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From Home Furnishing Business
Corsicana Expands Product Innovation Team, Adds Style and Design to Value Segment
June 19,
2019 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
Taking steps to deliver more style, innovation and upscale design to the value segment of the mattress category, Corsicana Mattress has appointed two new product managers, David Cartlidge and Christi Fitch, to its product innovation team.
“We’re staunch believers that many of the same style components found in luxury mattresses can be applied to the value segment of the market to give more consumers access to a better sleep experience,” said Michael Thompson, CEO of Corsicana Mattress. “We are committed to delivering great product at hyper-competitive prices, and we’re doing it through great innovation and design.”
The new positions are designed to facilitate the company’s strategy of bringing product to the marketplace swiftly, and add to Corsicana’s innovative design approach to the promotional and mid-tier segments.
Cartlidge, veteran Art Van Furniture buyer and merchandiser, has been named senior product manager, while Fitch, most recently the product development and design manager at furniture and mattress importer Southern Enterprises, has been named product manager. Both are based at the company’s Dallas headquarters and report to Mike Loomis, vice president of product development and innovation.
Cartlidge is responsible for developing customer-specific products, as well as new product lines. He also will oversee a large portion of Corsicana’s existing product portfolio and assess productivity of various SKUs.
Cartlidge was with Art Van for 10 years, most recently as the Top 100 Retailer’s mattress buyer. He developed the product line for the company’s PureSleep specialty stores and bedding departments, and also launched a bed-in-a-box program as part of PureSleep’s e-commerce merchandising strategy.
Fitch will help develop a variety of new mattress and bedding programs and will assist with the design and merchandising of Corsicana’s Las Vegas Market showroom. She had been the product development and design manager at Southern Enterprises for nearly eight years, where she designed and developed new products, set trend positions for the company, as well as the merchandising for the company’s myCloud mattress program.
Fitch holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in merchandising and marketing from the University of North Texas.