F&FI’s Top 25 Wholesalers in NORTH AMERICA Business is picking up! Who is leading the charge back to prominence?
Pages 21-25
Vol. 21, No.2
125 Years of Création
Philippe Baumann celebrates Création Baumann’s 125 years with a new curtain collection and expansion plans
Page 26
Nextleather IS here to stay
Design Resouces’ Alan Naness says bonded leather is better than the real thing
Page 20
The Global Home & Contract Furnishings Newspaper • www.fabricsandfurnishings.com
Spring 2011
Kravet Wins Bid, Purchases 111-Year-Old Brunschwig & Fils Initial Bid Listed at $6.5 million Following Chapter XI Bankruptcy Protection by Marc Weinreich
N
EW YORK, New York — After 111 years in operation, Brunschwig & Fils, the preeminent design-house of home furnishings, was sold through an auction process to Kravet, one of the largest privately held distributors of fabrics and luxury home furnishings in the world. The company filed for Chapter XI bankruptcy protection in January and the auction, which saw a bidding war between
Kravet and Sovereign Partners, the real estate firm formed in 2008, was held on March 7 and later approved by the bankruptcy court on March 9. “We’re very excited about the acquisition of Brunschwig & Fils,” said Cary Kravet, CEO of Kravet, in an exclusive interview with F&FI. “It’s the iconic name brand in our industry. We will endeavor to preserve what is great about the brand and bring it to new heights of excellence.”
Kravet was the stalking horse in the bidding process from the initial filing. Numerous international strategic and financial investors withdrew from the beginning once
At Evteks, Raw Material Hikes Prompt Indian Mills to Grade Up by S. Vishwanath
I
Cary Kravet
Italian Designers Create Niche Fabrics for Innovative Architecture Sipco News Network
M
ILAN, Italy — Italian architects see the future of the Italian textile industry in the development of niche fabrics and technologies for innovative applications. The architects spoke at a Proposte press conference in February. “The expression ‘textile architecture’ is a fairly new Credit: B. Ball
Courtyard of M&A Gallery, Los Angeles
discipline and emphasizes the innovative applications of textiles in building practices, thanks to the experimentation of new industrial technologies and a new interest of architects and engineers in lightweight, translucent and transparent buildings,” said Alessandra Zanelli, assistant professor at the Faculty of (Continued on pg 10)
it had been confirmed that Kravet had placed an initial bid of $6.5 million, including an agreement to finance the company during its restructuring. (Continued on pg 14)
Credit: C. Guizzo
Finmeccanica Pavilion
stanbul, Turkey — Evteks 2011 will offer new solutions and fresh designs with an emphasis on flexible manufacturing mantras. India is employing various strategies to combat the challenge of offering affordable products amid rising production costs. Beginning with the fourth quarter of 2010, the export market in India has been faced with new challenges in inflation and specifically with the rising cost of raw materials. The market in India is offering steady prices on a year-toyear basis but has become untenable as prices for cotton and viscose are up more than 70%. Polyester prices have gone up 50% and show no sign of flattening. “Replacing or reducing cotton and viscose is tricky,” said Rajjneesh Aroraa, vice chairman of Dicitex Furnishings. “We increased prices in November, 2010 by 10 to 12% and again in January by five percent. Export pricing is based on the basis of each order and a negotiated
price is possible because some buyers will wait but often don’t realize that prices are going to continue to increase.” As a solution towards offering reasonable prices, Aroraa and his creative team are preparing more polyester in velvets as well as more in the chenille range. “An upholstery line with less viscose and cotton but more polyester is a good option to contain prices while a new range of sheers will have fancier yarns in the weft,” said Aroraa. “New piece dyed jacquard collections will be priced at about six to eight dollars per meter and will be offered in 20 colors and in six designs,” he said. GM Fabrics opines that importers should also create an awareness among customers of the spiraling input costs and compel them to accept the higher prices. “The non-stop price increase of inputs is alarming,” said Gurvinder Singh, managing director, G.M. Fabrics Pvt Limited, Mumbai, (Continued on pg 20)