Jules Di Bartolomeo

Kresta Holdings Limited (KHL) is an ASX-listed company responsible for a host of different brands in the retail, manufacturing, and wholesale of window furnishings. The company has two national brands—Kresta Blinds and Vista Window Coverings—in its stable, together with three well-known regional brands: Décor2Go, with five stores in Western Australia; Ace of Shades, which is a small boutique awnings business based out of Victoria; and Curtain Wonderland, which is a very large retailer with stores in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. There’s also the company’s manufacturing and wholesale arm, Mardo.

CEO of Kresta Holdings Jules Di Bartolomeo sat down to discuss the organisation’s manufacturing and retail operations and explained how he took the struggling group from lacklustre to reclaiming its place at the top of the market.

"Kresta commenced manufacturing and retail operations over 40 years ago, and both activities continue to work quite well for us today. Retaining a level of manufacturing in Australia allows for more innovation than if we were only outsourcing or just in retail. We find the manufacturing actually keeps us quite sharp in relation to product improvement and innovation. If you only look to bring in overseas products, which a lot of our competitors do, then you’re very much tailored to copying what’s out there rather than innovating".