FCIF Gala in Gotham - October 5, 2024
Honoree - Dan Frierson - Chairman & CEO - The Dixie Group
For nearly six decades, Dan Frierson has been one of the flooring industry’s most prominent executives, a career that dates to 1966 when he first joined Dixie Yarns, to the present as chairman of The Dixie Group. Following in the footsteps of his father, J. Burton Frierson, who came to Dixie in 1925, Dan Frierson paid his dues in the beginning, working every job in the plant and operations during the early years before being appointed CEO in 1980 and chairman in 1986.
In the early 1990s, it became clear that Dixie’s customers would be heading overseas searching for lower cost alternatives to apparel manufacturing. To ensure the survival of the company, Frierson led the challenge of transforming the business from a textile company to a carpet company. Dixie purchased Masland Carpets in 1993; as Frierson recalled, “We had been selling them yarn for 40 years and we had talked in the ’80s about maybe trying to get together.” This gave Dixie a foothold in the carpet business.
From 1993 to 2000, Dixie made more than a dozen carpet-related acquisitions and divested its textile and apparel assets. The big one came in 2000 when Dixie acquired Fabrica International. The deal helped secure Dixie’s brand as a luxury floor covering manufacturer and further burnished Dan Frierson’s credentials as a leading flooring executive who was not afraid to take risks. The Dixie Group has been a staunch supporter of FCIF for many years. Frierson received two degrees from The University of Virginia, a B.A. in History and an M.B.A. Frierson lives with his wife of 60 years in Chattanooga, Tenn., and has five children and nine grandchildren.