, and he traveled extensively overseeing installations. Today, we are located in two adjacent buildings with approximately 30,000 square feet of space with plans to build a third adjacent building. We have 30 to 50 employees. D&WC: What window coverings products did you handle initially? What products do you handle today? Ches: Initially, Creative Draperies, Inc. manufactured only draperies and top treatments. Over the years, we have manufactured a variety of other products such as surgical wrappers, medical garments, mattress pads, pillows and dust ruffles. Our current product lines include cubicle curtains, draperies and bedspreads. D&WC: Give a percentage breakdown of these products. What one product or line stands out above the rest? Ches: Our percentage breakdown of products constantly changes depending on our orders. However, one product that stands out among the rest is our bedspreads manufactured with 126-inch wide fabric. Due to a high demand in the marketplace for wide quilted goods, we expanded our bedspreads operation to include 130-inch wide quilting machines. This new equipment enables us to quilt railroaded fabrics (126-inch) for seamless bedspreads. We can produce up to 500 bedspreads per day. One of our biggest customers for this type of product is Ametex/Robert Allen Fabrics. D&WC: Is your business computerized? Ches: We have developed a computer program for managing our internal production and assembly line set-up. We plan someday to market the program to other small- and medium-size workrooms. D&WC: Who are your customers? What parts of the country do you service? Ches: Our customers are large textile companies, retail stores, distributors and decorators. As a workroom, we have the flexibility to manufacture for all types of customers in the industry. We ship our products both nationally and internationally. D&WC: Where do you see yourself and your company five years from now? Are there additional areas within the industry that you would like to get involved in? Ches: For many years, the company was largely unknown because we worked exclusively as a workroom for large textile companies. We only recently have begun to expand and attract a more diversified customer base through marketing, advertising and publicity. We are diversifying our business by manufacturing for smaller accounts, which allows these customers to benefit from our fast delivery and economical prices. In the near future we hope to increase our services and customer base significantly by offering turn-key products that will enable customers to promote their own drapery or bedspread lines to the health care and hospitality industries. Doing this will establish us as a one-stop shop, which will eliminate the time our customers must spend choosing fabric, companies and manufacturers. It also will provide faster delivery of finished products. D&WC: What are your strengths in the marketplace? Ches: A great deal of our strength lies in our experienced work force and customized assembly procedures, which enable us to offer a quick turnaround time on orders of any size. It is not uncommon for us to run second shifts or work over the weekends to complete orders in a timely manner. Our strength also derives from our flexibility and willingness to work with a customer to produce any specific product. We have manufactured a wide variety of products to customer specification. For instance, in 1994, we produced approximately 15,000 rod-pocket top treatments per week for a large national retail chain. CDI, Creative Draperies Inc. Manufacturer of commercial drapery, cubical curtains and bedspreads. Specialize in contract, commercial hospitality and health care needs. Address : 400 Delta Dr., Nicholasville, KY 40356 Telephone: (606) 885-6073 Toll free: (800) 527-1501 Fax: (606) 887-5687