Cashmere distributor eyes expansion

SMOOTH MOVES: Burrillville’s Alashan Cashmere Co. designs, markets and distributes cashmere products to a number of high-end boutiques. Pictured above is Donald Fox, left, co-owner of Alashan, in the company’s warehouse with Bob Romano. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
SMOOTH MOVES: Burrillville’s Alashan Cashmere Co. designs, markets and distributes cashmere products to a number of high-end boutiques. Pictured above is Donald Fox, left, co-owner of Alashan, in the company’s warehouse with Bob Romano. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

The cashmere goats whose hair is used to make soft sweaters, scarves and baby blankets are found far from Rhode Island – in China, Mongolia, Iran and Afghanistan.
But the Alashan Cashmere Co., which designs, markets and distributes the products crafted overseas, operates out of tight quarters in a former firehouse and the second floor of an attached warehouse in Harrisville, a village in Burrillville.
Looking to expand, owner and President Donald Fox, who grew up in Cranston, and his wife, Rachel, a business partner, employ eight other people, as well as some seasonal, part-time help, at their headquarters and offices at 411 Chapel St.
“I’m sort of what they call a cashmere geek,” Fox said. “At trade shows, they call me Dr. Cashmere. I love what I do. I take it seriously. If you do something long enough, hopefully you become good at it.”
Designed here, the goods are knitted or woven by private foreign companies and then returned to the U.S. and distributed to large department stores and high-end boutiques like the ones at Ocean House, Wilson’s of Wickford, Narragansett Limited on Bowen’s Wharf in Newport and the Glass Onion, a women’s boutique on Block Island.
Retail prices for Alashan’s cashmere products range from $170 to $612 for sweaters, and $150 to $315 for wraps, while smaller items like scarves cost anywhere from $85 to $145.
With annual sales of more than $6 million, the cashmere business is lucrative and highly competitive. Partly for that reason, Fox declined to name the overseas companies that produce the goods he sells, or the department stores that sell some products.
Selling cashmere goods was not a business Fox came to deliberately, having studied Russian and planned originally to work in the intelligence community. In fact, his bachelor’s degree, earned from the University of Vermont in 1989, was in Soviet and East European area studies. But a year later, he switched gears, resigning a scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was going for a master’s degree in Russian, and began pursuing an MBA at Bryant University. By 1993, while still studying for that degree, Jim Coleman, the then-vice president of Forte Cashmere in Woonsocket, approached and ultimately hired him as general manager. Fox learned the business from the inside out, while completing that MBA (which the company paid for).
“They had done business with the Russians,” Fox recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God. It’s textiles in New England. What kind of future can that be?” ”
As it turned out, that was a good question to ask. The owners of Forte Cashmere closed the business in 2004, but Fox decided to take what he learned and start his own business in the basement of his home in Pascoag, a village in Burrillville.
“I kept relationships with overseas suppliers and key manufacturing reps” early on, he recalled. “Our first collection for fall 2004 was two to three scarf styles, one wrap and a couple of throws. Now, our collections have thousands and thousands of styles – hundreds a season.”
Building the business took time, but by 2006, Fox had moved out of his basement and into a small office on Route 102 and leased a warehouse. It soon became clear he would need larger quarters, and in 2008 moved to his present location, which he also has outgrown.
Actively discussing relocation options with Burrillville officials, the Foxes hope to stay in Rhode Island, he said. In Harrisville, he has no loading dock, needs more space for the design team, and generally has “hit critical mass.”
“The town of Burrillville is eager to keep us here, but other towns are equally anxious to have us set up shop,” Fox said.
Two of the clothing lines are named after his children, he added.
The Claudia Nicole brand of women’s apparel is named after his 13-year-old daughter and widely distributed to specialty stores across the country, he said. The Caroline Grace Cashmere label, a private label for bigger department stores, is named after his 10-year-old.
So far, 8-year-old son Douglas only has the Douglas Stripe scarf named after him, but as Fox said, “he’s younger, so we’ve got time to work with him.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Alashan Cashmere Co.
OWNERS: Donald and Rachel Fox
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Specialty textiles centering on cashmere products
LOCATION: 411 Chapel St., Burrillville
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2004
EMPLOYEES: 10
ANNUAL SALES: More than $6 million

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