Thread Company Sews Up Market

In this fashion-conscious world, it's the details that matter, whether it's the designer logo, the gold thread on the pockets of a pair of jeans or the sports team logo on a hat. It comes down to the right color thread, and Madeira, a German-based embroidery manufacturing company with U.S. headquarters in Laconia, has built a multi-million-dollar empire providing just the right threads.

The Laconia facility serves as a distribution and customer service center for the company, with all the threads and accessories (such as bobbins and backings) made in Germany. President Shirley Clark took over the U.S. operations in January after three years as national sales manager.

Clark says competition in the embroidery market is stiff, but that Madeira is a major player holding 43 percent of the U.S. market.

The company has seven different types of specialty thread, with rayon and polyester the most popular. Within each category there is a rainbow of variation. Rayon comes in 413 colors and polyester in 359 colors. One product-flame-resistant thread used by firefighters, car racers and others in industries with stringent safety standards-more than doubled in sales during the last year.

Madeira has 60 U.S. employees, with 30 in Laconia and the rest spread across 12 locations nationwide. Madeira sells to commercial contractors or smaller commercial customers who provide embroidery services, so Clark says we sometimes don't know who the end user is. What she does know is her customers require quick turnarounds. They call us and say I need this tomorrow', Clark says, noting Madeira ships 87 percent of orders to arrive next day and 99 percent in two days. That commitment to customer service extends to having customer service reps available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and offering webinars on using their products.

Looking ahead, Clark plans to grow the company through thread offerings and through accessories. She says the decorated apparel market is a $20 billion market nationwide.

Among its recent product offerings are mini snap cones, at the request of customers, which hold a smaller amount of thread when smaller color runs are needed. While the regular cones hold 5,000 yards of thread, the small ones hold just 1,100 yards. Six months ago the company started selling sequins.

We want to look at the entire decorative apparel marketplace, she says. For more information, visit madeirausa.com.