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Industry Profile
Looking Forward
With 95 years of innovation behind it, Kirsch keeps defining
design elegance, service and customer education.
D&WC: Please give a detailed
description of your company and its history.
Jeff Hohler, president, Levolor Kirsch
Commercial Operations: Kirsch was founded in 1907 by
Charles W. Kirsch when he invented the first flat curtain rod. The
company is known in the industry for our many industry firsts including
the adjustable traverse rod in 1928, the first aluminum Venetian
blinds, first S-slat blinds, the first motorized electromagnetic
traverse rod, which appeared on the market in 1967, and the introduction
of the first cordless blinds in 1989.
Today, Kirsch is part of Levolor Kirsch Window Fashions and employs
2,247 people at facilities totaling more than three million square
feet in High Point, NC; Freeport, IL; Athens, GA; Bisbee, AZ; Rockaway,
NJ; Ogden, UT; Salt Lake City, UT; Sturgis, MI; Toronto, Ontario,
Canada; and operations in Mexico.
D&WC: What window coverings
products did you handle initially? What products do you handle today?
Hohler: As the inventor of the
first flat curtain rod, Kirsch founded the company on basic hardware.
Over the past 95 years, Kirsch has expanded its offering to include
a wide assortment of decorative drapery hardware, basic drapery
hardware, and blinds and shades in line with today’s trends
and home décor styles.
Kirsch offers a wide assortment of blinds and shades in many fashion-forward
colors and styles, including our woven wood shades, wood blinds,
metal blinds, cellular and pleated custom shades, vertical blinds,
Roman shades and our new soft horizontal shade, Mystique, available
beginning this month. Several of these products are available with
Kirsch’s SmartControl™ Cordless feature, including two-inch
wood blinds, cellular and pleated shades and metal blinds.
This year, Kirsch will introduce two new signature lines of decorative
drapery hardware by internationally renowned designers Clodagh and
Raymond Waites.
D&WC: Give a percentage
breakdown of these products. What one product or line stands out
above the rest?
Hohler: About half of our Kirsch
business is split equally between blinds and shades, with basic
and decorative drapery hardware making up the balance of our business.
It breaks down into blinds 25 percent; shades 25 percent, basic
hardware 33 percent and decorative drapery hardware 17 percent.
D&WC: What is your approximate
sales volume? What was it after your first year in business?
Hohler: Sales have grown exponentially
since 1907 as a result of Kirsch’s expanded product offerings.
Today, our company sells approximately $275 million-plus in Kirsch
product.
D&WC: Is your business computerized?
Do you have a company Web site, and how is it used to communicate
with customers?
Hohler: Kirsch is an automated
company and has just launched a new Kirsch Web site. This site will
provide detailed information on our basic and decorative drapery
hardware, blinds and shades as well as a dealer locator.
For our fabricator partners, Kirsch is launching a Fabricator Portal
where they can order blind and shade components, online, beginning
first quarter 2003.
D&WC: Who are your customers?
What parts of the country do you service?
Hohler: Kirsch is available
throughout the United States and is distributed through fabricators
to dealers, decorators and designers. Kirsch products also are available
through select high-end retail stores, including Expo, TGI and J.C.
Penney.
D&WC: How many salespeople
do you employ?
Hohler: We have more than 150
Kirsch salespeople in the field supporting our brand and helping
our customers grow their businesses.
D&WC: How has your segment
of the industry changed since you first began?
Hohler: Kirsch began the company
by selling basic hardware inventions. Today, Kirsch offers a full
line of hardware, blinds and shades.
Technology as well as customer feedback has driven our latest strides
in the industry. By incorporating the latest in technology, Kirsch
introduced SmartControl Cordless, a spring motor system that allows
blinds and shades to be opened or closed by gently raising or lowering
the bottomrail. And, by staying up-to-date on emerging colors and
home décor styles, Kirsch can offer decorators and designers
products that lend themselves to their unique decorating styles.
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?
Hohler: Kirsch will continue
to provide innovative, fashion-forward products to the designer
community by updating colors, styles and options that lend themselves
to the current home décor styles.
D&WC: What best describes
your niche in the marketplace?
Hohler: Kirsch recently introduced
our new brand image to the marketplace and has received excellent
feedback from the decorator and designer community. Our tagline,
Elegance Defined, epitomizes Kirsch’s dedication to providing
high-end products in line with today’s home décor styles
in fashion-forward colors.
Kirsch has built a reputation of providing superior hardware, blinds
and shades in design, durability and functionality.
D&WC: What are some of the
key factors involved in your growth and success?
Hohler: With the introduction
of Kirsch’s SmartControl Cordless products and decorative drapery
hardware, blinds and shades in line with today’s home décor
styles, Kirsch has been positioned as a leading window resource
for designers and decorators.
In addition to our products and innovations, Kirsch has committed
the personnel resources necessary to provide superior service levels
to our customers. Today, Kirsch has a team of design engineers dedicated
to developing the most stylish and functional products on the market.
The Kirsch Trend Marketing Team (KTMT), our grassroots marketing
group, has been traveling the country visiting dealers, designers
and decorators providing insight into emerging trends, home décor
styles and product information. The KTMT seminars, entitled Mission:
Elegance Defined, center on emerging colors and home décor
styles in the marketplace. The KTMT has become an invaluable resource
for many fabricators, decorators and designers.
D&WC: What are your strengths
in the marketplace?
Hohler: Kirsch’s innovations
and fashion-forward products are the cornerstone of our business.
They are supported by an excellent team of professionals dedicated
to making Kirsch a partner who is easy to do business with. In addition,
Kirsch’s dedication to keeping in line with emerging colors
and home décor styles is a great strength for us to have
in the marketplace.
D&WC: What trends and cycles
do you see occurring in the industry? How is your business addressing
them?
Hohler: Today, we see a strong
trend toward softer products and have updated our fabrics and products
to meet these needs. We will continue to do so in the future. We
will be launching our highly anticipated soft horizontal shade this
month, called Kirsch Mystique.
D&WC: What distinguishes
you from the competition?
Hohler: Several factors distinguish
Kirsch from the competition including our innovations in product
design and our designer decorative drapery hardware collections
including Clodagh and Raymond Waites. The design of the Kirsch Superfine
Traverse Rod, for example, is considered the standard in the industry.
Kirsch’s product innovations, combined with the stylish products
we offer in fashion-forward colors and up-to-date styles, have helped
us to become an excellent home décor trends resource for
decorators and designers. We not only provide the blinds, shades
and decorative and basic hardware, but also color information to
truly complete any design.
Kirsch’s strides in technology also have distinguished us in
the marketplace including the introduction of the first cordless
blinds and shades featuring our SmartControl Cordless technology.
These product innovations and technology, combined with our customer
oriented operating procedures, have contributed to Kirsch’s
reputation as a convenient business partner. We’re very excited
about the launch of our online ordering system for fabricators to
order blind and shade components. It’s expected to launch in
the first quarter of 2003.
D&WC: What other home furnishings
services do you offer?
Hohler: Kirsch provides the
latest in up-to-date home décor trends and colors through
our Kirsch Trend Marketing Team. As members of many designer associations,
including ASID and AIA, Kirsch is maintaining its lead as the window
fashion home décor style resource for the designer community.
D&WC: Do you educate your
customers?
Hohler: The Kirsch Trend Marketing
Team is an essential part of the growth of the Kirsch brand. The
KTMT hosted Mission: Elegance Defined seminars throughout the United
States in the spring of 2002. These seminars focused on emerging
home décor styles, essential color pallet options, products
and product combinations available to help achieve these home décor
styles.
Throughout the year, the KTMT will follow these seminars with Café
Kirsch breakfasts. These breakfasts will provide the perfect forum
for decorators and designers to discuss new ideas in home décor
styles.
Levolor Kirsch Window Fashions
4110 Premier Dr.
High Point, NC 27265
(336) 812-8181
Fax: (336) 881-5700
www.kirsch.com
www.levelor.com
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