With their showrooms closed, to-the-trade textiles companies have come to rely on digital tools to connect with clients. What have they learned in the process? Fabricut vice president David Klaristenfeld and Castel founder and CEO Stephane Silverman break down what the future holds—and what it will truly take for textiles brands to enter the digital age.
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David Klaristenfeld serves as a principal of Clarence House and vice president of Fabricut Inc., where he manages the corporation’s Stroheim, Vervain and S. Harris brands as well as special licensing partnerships, corporate and agent showrooms, and the international sales division. Before joining Fabricut Inc., Klaristenfeld was the president of Decorators Walk and Dunhill Furniture in Los Angeles.
Stephane Silverman is the founder, owner and president of Castel. Silverman's parents were the US Presidents of the venerable French textile houses Manuel Canovas and Boussac. While forging his own path, Stephane studied economics and renewable resources in graduate school. After broadening his skill set, he became sales director at Manuel Canovas and also managed export for the large textile firm, P/Kaufmann. Having a very entrepreneurial spirit, in the year 2000 he struck out and started his own fabric company using knowledge from his previous jobs, but also bringing a fresh approach to the industry. He continues to blaze new trails in the interior design and fabric business through a constant stream of new ideas challenging the status quo. The result has manifested itself in a web-based software system to manage client orders, logistics and business flow associated to the many details of the industry. Stephane can often be heard saying "It's not just fabrics..."
