Hoad commenced business in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne as a manufacturer of lampshades and furnishing products. It was founded in 1927 by Alfred Hoad whose son Lester Hoad took over in the 1950's. Lester pioneered brand naming in the soft furnishing industry in Australia with the registration of the Matchmaker and Hoad names which are still used today.
In the early 1960's Hoad started to design their own fabrics (again a first in the Australian industry) which they also manufactured into finished products such as bedspreads and packaged curtains. In the early '80's Rod Hoad (Lester's son) introduced fully co-ordinated soft furnishings, allowing products such as bedspreads, curtains, cushions and upholstery fabrics to be sourced from the one wholesaler, ensuring a perfect match.
In November 2000 Rod appointed Peter Adams as CEO and moved into semi-retirement. His strategy was to change the structure of the business from a family business to an independent corporate structure that would enable him to step back from the day-to-day running of the operation. In July 2006 Rod sold the business to a partnership led by Bill Papapetrou. Bill had been Hoad's Chief Financial Officer for 4 years and took over as owner and CEO.
The business has evolved with changing trends and now concentrates solely on being a wholesaler of furnishing fabrics, supporting soft furnishing retailers across Australia and New Zealand. Hoad's mission is unchanged and that is to develop high quality furnishing fabrics for domestic and commercial use, and to deliver excellent service to our customers including professional advice, on time delivery and support such that we are considered by them to be the best in the industry.
