PINEHURST, N.C.–With almost 40 years of experience, rug industry veteran Norm Sweeters has formed Sweeters Consulting, LLC, which will provide sourcing, product development and purchasing capabilities to both domestic and internationally based companies.

A third generation rug man, Sweeters began his career with Pande Cameron & Co. of N.Y., a leading importer of hand-knotted rugs from India. Pande then bought Fritz & LaRue Co., another leading rug importer, in 1986, which Sweeters headed until 1990. Sweeters later founded and was chief executive officer of Mastercraft Imports, which specialized in high-end machine made rugs from Europe and hand-knotted rugs from India.

Capel Rugs purchased Mastercrafts inventory in 2003 and hired Sweeters as managing director of imports, a post he held until this month. 

“Many companies today who want to become more dominant in the rug business oftentimes remain on the fence for fear of making poor decisions on who to work with overseas—and rightly so,” Sweeters said. “We can eliminate the guesswork and nullify many of the risks by setting people up with talented, honorable sources for product through proper procedures only gained through many years of experience and success.”

The company can be reached at 910-986-4777 or normsweeters@gmail.com.