OCONOMOWOC — Entrepreneur Keith Stewart and his wife, Laurie, are fading and ripped upholsteries’ worst enemies.

The Stewarts recently became the new owners of Oconomowoc’s Fibrenew, an upholstery repair and restoration service. Fibrenew repairs, re-dyes, restores and cleans leather, plastic, vinyl and fabric. Basically, if there’s faded or ripped fabric, Keith Stewart will do everything he can to bring it back to life.

Stewart works with furniture, cars, boats and even planes. There was even a time he had to reupholster 61 chairs for a Cousins Subs that was reopening. He had a little bit of help from Laurie Stewart and his father-inlaw on that one.

Keith Stewart became an entrepreneur after spending his entire post-college life in the metal industry, where he commercially heat-treated metal.

 A leather chair that was ruined by a dog

He enjoyed his time doing it, but after several years of doing it he realized there isn’t a lot of change or innovation in the field.

“We used to joke that heat treating is the second oldest profession,” Stewart said. “It goes back to the Middle Ages if not earlier. There isn’t anything going on and frankly, it was just boring. It was more interesting to try and do something new.”

So he tried something new. With the help of a franchise coach, Stewart spent a year researching businesses he wanted to be a part of. The business coach found Fibrenew and presented it to Stewart.

Along with Laurie, Keith Stewart spent time talking to the local development person in Hartford about the company. He spent a day shadowing a franchisee in Chicago and when he decided the business was right for him, he approached the former owner, who was looking to retire... read more!