Shaw Floors History

With annual sales of more than $4 billion, Shaw Industries Group, Inc., is the largest carpet manufacturer in the world. A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., it is headquartered in Dalton, Georgia and employs approximately 22,300 individuals around the world. Shaw Industries is unrelated to the publicly traded Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In 1946 Shaw Industries began when Clarence Shaw, the father of Robert and J.C. Shaw, purchased a small dye company. Originally named Star Dye Company, it produced scatter rugs and bedspreads. By 1958 Robert Shaw took on the role of CEO in the company, jointly owned by both brothers. The company greatly expanded production, clearing $300,000 in sales. Soon the brothers began carpet finishing under the name Shaw Industries.

In 1967, J.C. Shaw created a holding company in order to acquire other carpeting ventures. The first was the Philadelphia Carpet Company, originally founded in 1846, followed by Star Finishing a year later. The acquisition of Star Finishing marked the Shaw brother’s first venture into carpet manufacturing. In 1971, the holding company – called Shaw Industries – went public, by this time employing more than 900 people while seeing more than $43 million in annual sales. By 1985 the company expanded its sales to more than $500 million and employed almost 5,000 people, earning its first appearance in the Fortune 500 list.

In 1999, Shaw Industries saw sales of more than $4 billion, and merged with both Queen Carpets and Cabin Crafts and Sutton. Eventually Julian Saul, whose father Harry Saul founded Queen, became president of Shaw, retiring in June of 2006.

Shaw Industries was sold to the holding company of Warren E. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., on January 4, 2001 under the leadership of then-CEO and President, W. Norris Little, Sr. and CEO Bob Shaw.

Under the direction of current CEO, Vance Bell, and current President Randy Merritt, Shaw continues to maintain $4 billion in annual sales and 22,300 employees.