Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
June 28, 2007 issue
Dewoolfson—25 Years of Innovation in the International Business World
Natural. Comfortable. Home.
Story by Sam Calhoun
What Richard Schaffer, president and co-owner of Dewoolfson, has done over the last 25 years with his business is so immense that it perhaps can best be summed up by outlining his four secrets to success.
One secret, or rather an innovation, is that he took the German tradition of exceptional quality bed linens—namely goose down—and he adapted them to the American lifestyle, offering them at an affordable price. German down comforters are widely hailed as the most comfortable in the world, only, until Schaffer got his hands on them, they came in small sizes and limited colors. He changed that and revolutionized the comfort levels in American bedrooms—but we’ll get to that in a second.
The second secret is that he has always serviced whatever he sells. With a seamstress always on duty and a wide stock of down and other fine stuffings, Schaffer and his business have always had the ability to custom manufacturer anything that has anything to do with bed linens. When orders come in, the comforters are made to order and shipped within 24 to 48 hours all over the country and world.
“We’re in production all the time,” said Schaffer.
If you’re unhappy with the weight of a pillow, comforter or featherbed, Dewoolfson employees can adjust it at anytime for a nominal charge.
The third secret is that Dewoolfson doesn’t manufacture anything for stock—they only manufacture for orders. The company can customize anything—pillow, comforter or featherbed—and it’s all done in the High Country, even though there are four retail stores, a booming online marketplace and an immense number of private labels that the company handles.
And the fourth secret is that Dewoolfson, under the direction of Schaffer, is constantly reinventing themselves. They put everything back into the business—a prime reason why the company has flourished and expanded rapidly over the last quarter century, never needing to introduce investors.
But, like many Business Spotlights, to understand how Schaffer and Dewoolfson got to where they are today, you must first understand where Schaffer—the visionary and business guru behind the international company—started.
Born in Philadelphia, Schaffer received his undergraduate degree in business administration from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and then went down south to go to law school at the University of Mississippi. He finished in 1973 and practiced law for one year before he decided that wasn’t the route for him. He returned to the North and attended New York University, spending one year in law school followed by additional study in Paris and an internship in international service with the United Nations.
“It was an interesting experience,” said Schaffer about his time working at the United Nations. “It internationalized me—it made me aware of the world as a community.”
But through all of this, Schaffer maintained a desire to teach. In addition, he also had a desire to return to the South and to the mountains. He applied to ASU while still working at the United Nations. Six months later, ASU called with a job—Schaffer was the new business law professor in the Walker College of Business.
While at ASU, Schaffer saw the need to build an international business program and he is considered the founder of the international business program at the Walker College of Business—not in all of ASU. He also helped form the international business minor, was the chairperson of the international business program from the late 1970s to the early 1990s and was the founder of the Business Study in Europe program at ASU.
Schaffer taught at ASU from 1977 to 2001 and his time at the university helped foster Dewoolfson.
“It was in developing relationships with the business community here and in Europe and by taking students to Europe that I got to know people in the German home textile industry and in the down industry,” said Schaffer. “I was suddenly doing what I was teaching. I got excited myself and I thought, ‘Why not do it for real?’”
In 1982, Schaffer began importing down proof fabrics from Europe as well as European goose down fills with his partner Marsha Turner. He designed and built a blowing system and engineered comforter construction with a sewing machine.
“It basically started as a hobby,” said Schaffer, who started making his own comforters. “And one thing just led to the next.”
At the time, the Germans—widely known for producing the best bed linens in Europe—were only producing down-proof fabric in the colors of blue, flamingo and natural. The other catch—they were in German bed sizes that were about half the size of American bed sizes. In contrast, German pillow sizes were about double the size of American pillows.
“It took a long time to convince them to produce [the color] white and wider widths,” said Schaffer.
But he did and the outcome revolutionized the American marketplace.
“We are one of the few companies today doing traditional European down comforter products,” said Shaffer.
When Schaffer created bigger down comforters he was met with another problem—there were no duvet covers to fit them. So, in the spirit of Dewoolfson, he created bigger duvet covers.
Today, Schaffer and Dewoolfson represent 12 textile mills located all over the world, from France to Italy to Switzerland. All his down product comes from Eastern Europe and he imports percale, sateen and Jacquard fabrics as well.
“Dewoolfson has been a leader in that,” said Schaffer. “We are one of America’s most established sources for fine European linens.”
Dewoolfson started as a manufacturing company but expanded to include retail as well. Now, Dewoolfson products are found in other stores and the company provides product for private labels in addition to selling all the products online and at the four locations—Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, Charlotte and Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Primarily, Dewoolfson sells comforters, pillows, feather beds and down alternatives, such as silk and Lyocell. Lyocell is the first new natural fabric to be introduced into the textile market in 40 years and is made from Beachwood and Eucalyptus trees.
“It’s as soft as cotton, but as silky as silk,” said Schaffer, who pointed out that Lyocell is more absorbent than cotton. Schaffer uses the hypoallergenic material for covers and filling. At Dewoolfson, Schaffer created Lycella—a variation of Lyocell—that he compares to the softness of any 1,000-threadcount bed sheets sold on the market.
At the Dewoolfson store on Highway 105, Shaffer also carries the finest in bedroom, bath and home accessories, such as Nandina bath towels made from Japanese bamboo, linens from Switzerland, Abyss towels, Yves Delorme products, Schlanser art glass, Italian milled soaps and Sferra sheets. He also carries the complete line of Plumeria Bay comforters, linens, pillows and duvet covers, but that’s expected—Plumeria Bay is one of Dewoolfson’s private labels. On the day that the interview was conducted with Schaffer, boxes of Plumeria Bay products were stacked up by the door addressed to almost every state in the country.
With all this success and business, it’s a wonder that Schaffer even gets a day off—especially because he also is the lead author of the Thomson International Business Law Text that is used in universities around the country, including Harvard and MIT—but he does and he spends it with his family. Schaffer and his wife Avery raise Schaffer’s son David who attends the Asheville School and Schaffer’s daughter Anna who attends ASU and works at the store.
Dewoolfson has four locations—in Banner Elk at 9452 Highway 105; in Charlotte at Stonecrest at Piper Glen, 7808-C Rea Road; in Blowing Rock at 304 Sunset Drive; and in Hilton Head, South Carolina, at Sheridan Park, Highway 278, 17A Sherington Drive. The store in Banner Elk is open from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information on the Banner Elk location, call 828-963-4144. For more information on the Blowing Rock location, call 828-295-0504. For more information on the retail division of Dewoolfson, click to www.dewoolfsonlinens.com. For more information on the manufacturing division of Dewoolfson, click to www.dewoolfson.com.