Fabrics & Furnishings - Winter 2011 Issue by Fabrics & Furnishings International

Ausen Design Center For Furniture

Babei’s BellaBello New china Brand

Hospitality Goes Through the Roof at richloom

Page 11

Page 26

Page 10

Hunter Zhang

Yak Wang

Glenda Spangler

e F Ha &FI ll at 4. He 1 im -F t oy ex er til 12 20 1

Vol. 22, No. 1

The Global Home & Contract Furnishings Newspaper • www.fabricsandfurnishings.com

Winter 2011/2012

Euroart Beijing Delivers High End Western Fabric Brands To Hungry, Rich, Chinese Designers, Clients JAB, Kobe Success in China Market Attracts Many More Players into Growing Business by Eric Schneider

HANGHAI, PRC — After 12 years in business, Euroart Beijing Company owner Ricky Lu is looking at a $20 million business as he leads China into higher end American and European fabrics with no let-up in demand for his imported residential lines. While Lu is one of the leading wholesalers of high end fabrics in China today, he is getting plenty of company from the likes of JAB, Harmontex, Yada and Morphrow and others, Morphrow specializes

in bringing supplier lines to China instead of editor lines. Harmontex, a major wholesaler of contract lines in China nas just entered the residential picture. Babei has opened its first BellaBello showroom in Hangzhou with others to follow. “We’re just at the beginning stages of Chinese fabric culture,” Lu said. “The customer needs to learn more about decorating. For example, the Chinese customer thinks that curtains should be soft while in Europe, curtains can be

heavy and stiff “Euroart deals only with residential fabrics and not contract because contract is a copy area. We don’t want to see our suppliers’ fabrics copied in China!” Lu explains that his focus on residential brings profit. He sells through books. In addition to his imported lines, he intends to launch his own lifestyle collection including furniture and lamps to the Chinese market in 2012. He says that wellheeled Chinese consumers and

CryptonHome, Residential Crypton App, Gains Major Residential Furniture Sales

designers want the real stuff made in the West and not the Chinese knock-offs. His customers often are well educated, urban bound women and their designers. He emphasizes his name brands like Catala which are sold to the furniture manufacturer in China. Imported Euroart lines now include Kravet (USA), Romo (UK), Andrew Martin (UK), Kobe Ricky Lu (Holland), Alhambra, Liso, Pepe Penalver and Catala of Spain; He also offers floral designs from Algemene (Belgium), Imatex Covington Fabric & Design (USA) (Italy) and Penelope of Turkey. which are (Continued on page 8)

Ragolle Adds Contract Line

Sipco News Network

Randy and Craig Rubin

EST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan — Crypton, an 18 year old contract fabric phenomenon has finally cracked the residential code for residential fabric sales with CryptonHome. “The new residential program racked up ten furniture manufacturer participants this year as soon as it hit the market,” said Randy Rubin, co-founder of Crypton with her husband Craig. Crypton has partnered with American Leather, Century, Comfort Designs, Frontgate, Gloster, Hancock & Moore, Henredon, Jessica Charles, Kolcraft, Lazar, Rowe, Taylor King, Thayer Coggin, and Woodard. These higher end manufacturers are offering CryptonHome in the middle price ranges of their lines. All CryptonHome products are made in the USA, using environmentally friendly processes. At the same time, CryptonHome has struck pay dirt with Hollander, a major bedding manufacturer (Continued on page 11)

See story inside on page 31 Roseline Ragolle, president of Ragolle, Guy Parmentier, export manager Add Contract

F&FI L E T T E R S

Letter to the Editor

The Global Home & Contract Furnishings Newspaper

t was very nice to see you again at MoOD, but unfortunately we had not enough time to talk to you about our future plans that we already started to realize. Our company Metridis, as you know, is since 1927 in Greece and we are already in the 4th generation. The crisis in Greece is very deep, so we have thought to expand our activities in the Balkan countries and the East European countries. We have already started to have agents in different countries with basic target to open showrooms of our company to these countries. We are very close to succeed in this goal in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and other countries and we will continue to the other countries. Our basic “weapon” is the fantastic upholstery fabric MAGICAL, which we buy from our friend Mayer Zeiler of Flocktex (its designs and its unique technical characteristics have been explained to you analytically from Mr. Zeiler in the Fair). From the beginning of this year, our export department that we have built, has managed to export to countries like: Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Tunisia, Dubai, Qatar. In our field, we are the only Greek company who is doing exports. In order to support exports, we have established another new warehouse, which has more than 1.500.000€ of products and which we use exclusively for the exports. Your friend, George Metridis

Metridis is a five story, 800 square meter showroom in Athens, Greece which has been reconstructed by its owners George and his Manolis so it can provide all design services to its clients.

E ditorial & P ublishing

Table of Contents F&FI Winter 2011/2012 | Vol. 22, No. 1 Large Marketplace Emerges in China for Home Furnishings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Velvet Gives Flock Fabrics New Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Veteran Nunnally Heads Up Duro Decorative Import Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Richloom Shanghai’s Spangler Says: “Hospitality Goes Through The Roof” . . . . . . . . . . 10 Devantex Velvets Tries to Win Through Constant Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 KETS Offers Stain Relief, New Outdoor Fabric Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Ausen Design Center Opens Xingbang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 High, Volatile Silk Prices Make Way for Cheaper Polyester, Viscose Substitutes . . . . . . . . 11 Niche Businesses That Thrive in the Textile Industry, Also Win Blue Drop Awards . . . . . . 12 Hulshof Turns Leather Into Garden Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Carrara, Partners Bring New Ideas To Torri Lana, Founded in 1885 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 De Kabels Is One of the Last Handblock Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Nelson Mandela Inspires Marcovaldo’s African Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Dicitex Furnishings Unveils Major Book Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Yilmaz Group Buys Marsteks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Strydom Opens Intertex; Romo Leaves Fabric Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Flocktex Continues Its Phenomenal Run With Impala Velsoft® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 After 11 Years, Schmidt Rejoins Valdese Weavers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Collins Drives Thornbers, Busby & Busby Export Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Brunschwig & Fils Refreshed Paris Showroom, Features All Kravet Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 LIJ Emergency Room Gets Kravet Boost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Kowalczyk Named Robert Allen Group CEO; replaces J. Cordover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Contract/HospitalityNews

Contract Supplier Harmontex Adds Residential Fabric Lines From West . . . . . . . . . . . . . Babei Launches BellaBello Brand to Penetrate Domestic China Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z-Wovens Offers New Upholstery Line, U.S. Warehouse On-Stream At Year End . . . . . . .

A d v ertising S ales

TURKEY Sevim Keskinci Tel: 90.532.236.25.24 Fax: 90.216.390.20.27 E-Mail: skeskinci@gmail.com

INDIA Rekha V. Tel: 91.80.26685821 Fax: 91.80.26684670 E-mail: s_wishwanath@hotmail.com

Italy, Germany, Spain, France Isa Hofmann Tel: +49 611.890.59640 Fax: +49 611.87086 Email: info@ihofmann.com

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Departments Photo Gallery - MoOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34-35 Photo Gallery - Shanghai Intertextile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Advertiser Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 4

Art Director Roxanne Clapp Tel: 001.813.991.1860 E-Mail: rox@sipco.net

DIOLEN® SAFE FR Goes Head To Head With Trevira ®CS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lebatex Inc. Converts All New Stacy Garcia Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ragolle Throws Its Hat in the Contract Ring for the First Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Naturtex Weaves Leather, Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Global Marketplace

EDITOR & PUBLISHER USA, EUROPE & CHINA Eric Schneider Tel: 001.917.251.9922 E-Mail: eric@sipco.net

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Nader and Nadira are proud parents

am proud to announce that I came out to this world on September 13, 2011 at 8 AM in Malang - Indonesia with not bad length and weight to start, 49.5 cm and 2.9 kg. from my great mother Nadira. My father is very proud of me, so I will accept the nomination to carry his name to be : ~Rami Nader Oubari

Rami Nader Oubari

Winter 2011/2012 n

F FI NE W S (Continued from front cover)

Euroart Beijing Delivers High End Western Fabric Brands To Hungry Chinese Buyers gaining traction in the Chinese market, he says. Kobe has five lifestyle showrooms in China monitored by Lu as the importer. He also recently inked a deal with

Vanelli, the leading Turkish brand. Lu buys 100 pieces at a time and sells from stock kept in his Beijing warehouse. “We have enough suppliers of better goods. In fact, we are thinking of reducing this number in the future.” While Lu markets his products in his multi line fabric/furniture showrooms, other companies like

Designer Award Photos

Babei’s newly launched Bella Bello® brand in the Derlook, Hangzhou showroom and JAB’s newly minted showroom in the Ausen Design Center in Xinbang Town 30 minutes from downtown Shanghai favor a broader, lifestyle approach to home furnishings. “American lifestyle sells well in China,” the 42 year old Lu maintains. “Kobe too, sells classic lifestyle and traditional fabrics with a contemporary touch in its ‘Easy Home’ shop in shops in Beijing, Shanghai, Tsingdao, Shenyang and in Wuhan this past March. Kobe fabric is marketed in high end furniture showrooms. The retailer in those areas owns the 400 square meter Kobe shop. There is an expanding market for Euroart with other retailers,” Lu said. He is also creating a shop for Andrew Martin in Beijing. Kobe brands are often marketed with Andrew Martin fabrics in China, he said, “but on different floors of the same stores.” Euroart sells to three distinct

Shanghai Showroom

Designer Award Photos

Above and Right: Beijing Showroom markets: upholstery wholesalers; decorators and the retailer. Price points range from 300-1,000 RMB or $45 to $150 per meter. “Chinese currency is getting stronger and consumers want the real high end brands of fabrics. With a population of 1.4 billion people, about 10 percent of the market is rich enough to afford the very best. That’s 140 million potential customers I am trying to reach through the designer only,” he said. He has a team of three designers who create the shops for Euroart. Lu also has an annual event for designers who are eligible to win a design contest for the best planned rooms. The ‘Oscar Design’ winners are taken out to dinner with an award ceremony in Beijing for the best designs each November. Andrew Martin has a similar event in the UK which Lu is imitating but Lu is also part of the Andrew Martin design contest. Sometimes the work of five or six Chinese designers is shown in the

Andrew Martin book designed for the contest winners each year. “We actually have design concepts in China and not just copies of some other foreign designers’ ideas.” With these awards, Lu celebrates the Chinese interior designer. As part of his work, he attends Maison Objet in Paris and Decorex. Lu was originally involved with the Chinese Railway Academy before entering the fabric field. His mother was a foreign language specialist, speaking seven languages. She spoke Czech and had ties to the European Railway System. After railroads, Lu migrated towards open end spinning machines and the textile trade. F&FI

Kobe Store Beijing

Shenzhen fair

Euroart’s Shanghai Showroom

Large Marketplace Emerges in China for Home Furnishings China is Estimated to have over 600 million middle class citizens by 2015 By Vishwanath.S

HANGHAI, China — Shanghai now well established as the world’s factory that produces and supplies home textiles for global markets, is now being targeted as a large market place for furnishings.

China is likely to have over 600 million middle class citizens by 2015. The China State Information Centre considers that those earning 50,000 Yuan ($6,227) per year to be middle class & the monthly income is only growing northwards. The increased exhibitors at

Intertextile Shanghai from Europe and Turkey during 29-31 August 2011 were a clear pointer to explore Chinese market. The event had 1,159 exhibitors from 27 countries 41,018 visitors from 107 countries. More exhibitors from Spain, Italy Maasisimo Tchen, owner & Mario Molteni, Technical Advisor (Continued on page 37) and Turkey

www.fabricsandfurnishings.com

Winter 2011/2012 n

F FI NE W S

Velvet Gives Flock Fabrics New Life, Increased Sales Microfibres, Spectro Coating Benefit With Diverse End Use Markets by Eric Schneider

INSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — As the demand for velvet increases at the expense of leather and chenille fabrics in the furniture industry, Microfibres and Spectro in Leominster, MA., two of the last surviving flock producers in the U.S. are benefiting through more sales of its premium nylon flock lines. “There is a shortage of velvet worldwide,” said Tom Himes, vice president, business development for Microfibres. Flock lends itself to creating a velvet that is fashionable and durable in a variety of deniers from micro (less than one denier) to 1.8 denier. “The future of our business lies in innovation. Right now, we are flocking cotton, cotton/ linen and viscose in natural and patterned goods with jacquard velvet looks on natural grounds for $8-$9.00,” he said. “Flocking is still the most efficient way to make a pile

fabric,” Himes said. He pointed out that faux suede is not growing as a category the way it used to but velvet iss taking up the charge. Microfibres is selling Infinesse®, a double flock for the contract market that turns in 100,000 double rubs on the Weisenbeek Test, Himes said. This is achieved through flocking and printing on a fancy substrate, priced at $6.50-$8.50 a yard. This follows up ‘Lux’, a $9.50 a yard fabric double flocked on a dyed heavyweight substrate. It is flocked, piece dyed and embossed, Himes explained. Microfibres still sells tons of flock in the $3.50-$5.00 range to motion and stationary furniture manufacturers but it has been successful in trading up the category to higher price-points. The company also imports cotton, cotton/linen blends into the U.S. through its Nanfang dyeing and printing facility in Foshan City, China. Microfibres prints in Winston-Salem, fiber

dyes in Pawtucket, RI and in its European plant in Laarne, Belgium. Microfibres exports U.S. production to Europe and China and exports European production to China. Spectro Coating Corp. is having a similar experience to Microfibres with its line of Primo 500 double flocked goods in the hospitality industry in 45 fiber dyed colors at $7.95. Spectro has had sales of this product to Europe under the name Primera. Spectro is also introducing Alpine, a $6.50 nylon single flock velvet with a simply Nano finish. Unlike Microfibres, however, Spectro is limited to fiber dyeing with a lack of wet printing facilities at its disposal. “There is no domestic producer of velvet left in America,” said Hemendra Shah, principal of Spectro. J.B. Martin produces velvet in Mexico, he pointed out. Spectro has been diversifying into non home furnishings areas in the past few years, making it a

stronger player as other flockers like Intermark and Terpel have folded. “We’re only 20 percent in home furnishings today. We sell flock fibers through our Claremont division and fabrics to other manufacturers and different industries including automotive and military markets,” Hemendra said. He works with his

son Raj in Leominster, MA. Spectro has cobbled together a unique sales team which now includes Susan Brehm, export manager and formerly with Intermark; Wayne Turcot, sales manager for Spectro and Johnny Keeton handles sales to the hospitality industry through converters and jobbers. F&FI

Hemendra and Raj Shah

Veteran Nunnally Heads Up Duro Decorative Import Business Sipco News Network

business four years ago,” Nunnally ALL RIVER, Massachusetts explained, “in the low to middle — Duro Industries, a wet price range.” Since then, Duro print and pigment textile printer, has traded up its line. Nunnally has thrown its hat into the uphol- has been a consultant to Duro stery ring with a line of imported but he joined the operation fullChinese made fabrics with pro- time one year ago and is trying to prietary designs to be shown at diversify sales of the Duro line to include jobbers, distributors and Showtime. Jack Nunnally, veteran fab- retail accounts. “The line is woven ric marketer, is director of sales/ in Hangzhou but the designs are operations for Duro Decorative ours alone,” he said. “In the last six Fabrics. The line of 54 inch woven months, we have had some sucjacquards includes silk blends and cess with furniture manufacturers some chenille priced in the $7.95- and several jobbers as customers,” $14.95 range landed duty paid he said. Duro also produces a line Fall River. Minimums are only of fabrics for Neiman Marcus. It also counts customers in the mili50 yards Duro Industries is a division of tary and apparel fabric markets. F&FI Patriarch Partners, a $5.6 billion conglomerate which now includes Croscill Mfg. Nunnally is backed up by Joe Gatta; senior vice president, operations at Duro Industries and Xu Cai, director of Chinese operations. Edward Ricci is the president of Duro. “We entered the home furnishings Xu Cai, Joe Gatta, Jack Nunnally,

Winter 2011/2012 n

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F FI NE W S

Richloom Shanghai’s Spangler Says: “Hospitality Goes Through The Roof” Dubai Hotel Business Turns Up Again by Eric Schneider

hanghai, PRC — A resurgence of the hospitality business in the Middle East, especially in Dubai is back on track giving Richloom Shanghai Trading Ltd. a 30 percent boost in business in 2011, according to Glenda Spangler, a fifth year American émigré to China. Richloom has nailed contracts for the Conrad Hilton Dubai and the Millennium Dubai hotels, she said. This includes upholstery, soft furnishings and top of bed ‘R-Bed,’

the Richloom hospitality bedding brand. This line has also taken off in the USA, Spangler pointed out. Richloom does a lot of China to China business in addition to exporting its China made lines to the USA, she said. “We produce uniquely designed products not available elsewhere in China today. There is a globalization of trends making it easy for us to sell our ideas in the Chinese domestic market,” she said. As vice president of global sourcing for Richloom, Spangler is one of the top executives at

Richloom Shanghai, a 60 person group, an independent company established by Richloom USA six years ago. Spangler started with the parent company 22 years ago. Spangler’s boss is Nolan Mitchell, the general manager of Richloom’s Shanghai group for the past year. “Richloom Shanghai has grown in all areas but especially in hospitality sales in domestic China. We also export to Australia and New Zealand and South Africa which has doubled for us in the last year.” “Right now, the Chinese are developing their residential

RUSSELS, Belgium — “We believe we can double our sales by exporting to China alone,” said Ivan Vandekerckhove, chief executive of Devantex nv, a woven velvet producer based in Deerlijk that was started by his father in the 1950’s. Devantex is the firm most admired by Enzo Angiouni, an important Italian weaver who has turned his efforts to producing velvets. Velvets are back in style big time and there aren’t enough producers to fill the demand. Devantex only produces velvets and has done so for over 50 years now. “There were many Chinese buyers at MoOD this year as well as Indians and Russians. We met many new customers at MoOD. It was better than we expected this

year,” he said. Devantex sales are in the eight million Euro range so doubling them would lead to a 16 million Euro business he confirmed. Devantex is a niche velvet producer which relies on Morphrow, the importer and distributor of the Devantex line in China. His latest hot look is Navajo (shown right). “We took the used carpet look found in carpets and translated it into upholstery,” he said. The Devantex line sells in the 15-22 Euro range. Recently, Devantex started a Trevira® CS collection. “We’re very different from Turkish velvet producers because of our diverse styling capabilities. This has to do with the technology developed over so many years. The 50 employee firm has innovated velvets using special modifications of Vandewiele looms,

(4 Issues) Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

Mustafa Ragip Ip with Adam Mutlu product.” KETS hopes this advantage puts them ahead of the competition in the customers’ eyes in what has become (continues on page 24)

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URSA, Turkey — Kadifeteks, (KETS) considered the largest upholstery mill in Turkey today, producing 1.5 million meters of fabric each month, has added ‘EasyLife’ stain release capabilities to its new polyester based fabric lines as an added benefit to its customers with no additional product cost as well as a new line of outdoor fabrics named ‘Sunline.’ The KETS brand is also working on an Easy-Life formulation for its acrylic lines in the near future, according to Mustafa Ragip IP, marketing manager. “We’re strong in acrylic chenille production and we are still working on the EasyLife finish here. The fluorochemical technology makes it possible to remove stains with soap and water,” he said. “The technology is being offered as a benefit to the customer without any increase in the cost of

Ivan Vandekerckhove

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Glenda Spangler

KETS Offers Stain Relief, New Outdoor Fabric Lines

Devantex Velvets Tries to Win Through Constant Innovation Sipco News Network

cocoons choosing natural and linen like fibers, even if the fibers are 100 percent polyester. They like the natural story. The disposable attitude is changing here. People are investing in their home for the first time.” Spangler said a high end sofa sells for $3-$5,000 while entry level is at $1-$2,000. “China has the largest and youngest population (in their 30’s) in the world today with 20-25 percent of its 1.4 billion population comprising a growing middle class with a huge appetite for domestic consumption,” (continues on page 18)

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F FI NE W S

Ausen Design Center Opens Xingbang; Downtown Shanghai Bund Location Debuts Top Brands 2012 Sipco News Network

INBANG TOWN, China—The creators of the Ausen IDC designer showroom in Xinbang has announced the 2012 opening of a new project in downtown Shanghai right off the Bund and right next to the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Hotel which opened this past summer. While the IDC project contains 237,000 square feet on four floors in Building A and 19.500 square feet in Building B, the new showroom project on the Bund will offer smaller spaces to couture lines of Western furniture and fabrics by brand. “Customers who didn’t buy into the Ausen IDC often said they wanted to be in the Bund area so now they have a location that meets their needs with our new

location,” said Hunter Zhang, owner and CEO of AUSEN Real Estate Development (Shanghai) CO., Ltd., developer of both projects. Zhang is extremely energetic and his enthusiasm is contagious about the IDC projects. He said that he has overseen every detail of its design and construction. Ausen is the name of his original company founded in Australia. The company brochure states that “Shanghai, already a world leader in fashion, art and architecture, and China’s chicest city, is ready to take a lead position in the world of interior design. The residential interior design industry in China is relatively young, literally and figuratively, and IDC intends to play a large role in helping that industry mature and develop, by

High, Volatile Silk Prices Make Way for Cheaper Polyester, Viscose Substitutes

Indian Silk Furnishing Exporters Find Royal Lustrous Silk Losing its Shine and Commercially Unviable by Vishwanath. S

angalore, India —Indian silk exporters for three decades were the most smiling community but are now distressed facing multiple problems to earn a decent profit to stay on course. “ We are strained as silk yarn prices have touched $54 a kilo and for a long time the prices were around $ 24-28: And onslaught of polyester and viscose imitations have replaced silk furnishings in many applications like in upholstery and drapery range”, said S. K. Loyalka, managing Director, Zenith Exports limited, Bangalore. Many exporters like Zenith are in similar situation and Loyalka feels silk is silk and will regain its prominence when market conditions improve. But some damages in the market place may be irreversible as blended fabrics substitutes look silky and are easy to care. Viscose and Polyester blends have taken substantial sheen of pure silk market share making silk weaving commercially unviable. Importantly advanced western silk blended weaving with classy design & aesthetics that impart required elements for easy care and draping has remained a monopoly of Italian weavers, which is largely untouched by Indian silk companies. Labour-intensive Raj K.G & Sunil. K.R, Export Executives silk sericulture farmers (these are future owners of the company) in China prefer urban of Swan Silks (PVT) Limited, Bangalore,

(Continued on page 16)

Winter 2011/2012 n

educating consumers about the value and need for professional help in designing their increasingly large and western style homes.” There are many luxurious home in the Xinbang area which need to be furnished, said William Grenewald, the veteran designer showroom consultant retained to help with the leasing. The location of IDC is adjacent to the Hukun Expressway which connects Shanghai to Hangzhou and less than 30 minutes to the Honqiao Airport Zhang has brought class to the Chinese furniture trade with the opening of Ausen IDC last July, the first high end furniture showroom to the trade in China and with the new project on the Bund, he is offering Western suppliers of furniture and fabric and accessories a tasty package

to get one’s feet wet in the burgeoning China market for high end furnishings. Over half the space is leased at the Ausen Design Center with a new 72 room Golden Tulip hotel rising on the same property to accommodate Hunter Zhang designers and their clients. The building interior finishes are of a very high quality and represents a new standard for future design centers in China. There are

(Continued from front cover)

many amenities incorporated for the buyer including coffee bars, meeting rooms and a designers’ club on the fourth floor (Continued on page 16)

moisture and bacteria,” Randy said. Consumers will experience the new CryptonHome brand via partnerships with major furniture manufacturers. CryptonHome changes the configuration of the fibers in the fabric permanently so that stains, moisture and microbial organisms are repelled,” Randy added. “As ‘living clean’ became more important to Americans, we watched as our fabrics and products took hold in the residential marketplace, which rapidly grew to represent 30% of our business,” said Randy Rubin, co-founder of Crypton. “With our expansion into homes across America, households, especially those with children and pets, can live comfortably without concern for spills and stains.” For several years, the company has created products for the consumer home space including both juvenile and pet products, such as: pet beds and ‘Throvers,’ blankets that look like a blanket, but act like a tarp; nursery rockers and crib mattresses; aprons, placemats and pillows; umbrellas, tote bags and duffle bags; cleaners for upholstery, leather, vinyl, and pets. In order to support the launch of CryptonHome, Crypton developed a new logo, as well as created the tagline, “Now You Can.” This tagline signifies that consumers can now have stain, liquid and odorcausing bacteria resistant sofas and furniture that are easy-to-clean right in their own homes. The company also re-launched its Facebook page, garnering more than 25,000 new fans in less than 24 hours. CryptonHome’s Facebook page is filled with design and stain removal tips, product information, coupons and giveaways. To learn more about CryptonHome and its product line, visit www.cryptonathome.com or facebook.com/cryptonhome. F&FI

CryptonHome Gains Major Residential Furniture Sales which has brought the product to major mass merchants of bedding in the USA. “Within the next two years, we expect to launch CryptonHome in China for the domestic furniture market,” Randy said. Sunbury Mills and Valdese Weavers are involved in providing the fabrics in the CryptonHome program according to Randy Rubin. The finished fabrics are made in Kings Mountain, N.C. at Crypton’s facility. Crypton is also converting solid textures in a wide color range as part of the CryptonHome program, she said. The fabrics are priced in the $7-$15 range for the furniture manufacturer which is a lower price range than offered in the Crypton contract program, she added. “Right now many of the jobbers are selling CryptonHome products to the designers,” she said. “CryptonHome should have a significant impact on our overall sales,” Randy said. “Crypton manufactures eco-friendly performance fabrics and products, and CryptonHome is now offered on products featuring furniture, pet beds and performance fabrics,” she said. Like Crypton in the contract field, CryptonHome products repel stains and liquids, and fight odor-causing bacteria. The specs are at a different level with CryptonHome, one suitable for the home environment, Randy said. The new product is also one of three finalists to be considered for the Sage Award, given to the furniture industry for environmental excellence. “Frequently used in top restaurants, major hotel chains, offices and hospitals throughout the world, like McDonald’s, Hilton Hotels, PNC Bank and P.F. Chang’s, Crypton watched its fabrics rapidly gain popularity for residential use because of its ability to repel stains,

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Niche Businesses That Thrive in the Textile Industry, Also Win Blue Drop Awards At MoOD Brussels Hulshof Turns Leather Into Garden Soil by Eric Schneider

RUSSELS, Belgium — Hulshof Royal Dutch Tanneries, a completely vertical tanner, has developed a biodegradable leather which can be buried in a landfill or garden and turned into compost in just six weeks, according to Dr. Herman M.H.M Hulshof, chairman, who says he was born in the tannery where he has been since 1981. He questions why so many manufacturers coat their leather with plastic instead of using aniline

Drs Herman M.H.M. Hulshof

leather with all of its defects. He said that more aniline leather will be sold in the future as consumers demand the natural leather. Hulshof expects to develop a line of biodegradable leather sport shoes for Nike in the future but for now, he wears a pair of green biodegradable leather sport shoes just to promote the new idea. Hulshof also exports its product to Hong Kong and China, Dubai and the USA. About 80 percent of the business is geared to export. Hulshof began its business in 1876. He supplies high end hides to Roux in France; Hoffmans in Germany and Townsend in USA. Long-term, he said that tanneries will decrease making Hulshof even more of a niche brand. Although the Hulshof biodegradable leather is currently only available in green or blue, Hulshof expects that dyestuffs in other colors will eventually become available. “This is a novelty item without a big turnover yet,” he said just after winning a Blue Drop award from MoOD for the innovative leather. “We charge a 10-20 percent premium for biodegradable leather and when you calculate the real cost to the environment of leather that does not decompose in the landfill, what we charge is cheap in comparison to the cost of real leather which lasts 100 years!” He said that in general, “there are more people but less hides available so in the long run, leather prices must go up.” Hulshof is a leather entrepreneur. He has (Continued on page 37)

Carrara, Partners Bring New Ideas To Torri Lana, Founded in 1885 Sipco News Network

ANDINO, Italy — Torri Lana has launched a new outdoor collection named ‘Dehors,’ which means ‘outdoors’ in French. The new collection was the brainchild of Luca Carrara who thought the 12 employee ‘boutique’ weaver needed a product facelift after 126 years. Carrara, principal of Torri Lana, bought the company in September 2010 from the same family hands who had owned it since 1885. Prior to purchasing the company, Carrara was involved with Lineapiu for 26 years. This is a major Florence, Italy based yarn supplier. The Dehors collection uses Dolan® acrylic fiber and has won a Blue Drop Award from MoOD this year. Dehors is priced from 18-30 Euros per meter as compared to Torri Lana indoor fabrics at 12-26 Euros per meter. Carrara’s other two partners are Simone Bissani and Massimo Belotti. Torri Lana has a showroom in Milan. F&FI

Luca Carrara, principal of Torri Lana, Gandino, Italy

De Kabels Is One of the Last Handblock Printers Sipco News Network

Rob and Michele Viool, owners of De Kabels Amsterdam b.v

LMERE, The Netherlands — De Kabels Amsterdam b.v., a handprinter since 1935 is designing with leading edge print technology to produce foil and foam handblock prints on metallic silk ground cloths. DeKabels was purchased by textile designer and consultant Rob Viool and his wife Michele in 2,000 saving it from bankruptcy. Since then, Viool has experimented with many kinds of prints but his latest collections are impossible to copy, he said. Current items are $30-$50 a yard and are sought by leading editeurs, he said. De Kabels won a coveted Blue Drop Award this year at MoOD for a hand blocked print on linen geared for the contract market. De Kabels said it is one of the last companies that does silkscreen printing entirely by hand, which is pretty unusual for a product suited to the contract market. F&FI

Nelson Mandela Inspires Marcovaldo’s African Line Sipco News Network

OS ANGELES, California— Marcovaldo, a 25 year old converter of trims and fabrics will show its new South African inspired Mandela collection of 300 fabric sku’s in 12 designs at Showtime in High Point, N.C. in December. Marcovaldo sells to jobbers, furniture manufacturers and retailers. In some cases it sells to hotel projects on a direct basis through its other divisions. The big effort is part of principal Joseph Moran’s overall agenda to

double sales of the company in the next 12 months, he said. Hiring a separate sales force for Marcovaldo was part of the strategy. Marcovaldo is one of three sister companies owned by the Moran’s which includes Brooks and Ribenks. All divisions have their own sales teams now, Joseph said. Brooks & Marcovaldo divisions have always had separate sales forces. Brooks supplies fabrics to manufacturers. The company owns a German distribution company which covers Europe, Eastern Europe and

South Africa. Ribenks is a container business, Joseph said. All of the companies benefit from Marcovaldo’s QC and China to China based business in Hangzhou with 16 employees. There are 50 more employees in the U.S., Joseph said. The Mandela line is priced at $6-$18 a yard and includes solids, African colors, piece dyed velvets, textures and naturals in rayon and linen according to Shani Moran, originally from Johannesburg S.A. herself, is co principal with her husband Joseph. Shani is the designer of the

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collection, the largest introduction in the company’s history. The product is stocked in Los Angeles for immediate delivery according to Joseph. Half of The Mandela Collection is designed in China and the balance of the line comes from Spain and Italy, Moran said. “Mandela represents the textures and the smell of Africa. We worked with Nelson Mandela’s grandson to develop the collection. Trims are planned for the collection but the initial emphasis is on fabric, the Moran’s said. Normally, they produce about four trimming

lines a year but the fabric effort took precedence over the trimming this time, they said. F&FI

Mandela Collection-African Salmon

Winter 2011/2012 n

F FI NE W S (Continued from page 11)

Ausen Design Center Opens Xingbang

Ausen’s Shanghai Bund location which can be used as the designer’s office away from home, Grenewald said.

Both projects represents Zhang’s personal vision to create a design center based on the US model for the rapidly developing luxury home furnishings market in China which would showcase Western brands exclusively, defined as Europe, UK, and North America. The Ausen IDC business plan calls for development of trade only sales through professional interior designers, while offering affluent consumers the ability to shop for themselves with a dual pricing system similar to the European model. There are several turn-key solutions which make it extremely easy for medium sized and smaller companies to create a

foothold in the exploding Chinese market without a large investment or employees and superstructure, Grenewald reasoned. Ausen IDC is placed logistically in the fastest growing area of Shanghai, which is also the hub of 50 million people, Zhang said. “Many companies in the IDC have never been distributed in China before,” Grenewald said. There are now 70 brands in the design center and they read like a who’s who of European and American furniture design. These brands include Hugo Boss, JAB, Busatto, Benedetti, Capponi, Bisazza, Rouchon, Rolf Benz and bert plantagie just to name a few.

William Grenewald

interior of Ausen Xinbang Town

The JAB showroom is managed by Li Zheng, chief representative for this venerable German brand. JAB has been operating in China for about six years and has put some meaningful sales figures on

the board to the tune of $6 million annually but Zheng said JAB is just scratching the surface in China. “The best is yet to come,” the young Zheng told F&FI. He uses the space as a working showroom with his own offices in the background. F&FI

JAB showroom pictures follow.

(Continued from page 11)

High, Volatile Silk Prices Make Way for Substitutes re-location. Unpredictable weather has also played a crucial role and raw silk production has stagnated and long term prediction is that its availability will reduce India’s annual production to about 21,000 tons as against the demand in excess of 30,000 tons while production is growing at six percent annually and demand is increasing by 10 percent. Nearly 10,000 tons of silk and 4,000

tons of silk fabric is imported from China every year. India is the largest global consumer of silk and will continue to depend on China for long time. “During 1990’s we exported dupion silk fabrics at $16 meter and now at $14 but raw silk prices have more than doubled squeezing our profit margins”, recalled Raj K.G & Sunil. K.R, Export Executives of Swan Silks (PVT) Limited,

Bangalore, India. Swan Silks began silk weaving and exporting 35 years ago and emotional bondage with silk fiber is very strong. Raj and Sunil the younger faces that will eventually lead the family business may find the situation tough but are willing to accept the new challenges. Moving away from silk was an impossible task but profit margins are thinning out and diversification

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to other yarn substitute has begun. “Market sensitivity to higher silk prices restrict its usage and we now produce and export polyester blend dupions’ at $ 4 a meter, which makes commercial sense and pure silk range continues though expensive”, added Sunil. “Global consumer sentiment has been affected due to high prices as basic raw silk price has doubled: The

worst is we are unable to recover in these market conditions as we have no control on raw silk prices though India is the largest buyer of Chinese raw silk”, opined Sanjay Bajaj, spokes person of Bharat Silks, Bangalore, India. Limited option currently is to innovate, create and design that attract high end editors who still seek real silk and its royal features. F&FI

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Dicitex Furnishings Unveils Major Book Program for the books with the order, he said. “Once the customer pays for UMBAI, India — Dicitex the books, he is inclined to give us Furnishings Pvt. Has an order,” he added. The new program includes launched what the president calls its biggest product program in its 11 1600 sku’s including a plain velvet year history with the introduction selection of 28 colors. The program of 35 new oversized fabric books was actually launched in August of 2011. It features fabrics made of under the name ‘For Real.’ According to Rajjnish Aroraa, polyester and viscose for domestic Dicitex’s last program, ‘Dream sales in India and export to Dubai, Collection’ was only 23 books. Two Malaysia, Singapore, Kuwait and hundred copies of each book are South Africa. “Now, we are targeting USA and available in the ‘For Real’ program. he said. The cost for the 35 books UK for this collection. The price is $2,100 and the retailer pays 50% of the products in roll quantity is $6-$15 per yard and $7-$18 per yard for cut order. “Indian retailers want cuts while rolls are geared for export,” Aroraa said. In addition to the oversized book program, Aroraa is offering a coffee table book to attract the consumer/ Rajjnish Aroraa, vice chairman of Dicitex designer to the Furnishings Pvt., Ltd., Mumbai with Joe Kenney, program. F&FI export manager of Swavelle Fabrics, New York by Eric Schneider

Yilmaz Group Buys Marsteks URSA, Turkey — Marsteks, an upholstery mill has been sold last February to two brothers, Onur and Ayhan Yilmaz, part of a major 500 employee group known as Yilmaz Group. Yilmaz also makes mattresses and steel wire. The brothers also own Belette, a 20 loom, 50 man operation and domestic supplier of Turkish upholstery ranges. “Our idea is to use Marsteks as our export brand,” Onur explained. His brother continues to run Belette while he concerns himself with the newly acquired Marsteks. Marsteks with 30 looms and 75 people, makes better quality fabrics for export in the $5-$20 range while Belette is in the $8-$20 range, the pair said. There is another mill in Turkey named Marteks but this is a completely separate operation. Both Marteks and Marsteks exhibited at MoOD this year as part of the 42 companies part of the Turkish group of upholstery makers at the Fair. Onur and Ayhan Yilmaz F&FI

Richloom Shanghai’s Spangler Says: “Hospitality Goes Through The Roof” the energetic Spangler explained. “Performance fabrics are taking off for the first time as well. For the last 18 months, Richloom has been the exclusive licensee for Crypton® in China and sales in the area are growing, she said. “Outdoor fabrics are an emerging market in China.” Spangler said that most of the furniture fabrics sold by Richloom in China are made in China but some product is imported from the USA. “The looms from our mill in Rock Hill, South Carolina were moved to China several years ago so we can make our own upholstery if we want to or convert through other Chinese suppliers,” she explained. Richloom can finish its own goods which are often yarn dyed or piece dyed. F&FI

Strydom Opens Intertex; Romo Leaves Fabric Library Sipco News Network

Sipco News Network

(Continued from page 10)

OHANNESBURG, South Africa — Neil Strydom has begun trading under the name of Intertex, the newest wholesaler in South Africa. Previously, he was managing director of Fabric Library. In the wake of his departure, Romo has pulled out of the Fabric Library stable after many years and has appointed Intertex as its new distributor. Romo is an upmarket wholesaler, one of the largest in the world and is based in Nottingham, UK. Jonathan Mould is the owner. Home Fabrics, a converter and distributor of up market brands purchased Fabric Library for an undisclosed price from Courthiel Holdings this past July as previously reported by F&FI. Strydom Neil Strydom reported to Julian Gelb, one of the owners of the merged entity, Home Fabrics and Fabrics Library. Back office operations of the two companies have been merged since the acquisition. Both companies are well known mid to upper range converters and wholesalers in South Africa. The Fabric Library has been operating since 1965. Home Fabrics is the sole and exclusive distributor of all Bru Textiles product in South Africa. Bru is based in Mechelen, Belgium and has been recognized as one of the most successful converters in the business since its founding over a decade ago by Gary Neiman and his brother Jason. “Our distribution agreement with Bru Textiles adds value to our business in respect of those Editeurs for whom we have acted as distributors in Home Fabrics for many years,” Gelb said. “The majority of our agreements have been in effect for over 20 years Bru textiles is certainly not a company who has goods conflicting with Editeurs such as those for whom we are privileged to represent.” The arrangement with Bru has been in place for four years now and was at that time the basis on which the management of Home Fabrics undertook a management buyout. It is widely believed though not substantiated that Bru is now the owner of the combined distributor with Gelb and reportedly provided the capital for the purchase of both companies. F&FI

www.fabricsandfurnishings.com

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F FI NE W S

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Fabrics and Linings... The World’s Standard of Excellence The Rockland Mills programs of Blackout drapery linings and fabrics are truly world class. Our customers in over 80 world markets, both commercial and trade, know that they can rely on the quality, variety, delivery and performance built into every yard of fabric. That’s because every yard is manufactured with strict quality control, using the finest textiles and best technology available. There’s over 40 years of manufacturing know how and expertise in every product produced by Rockland’s Maryland and South Carolina plants. Whether for residential or commercial use, for total Blackout or Dim-Out, with or without flame resistant finish, there is a Rockland product for the job. Rockland Mills’ Blackouts are available in widths from 54 inches (137 cm) up to 110 inches (280 cm), and in every color of the rainbow, in plain or textured fabrics. Our Blackouts are even available with printed designs from an extensive pattern library, or if you prefer, we can use your custom designs or colors. Roc-lon Blackout linings can also be purchased as ready-made Blackout liners or draperies which are ready to hang, and which are produced under the same strict quality standards.

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Flocktex Continues Its Phenomenal Run With Impala Velsoft® While Other Flockers Have Disappeared by Eric Schneider

iryat Malachi, Israel — While other flock producers have folded up their tents due to lack of demand, Flocktex continues to grow to the tune of 20 percent ahead in 2011 over 2010 and continues to innovate its line of Impala velvets based on new flock technology. Several companies have tried

Mayer Zeiler, principal Flocktex, Keir Malachi, Israel with Lutz Neubert, product manager, fabrics, Saum & Viebahn, Kulmbach, Germany with Christian Gick, principal of Schwab & Gick GmbH & Co., Lichtenfels, Germany

to copy the Flocktex line but they have only succeeded in copying older products—not the new ones from Flocktex, said Mayer Zeiler, entrepreneurial owner and founder of this 35 year old manufacturer. The current product line has been developed in the past two years due to the expansion of the factory and the installation of the high tech line which led to Impala. He expects to continue to bring out new products to make it even more difficult for the remaining competition to copy his line. “Today, Impala has become its own category of product and not so much a substitute for leather,” he said. “As they cheapened the leather quality used in 80 percent of the upholstery today, manufacturers began to search for a superior product to leather. Leathers are now trending down to velvets and that’s where Impala fills the demand,” said Zeiler said. The Impala line is available in 200 different options: plains, velvets and various corduroy effects. Its latest innovation is Velsoft, a fabric that is designed to have several different softness levels for use

in upholstery. Like all Flocktex products, Velsoft is priced at $1925 plus per yard to the wholesaler and is therefore at the higher end of the fabric market today. Velsoft is also available in up to 50 colors and several different patterns even though the most popular colors are browns, beige and ecru. “Even in white, Velsoft exhibits superior stain release properties including tough stains from ketchup,” said Mayer Zeiler, the founder and CEO of the 35 year old mill. Flocktex products withstand 100,000 double rubs, Zeiler stated. The proprietary technology used to make Velsoft is kept under wraps but it seems to use several layers of flock on flock to produce a fabric that looks like nothing else on the market. The Flocktex customer base reads like a Who’s Who in the upholstered furniture industry. Companies like Steinhoff Group, Himolla and Hukla offer Flocktex products on an exclusive basis under different trade names. In all cases, the products are marketed as high end upholstery even though flock started out as a commodity,

After 11 Years, Schmidt Rejoins Valdese Weavers Sipco News Network

ALDESE, North Carolina — David Schmidt has been named vice president, market development for Valdese Weavers, Inc. He returns to Valdese after an 11 year absence. During that time, he was first an executive at Spartan Mills and Weavetex, the industrial fabric division until that company closed. Schmidt was more recently

involved in the financial services industry. In his new post, he reports to Michael Shelton, president and CEO of Valdese Weavers. Schmidt will be evaluating new market opportunities for Valdese including export marketing. His previous post at Valdese was vice president, sales and marketing. Schmidt resides in Hickory, NC and will work out of Valdese’s corporate offices.

Sipco News Network

L David Schmidt Valdese is a jacquard weaver of custom upholstery fabrics for the jobber and manufacturer. F&FI

KETS Offers Stain Relief, New Outdoor Fabric Lines

Velsoft line by Impala from Flocktex covers different softness levels as well as different designs and 50 colors.

Oleg Bilich, director of development, 8 Marta Upholstered Furniture Manufacturing Companies, Moscow with Mayer Zeiler, owner, Flocktex Mills, Keir Malachi, Israel

Collins Drives Thornbers, Busby & Busby Export Sales

(Continued from page 10)

an extremely competitive marketplace. Ragip IP said that KETS is facing increased raw material costs almost every month which it has absorbed to make its products very competitive. Adam Mutlu, the KETS finishing manager was available to show how ketchup stains clean up with soap and water in real life demonstrations during MoOD in September. “Upholstery is a commodity today,” Ragip IP said. “Most of what we sell is in the $5-$10 range. We started to develop this stain release feature four years

a relatively inexpensive fabric that was overproduced, knocked off in China and eventually died off almost everywhere in the world, except for a few pockets. Sofas routinely sell at retail at $4,000+ with Velsoft upholstery, Zeiler pointed out. 8 Mart, an eight year old Moscow based furniture producer offers Flocktex products on an exclusive basis. The company sells to 400 stores in Russia and as far away as Australia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Flocktex is one of the few companies that has cemented its reputation with the continued success of its ranges. It sells container load quantities through a limited number of fabric wholesalers like Schwab & Gick GmbH based in Lichtenfels, Germany. “The competition is very strong in the velvet market today,” said Christian Gick, principal of Schwab & Gick, an important distributor of Flocktex velvets. ”There is no profit margin selling Chinese textiles. I prefer something like Flocktex.” Flocktex is represented by wholesalers in the USA, UK, Europe, Russia and India. F&FI

ago. With Easy-Life, our products will not accept the stain in the weave. Once you get a stain in the weave, you normally can’t remove it. With Easy-Life, you can clean out the stain even if it gets into the weave,” he said. Kadifeteks employs 1,050 people in its mills working 24/7, Ragip IP said. ‘Sunline,’ the new outdoor brand, uses Dralon® staple acrylic in what is a piece dyed fabric. This is KETS’ first effort in outdoor fabric. Within two years, KETS also expects to enter the contract fabric market, Ragip IP added. F&FI

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ANCASHIRE, United Kingdom — Thornber Home & Leisure Ltd. is looking to the U.S. jobber and manufacturer for increased sales of its low to middle ranges of woven fabrics. “We sell our volume production to the UK furniture trade including DFS but we are looking for greater margin business through brands like Busby & Busby,” said Bill Collins, sole principal who hopes to achieve $20 million in annual sales with the inclusion of the U.S. business to be developed in 2012. Thornber and Busby & Busby, with sales of $12 million annually, was cobbled together in 2010 through a series of purchases by Collins, the 48 year old textile veteran who was voted Lancashire entrepreneur of the year in 2011 for his deal making. Collins’ recent purchases included the original Thornber mill in Clitheroe that was headed for bankruptcy and Black Sheep Textiles, a failing dyer and finisher. By combining the two entities James Thornber and Black Sheep, Collins created a vertical operation. Thornber’s 100 year old classical design archive also

went with the Collins purchase. Thornber now produces cotton, polyester, poly/cotton with the capability of standard back coating and unbranded FR lines in the $4-$12 range F.O.B. for export. Busby & Busby, the high street editeur at Decorex and Maison Objet was also purchased by Collins in 2010 and all Thornber lines were consolidated at Busby & Busby’s Dorset based distribution center. Busby & Busby exports and distributes linen, cotton and silk to the U.S., Russia and China. Busby & Busby is distributed in the U.S. through Sterling & Knight in Boston. The other lines now made by Thornber include Thornber’s brand for mass market sales; Bowland Fabrics for the middle range market and two more lines are expected for 2012 for the hospitality and healthcare markets, Collins said. Collins was recently joined by Neil Mooney as a non executive director who is now looking for a sales agent in the USA. Mooney and Collins worked together before at Dovedale which was acquired by Crowson’s over ten years ago. F&FI

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Brunschwig & Fils Refreshed Paris Showroom, Features All Kravet Lines by Eric Schneider

ARIS, France — Kravet Inc. opened its redesigned 4,000 square foot showroom for Brunschwig & Fils September 21 on 8 Rue Mai here to a packed house of 100 designers and friends which included Cary and Lisa Kravet, the king and queen of Kravet. The new Kravet London showroom will be opening shortly. The updated Rue Mai space

might be signed Brunschwig & Fils but it now houses all of Kravet, Lee Jofa, Mulberry, Threads and GP&J Baker collections. This includes fabrics, furniture, lighting, carpets Brunschwig was purchased by Kravet in March and it is the highest level brand for Kravet if not for the industry. This is the first company showroom for Kravet in its history and Brunschwig is a major gem in Kravet’s crown, having paid well in excess of $6 million plus for the brand, inventory and its showroom assets. The Paris showroom manager continues to be William Berthe who reports to Ann Grafton, Kravet’s manager of European sales. F&FI

Lisa and Cary Kravet

The above pictures represent the newly redesigned Kravet/Brunschwig & Fils on Rue Mai, Paris

LIJ Emergency Room Gets Kravet Boost Sipco News Network

ETHPAGE, New York. — Kravet Inc. 2011 golf and tennis fund raiser for the benefit of Long Island Jewish Hospital celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Syosset branch this past summer. A substantial sum was raised on behalf of the Emergency Room thanks to Kravet and the 150 people who participated. Once again, Rocco Simone, vice president, sales, Sunbury Mills Inc., sales and Hank Truslow, Jr., principal of the same firm won the golf trophy for the lowest scores of the day

helped along by Stewart Jervis and Neil Paladino of P/Kaufmann Inc. Where does Rocco and Hank hide

all of those trophies? Here were some of the other happy campers:

Justin Kravet with Jennifer Fischer, account manager, residential for Victor Group, Fall River, MA and Scott Kravet, vice president, Kravet

Neil Nahoum, east coast sales manager, Valdese Weavers with Blake Millinor, president, Valdese Contract Lisa Kravet with Irwin Gasner, owner of Wearbest Mills, Garfield, NJ

Lance Turner, the new sales manager, American Silk Mills, Philadelphia, PA with his boss, Robin Slough, president

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Antoinette Ardizzone, vice president, customer service & education, Kravet Inc., Bethpage, N.Y. with Michael Shelton, president and CEO of Valdese Weavers, Valdese, N.C.

Tom Notaro, sales manager, Sunbury Mills, Sunbury, PA. and Michael Paul, independent sales agent

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Cary Kravet, president of Kravet Inc., with Rocco Simone, vice president, sales and Hank Truslow, president, Sunbury Mills Inc.

F FI G L O B A L M A R K E T P L A C E

Contract Supplier Harmontex Adds Residential Fabric Lines From West by Eric Schneider

UANZHOU, China — Harmontex, the contract specialist wholesaler which offers western lines, has just launched an effort for the first time in residential fabrics according to Samuel Hui, managing director of this Sankon China division. Sankon also offers carpet, lighting and automatic window lines to the contract market. It is concentrating its residential efforts in the largest cities in China, namely,

branches in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu. “We are a major distributor and agency for many soft lines in China and Hong Kong with a focus on contract. We have more than 20 years’ experience in this field but now we are turning part of our efforts towards residential lines,” he said. “This is a changing market and it is going faster all of the time. We have 150 lines of contract fabrics, all high end imports. We

specialize in supplying high end five star hotels and villa projects.” By supplying books to 500 retailers, Hui expects to build the residential business. “We are looking for suitable imported Western lines to sell the richest customers in China.” He pointed out that the Chinese middle class is poor in comparison to the European middle class so the focus has to be on the richest consumers in China. F&FI

Samuel Hui

Babei Launches BellaBello Brand to Penetrate Domestic China Market Sipco News Network

ANZHOU, PR China—Babei has opened its first of what may be 100 residential shop in shops for its BellaBello brand at the LaCasa showroom in the Derlook building in Hangzhou and expects to be a $50 million company within five years including the mill direct business. Babei has decided to exhibit its lines only at Intertextile Shanghai. It used to be exhibitors at several other international exhibitions. The mill is totally vertical from yarn twisting forward. It does not sell seconds. It is the key supplier to Coach Handbag and the major exporter of ties to the USA. “Coach requires three inspections of its fabrics before they leave our house,” Yak said. “Our biggest business will be domestic China business—not export. He expects domestic growth of China GNP to slow from 9.6 percent to seven percent in the future. That is still robust. Babei has been a fabric supplier to LaCasa, a well

Rachel Chan and Nikaa Wang, designers of BellaBello showroom

know upholstery line in China as well as being a supplier to Fook Yik, another major upholstery line made in China. He allowed that export has slowed down but domestic is speeding up. “Export will end up being 30 percent of Babei’s business—not 60-70 percent of the whole as it is now. Domestically for us, bedding will be a The Wang Brothers: Yak and Jason major area of growth in 100 percent silk. Yak Wang has appointed his brother Jason to manage this effort which represents a U.S. Tel in US: (800)878-0303 www.expressairfreight.com major step for Babei to develAir & ocean freight forwarding worldwide op the domestic Chinese market for better end fabrics. It also means that BellaBello will be importing as much as 40 percent of its collection from Europe and America, according to Yak and the balance will be Babei silk and cotton, linen or polyester fabrics. “People ATLANTA OFFICE: Miami Office: like silk but the price has risen L owest prices • 170-G Penney Road, Forest Park, GA 30297 9990 NW 14th St., Suite 111, Miami, FL 33172 50 percent in 2011 and 100 1(404) 765-9891 • FAX 1(404) 765-9825 TEL 1(305) 592-3344 • FAX 1(305) 592-9988 • Direct computer access to TEL percent more than in 2009,” CHARLOTTE Office: NEW YORK Office: 1901 Associates Lane, Suite J, Charlotte, NC 28217 147-20 184 St., Jamaica, NY 11413 over 100 major airlines Yak said. “We will sell silk and TEL 1(704) 359-8900 • FAX 1(704) 359-8600 TEL 1(718) 995-2900 • FAX 1(718) 656-0859 cotton blends primarily in the CHICAGO Office: Seattle Office: • Automatic e-Mail flight 1350 Michael Drive, Suite D, Wood Dale, IL 60191 21086 24th Ave South Suite 127, domestic China market. The TEL 1(630) 521-8525 • FAX 1(630) 521-9490 Seatac, WA 98198 information initial efforts will be made in TEL 1(206) 241-5500 • FAX 1(206) 824-1140 Houston Office: Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing 2700 Greens Rd, Bldg. J, Suite 102, Houston, TX 77032 washington DC office: C entralized customer • TEL 1(281) 590-4500 • FAX 1(281) 590-4501 23723 Air Freight Lane Suite 220, and Chengdu. These are the Dulles, VA 20166 LAS VEGAS Office: service largest cities in China today. TEL 1(703) 996-8885 • FAX 1(703) 996-0415 6375 S. Pecos Rd., Suite 106, Las Vegas, NV 89120 TEL 1(702) 307-3809 • FAX 1(702) 638-9000 The shops, each about • 2-3 day transit time LOS ANGELES Office: hong kong office: 550 square meters typically, worldwide 5733 Arbor Vitae St., Suite 204, Rm B, 11/F, Nathan Commercial Building, 430-436 will supply the total lifeLos Angeles, CA 90045 Nathan Road Kowloon, Hong Kong TH

• B ilingual staff

TEL 1(310) 642-8001 • FAX 1(310) 642-8012

852-27700218 • 852-27700215

www.fabricsandfurnishings.com

(continues on page 28)

ZHEJIANG BABEI TEXTILE CO., LTD Babei is a weaver, jointly invested by Babei Group Ltd. and Art Touch Investment(H.K.) Co. Ltd .,with a total investment of USD20,000,000.00. We are handling four main categories: a) high end silk jacquard fabrics double widths for bedding; b) high end silk jacquard fabrics for drapery and upholstery; c) fire retardant jacquard fabrics for contract ;d) jacquard fabrics for high end ladies’ bags. Babei is a vertical company well equipped with most advanced dyeing ,weaving and finishing facilities and is one of the few companies in China approved by Testex Zurich and awarded certificate for all our woven fabrics to meet Oeko-Tex standard 100. Babei is also approved and awarded certificate of ISO9001-2000 for quality management, ISO14001-2004 for working environment and OHSAS18001-1999 for occupational and safety management Babei’s vision is to create the most value to our customers and has adhered to this vision from the very beginning. Babei is transforming herself to be an interior fabric resolution supplier. To meet this goal, we have installed 82 most sophisticated Dornier and Sulzer looms with different hooks Staubli jacquard machines which enable us to produce a variety of jacquard fabrics with different design repeats and constructions (86 ends/inch, 173 ends/inch, 203 ends/ inch, 244 ends/inch and 300 ends./inch). we have also installed Dobby looms for weaving plain fabric or fabric with small repeats. We are able to produce different widths, including 140cm ,150cm, 280cm and 300cm,which are suitable for different customers. Besides silk fabrics, Babei has also developed a rich collection of multi-functional fabric for contract purpose. Babei has attached great importance to the creation and development of our products. We have our fully owned office in Como who serves as sourcing and designing and we also work closely with other designing studios in Como and Japan. We have our own intellectual copyrights for all our products. Babei has invested heavily on designing software German EAT and has adopted the ERP computerized management system specially designed for Babei .The system carries out the task of scientific management which coordinates and supervises all flows in production and operation ,and this will not only improve our working efficiency and reduce the chances of mistakemaking , but also provide good conditions for operating the whole company at high efficiency. Babei will debut our new collections at Intertextile Shanghai every year. Please send your enquiry to e-mail: yak@babei.com. Winter 2011/2012 n

F FI G L O B A L M A R K E T P L A C E

Z-Wovens Offers New Upholstery Line, U.S. Warehouse On-Stream At Year End by Eric Schneider

hanghai, China — Zhongwang Holding is exporting 70 percent of its Hangzhou mill production to the USA, Middle East, Europe, particularly the UK, Brazil and Russia in that order according to Rena Yang, marketing director. The 2010 finance graduate of Lancaster University in the U.K. is particularly focused on the role of the American market to Zongwong and Z-Wovens, its U.S. based operation started just over a year

ago in High Point, North Carolina The business is in its early stages, Rena said, but sales are up the first year by nearly 10 percent. Samples have shipped and Zongwong has promised eight week delivery from receipt of order, Yang said. She and her father Lin Shan, the owner of the mill, are very committed to the U.S. market. They both expect that the U.S. One of the new patterns designed by Bea Spires business will grow steadifor ZW-Fabrics, USA ly for the mill, one of the

largest in China. A warehouse is coming online for Z-Wovens in Mississippi or the High Point area by the end of 2011, Lin said. Bea Spires, the chief designer of Z-Wovens and John Seymour, the national sales manager for North America have just launched their first upholstery collection in the USA and in Canada. The new collection consists of all polyester plains in the $3-$5 range and jacquard designs in

Rena Yang with father Jin Yang polyester and some acrylics, Yang said. The U.S. furniture industry is the primary target for the collection. F&FI

(Continued from page 26)

Babei Launches BellaBello Brand to Penetrate Domestic China Market style including furniture through LaCasa, distributor of Guy Rogers upholstery form the UK; carpet, lamps and all textiles for the home including bedding. Hangars and books will be installed in the shops. In fact, LaCasa has a joint venture to open BellaBello shops within LaCasa showrooms. “For long-, we

Versailles Showroom in Hangzhou covers all product categories for the home including appliances and hardware.

LaCasa bed

have to do something like this in China. We’re not worried about being copied. That means someone will always be behind us but we keep doing new designs,” Yak said. “In 2012, we expect to be buying sheers and velvets from Italy and Turkey for these shops,” Yak said. “The customer wants more variety today including cushions, bedding and upholstery. We’ll have everything available to them at BellaBello. We also expect to bid on hospitality projects in Asia through our affiliation with Thomas Chao of DIDC in Shanghai. Through BellaBello, we can go after hospitality projects, Yak explained. Lansdison Hotels in Greentowne specified all fabrics through BellaBello, Yak said. “We also decorated and installed 360 apartments with sheers in the Greentowne area,” he said. Babei already has a large workroom for this purpose as part of its Shenzhou City factory. “We can even buy spot orders for the hospitality trade for items not in our line. The customer wants to buy everything from one source today,” he said. Babei is also doing more business in the USA with the contract jobber in the FR business. All Babei designs are available in FR polyester, he said. Domestically, Babei is a major supplier of drapery

LaCasa sofa

fabric to Sands Group in Macao and through that affiliation, has also supplied Sands in Las Vegas. Other hotels to its credit include Four Seasons in Hangzhou. F&FI Vickie and Yak Wang of Babei

F&FI Publisher Eric Schneider at BellaBello showroom entrance, Hangzhou Babei samples in BellaBello showroom

There are six outside windows in the BellaBello showroom in Derlook

Interior of BellaBello showroom

Guy Rogers chair in LaCasa showroom

DerLook showroom in Hangzhou, home of BellaBello line (Babei); Profound Showroom, distributor of Duralee USA

Interior of BellaBello showroom

BellaBello showroom

BellaBello showroom interior in LaCasa showroom

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Winter 2011/2012 n

Contract/HospitalityNews C/HNEWS I Lebatex Inc. Converts All New Stacy Garcia Designs by Eric Schneider

ANUET, New York — Lebatex, Inc., the hospitality fabrics converter has been assigned the exclusive right to produce ‘Observations’ and the new ‘Simple Pleasures’ drapery collection by Stacy Garcia Inc. Stacy Garcia is the woman behind both companies and this development represents a milestone in her development where before she assigned the converting rights to other companies. Now she’ll keep it in her growing multimillion dollar family of both companies. (The mother of three sons is also hopeful to soon adopt a little girl.) Observations is a 60 sku plus booked upholstery collection and an equal number of Simple

Stacy Garcia Pleasures drapery prints in FR polyester yarn made by Unifi with some recycled content, Repreve®. The Observations price range is between $32-$42 while Simple Pleasures is priced between $14$42. The upholstery is offered with Nanotex® and Stacy Garcia is

also working on its first Crypton® upholstery collection to be unveiled in early 2012. “Stacy Garcia is a standard for several major hotel brands today and not just the individual franchise holders,” Garcia herself said. While most of her hotel business is open line product, she is doing 40 percent of her sales with custom designs. Stacy Garcia is also the woman behind one of the most successful hospitality textiles firm in the past decade. Prior to the inside deal with Lebatex, Garcia licensed HunterDouglas and Douglas Industries to convert her designs but going forward, she will do all the converting herself through her sister company, Lebatex. “As a U.S. Government certified woman owned firm, we exceeded the $1

million sales mark in our second year of operations in year 2,000. Only two percent of woman owned firms ever exceed this level,” she explained. Since then, Garcia has soared past the multimillion dollar mark in the past decade; first as a designer of drapery prints and now as an upholstery designer/ converter. While 100 percent involved in hospitality, Garcia thinks her future might lie in residential fabrics doing a reverse Kelly Wearstler, the designer who moved into the hotel business from residential interior design. “With Nanotex®, we see the crossover potential for other markets,” she said. For example, she expects to produce a line of healthcare upholstery by offering Durobloc® moisture barrier on as little as five yard

minimums to that market through Applied Finishing Inc. Stacy Garcia designs are also available with INCASE® by Crypton. F&FI

Spark-all colors

C/HNEWS I DIOLEN® SAFE FR Goes Head To Head With Trevira® CS Sipco News Network

ENDORF, Germany — FR Safety Yarns GmbH & Co. has created a new trademarked market FR fiber called DIOLEN®SAFE that is expected to compete for market share with Trevira® CS. In fact, FR Safety Yarns consultant Ted K. van der Linden said that part of the strategy is to take advantage of the constant turnover of Trevira management these last few years as the company was repeatedly shopped on the market and eventually sold to several different owners. “DIOLEN®SAFE is an inherently flame retardant with optimized yarn properties for hospitality and transport.” Van der Linden said. “DIOLEN is available in filament and staple fiber yarns in numerous yarn counts and yarn constructions.” FR Safety Yarns said more than 30 international clients have already started to work with DIOLEN®SAFE yarns. These include Backhausen Interior Textiles GmbH of Austria. Backhausen plans to launch an exclusive DIOLEN®SAFE collection at Heimtextil 2012. It is

conceived as a modern contemporary collection with around 40 sku’s and is geared to the residential and contract business. More than 30 international customers expect to produce fabric samples with the new DIOLEN®SAFE yarns, the company said. This includes Backhausen interior textiles GmbH, Witteck-Design Weberei GmbH, Kobleder GmbH & Co. KG from Austria and the German specialist for sophisticated textile surfaces, SR Webatex GmbH. Backhausen will show its new DIOLEN®SAFE collections at Heimtextil 2012 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Company officials said that FR Safety Yarns GmbH & Co. KG offers a one stop, full service package to the manufacturers of high quality home textiles using FR polyester yarns. “International B2B customers receive extensive expert advice: from product to specialty development, comprehensive technical support and flammability standard tests and certificates for all FR fabrics submitted to licensing via marketing cooperation initiatives. DIOLEN®SAFE is committed to ecological efficiency principles and strives

towards product and process optimization that has minimal environmental impact. First steps towards a Cradle to Cradle® certificate for FR Safety Yarns, “ an FR Safety spokesman said The partners behind the FR Safety Yarns GmbH & Co. KG and the trademark DIOLEN®SAFE are TWD Fibers GmbH and Lauffenmühle GmbH. The fully integrated textile company TWD has its production headquarters in Deggendorf. Since 1959, TWD has been a part of the Daun & Cie Group. The company has approximately 800 employees and generates a turnover of around 110 million €. With more than 5,000 tons dyeing bobbins capacity per year TWD Fibrers GmbH is one of the biggest and most powerful yarn dyeing mills of its kind in Europe. Lauffenmühle is a medium-sized company with 300 employees with spinning, weaving and finishing facilities and a turnover of 48 million € is generated. The export percentage is 40 percent. The company produces ring-spun and core-spun, air-spun and twisted yarns in various qualities and is bluesign® standard

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certified. Daun & Cie AG with headquarters in Lower Saxony is one of the biggest textile groups in Germany with a share of sales in technical textiles of more than 50 per cent. Member of the Daun & Cie Group are TWD Fibers GmbH and Lauffenmühle GmbH & Co. KG as well as numerous further enterprises from textile production and finishing, industrial subcontracting as well as supply of services and textile retailing. In total the Daun Group accounts for around 12,000 employees, the turnover amounts to 1.25 billion €. F&FI

Ted K. van der Linden

Winter 2011/2012 n

C/HNews

Ragolle Throws Its Hat in the Contract Ring for the First Time Sipco News Network

AREGEM, Belgium — Ragolle, a major weaver of residential fabrics, is integrating a complete line of contract fabrics to its collection with the absorption of ITM designs, a Belgian contract mill acquired in September. The contract lines will be displayed at Heimtextil 2012. Ragolle Contract is the name of the new business which will be added to the sales bag of the existing Ragolle sales team, said Guy Parmentier, export manager. He too will handle export sales of the contract fabrics along with the residential lines. “Our existing sales staff as well as our inside sales follow up team is currently being trained by the former sales director at ITM as well as the planning- and product controller at ITM. “We are now able to offer a nearly complete contract fabric range along with Ragolle home interior decoration collections. This should give us more and better opportunities in those fields that we were unable to previously serve,” Parmentier said.

“Furthermore, more and more we see the concentration of purchasing power at the same company or with the same supplier, particularly when the customer has confidence in the financial strength of his supplier and looks for a long term business relationship. Just as for our regular fabric lines – domestic upholstery and deco fabrics – we are convinced that with our Ragolle strategy and well known service towards our customer, short delivery, by the piece ordering and correct pricing, we will have our place in the contract market.” All the items under the ITM product range were either in 100% Trevira® CS yarns or in the special composition cotton/ nylon and these will be continued, he said. “On all of these products we will provide the minimum of the contract requirements within the EEC norms which means always a minimum of 40,000 rubs Martindale.” Ragolle is currently integrating all three designers from ITM into its design department – under

the Ragolle design department umbrella but they will be dedicated to the contract lines. “As we see a global growth in the hospitality business, we will focus on our current important export markets such as North and South / Latin America; Middle East and Southeast Asia. “Nevertheless we are keeping in mind our home market in the EEC, knowing that particularly within the USA – Canada and Mexico there is serious potential. We will focus on the medium to higher end level.” Ragolle said it will honor its actual sales strategy which is to work closely and only through the specialists and contract jobbers and/or distributors. “As a result of our continuous travels and market research, the integration of the ITM collection, mainly focusing on the specific “contract business“, will be a serious asset in the further development of the Ragolle strategy to enter seriously and strongly, the contract and hospitality market,” he said. “Besides this new avenue, the additional warps and yarn banks of the company ITM might become a nice supplement to our current

upholstery fabric business,” Ragolle is one of the leading weaving mills producing upholstery and home interior decoration fabrics as well as carpets/rugs. “We want to emphasize that our company Ragolle will ensure the continuity on all actual programs as well as provide the necessary support towards the existing ITM customer base,” Parmentier added. “In other words, company Ragolle NV guarantees full continuation

on current programs, service and delivery on all running and eventual future orders.” “With Ragolle’s technical knowhow and organization, professional structure and long term strategy, we are committed to further develop and provide new collections within the known product range of the former ITM programs, focusing seriously towards the contract and hospitality industry worldwide.” F&FI

Naturtex Weaves Leather, Steel by Eric Schneider

Ragolle Contract is Born!!

S u b sc r i p t i o n IN F O US$95 One full year subscription: (4 Issues) Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

Only $95 for the whole year!

Order online at: www.sipco.net Winter 2011/2012 n

REVILLENT, Spain — Naturtex has successfully morphed from a leather handbag manufacturer into a serious supplier of high end woven leather and stainless steel mesh to the hospitality industry. Fernando Belso, principal of the company, began to sell woven leather just 15 years ago directly to architects and designers in Europe and America. Artesia is the original company that was started by his father 51 years ago and it became an important supplier to Prada, Belso said. Now, the emphasis is on expensive niche products geared to hospitality for use in partitions and walls as a decorative element. The products, which include combinations of woven stainless steel in combination with paper and nylon warps, sell for $150 a meter for starters. Belso participated along with other Spanish companies in Shanghai Intertextile this year. Naturtex was one of the few companies specializing only in contract fabrics at that Fair in Shanghai which is largely residential in nature. Until

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American hospitality supplier George Whyte happened to walk on the Naturtex stand in Shanghai, he was bitterly disappointed in the lack of innovative products at the Show this year but he was pleasantly surprised to stumble on

the Naturtex stand. Naturtex works with Harmontex on the distribution of its products in China. In the USA, the products are distributed by Nobus Resources in Austin, Texas. F&FI

Fernando Belso

F FI photo galler y

MoOD Brings Buyers To See The World’s Greatest Fabrics in One Place

MOoD

BRUSSELS--Say what you want, MoOD Brussels is still one of the best places, if not the best place because of sheer volume of lines offered-- to see what’s new from the world’s upholstery and decorative fabric suppliers as well as wall coverings and drapery fabrics. This year was no exception to that statement. While some will say the traffic was not what it used to be, those who came were not disappointed with the lines they saw and they had more time than ever to see them. The vendors also had more time to spend with the buyers than ever before. So why complain? Here were some of the participants at MoOD 2011. Elaine Taylor-Gordon, FlashForce Associates, New York based fabric agency with Cynthia Degenhardt, principal of Rodolph, the Sonoma, CA high end wholesaler opening new showroom in Chicago.

Piercarlo Vigano, principal of Vigano, Italy with Rolle Lauritzon of S.W. Lauritzon & Co., Helsinki, Finland

Beverly Fainer with Design Fabrics, Toronto, Canada with Sheldon Fainer, principal of Designer Fabrics. Bob Lachow vp sales of J.B. Martin, (standing)

Supryaga Natalia from Trade-Modus, Moscow with Yasemin Gultekin, managing director of Bezz, Bursa, Turkey

Thomas Bruno, vice president, sales, Covington Fabric & Design, New York with Angela Calvo, Rosela Calvo S.A., Mexico City.

Simone Orlean, founder of Orlean, a Wallquest, Arte, Rasch, Grandeco wallpaper and fabric distributor with her partner/husband Jacob David Orlean, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Fabrics by Duralee, Waverly, Prestigious. “It’s easy to trade in America,” Orlean said. He’s up 20% this year in wall coverings; 10% in fabrics.

A most laid back Jonathan Mould, principal of Romo, Nottingham, UK with Marnix Ghesquiere, commercial manager, De Poortere Freres S.A., Mouscron, Belgium and Jordan Mould, son of Jonathan.

Scott Kravet, principal of Kravet Fabrics in Bethpage, NY says he found no trouble at all shopping MoOD this year with his design team; shown here with Vrijesh Agarwal, principal of Vrijesh Corp., Mumbai, India.

That’s Sally Hall, principal of Savel, Coconut Grove, FL with Elisabeth Karp, director of sales for Weave Corp. New York Bart Vandamme, sales director of Libeco Fabrics, Meulebeke, Belgium with Sophie Amor of Interior’s, Casablanca

Andrea Maharaj, Johannesberg Duo Textiles agency with Stephen Black, Black Fabrics, Johannesberg and Michela Gori, sales director of Texao, Prato, Italy.

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Eric Mathou, principal of Matisse, Paris, France with very French drapery prints a la digital printing. Merci Mssr. Eric!

Winter 2011/2012 n

F FI photo galler y

MOoD

Hohans Cheung, director of operations for Morphrow Europe BV with lovely wife Amy. Both raised in Holland but equally comfortable in China

Jonathan Auger and dad Peter Auger with cousin David Auger, C&M Textile, Montreal, Quebec

Pepi Costa, export manager, Crevin of Barcelona with Daisuke Nakajima of Kakunaka Co., Inc., Kobe, Japan

Dhanesh Shah, principal of Neptune House wholesalers, Ahmedabad, India with Ali Aydin, president of Aydin, Istanbul, Turkey with Neel and Hamir Merchant of the Modisch Group, Mumbai, India, agents

Herman Wihardjo, managing director, Idefab, Jakarta, Indonesia with Frans and Charlotte Hellyn, principals of Movelta, Deerlijk, Belgium

On the steps of MoOD: How do two ladies magae to stay so happy after a full day of fabric shopping? Ask Allison Neagus, sales consultant with Alstons, Essex, UK and Jessica Alston, design and styling assistant.

Winter 2011/2012 n

Nachik Weberman, managing director of NachikÂŽ, Israeli editeur from Herzel Street, Tel Aviv with Nick Dunlop, director of James Dunlop Textiles, Auckland, NZ

Cherry Pan, George Gao of Chinasia Textile, Hangzhou with Teddy Kan of Heimtex, Taipei, Taiwan wholesaler

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Ana Rios, export manager for Aznar of Spain with Kathy Moreland, merchandise manager, Carole Fabrics, Augusta, GA

Claude Pappijn, sales rep for Hartex, Desselgem, Belgium; Giuliano Tonelli, general manager, Novatex, Forli, Italy (factory in China) and Jesper Foss, director, Flexlux.Com, Risskov, Denmark

Susan Kroll, founder & CEO of www. RareCulture.com with hubbie Bob Lachow, vice president, sales, J.B. Martin and Jean Beaudrand, design consultant, Jean B. Collection, all New York based.

Michael Shelton, president and CEO, Valdese Weavers, Valdese, N.C. with Karen Sawdy, Valdese design director, hospitality and John Wells, principal of Affabre, design agency, New York

F FI photo galler y

Shanghai Intertextile Aisles Crowded, Visitors Turn Up From Everywhere

Shanghai Intertextile

SHANGHAI—In terms of sheer numbers of visitors, Shanghai Intertextile weighed in at the upper ranges of the scale with well over 40,000 worldwide visitors in attendance this past August. There was a wide range of Chinese exhibitors of course looking for mass market goods in the $2-$4 range but there is a growing presence of European upholstery and drapery resources turning up in the aisles as well, at least 100 companies this year. Why is this? The Chinese appetite for the best, most expensive and original designed fabrics is growing and they do not want made in China. They prefer made in the West. That’s a new wrinkle to this ever changing story. —Eric Schneider

Toby Chien, Eurasitex, Taiwan based wholesaler with KS Chua, director, Yong Lee Cloth Merchants Pte., Ltd., Singapore; Amitabh Narvankar, senior marketing manager, Dicitex Furnishings, Mumbai and bossman Rajjnish Aroraa, vice chairman, Dicitex Furnishings with good friend Maurice Chien, president of Eurasitex Corp.

43 Turkish manufacturers showed as a powerful group at Shanghai Intertextile. Here’s Birol Bahadir, Akarca Te4xctile, Bursa, Turkey with Gulsah Sinir and Cihat Secamet of CCS Tours, Izmir, Turkey; Murat Zumbulyuva, Akarca general manager with colleague Orhan Yigen

Wang De, sales manager for ADF, Shanghai Orient West Decorative Fabrics Co., Ltd., Shanghai and Osvaldo Schenquerman, general manager, Westgate Argentina

Hohans Cheung (Morphrow)

Samuel Stepanus, assistant director of sales & marketing, Ateja Mills with Noel Manuel Mendoza Pineda, principal of Artelinea, Mexico City wholesaler and Kuniardi Tjandra , principal of Ateja, Bandung, Indonesia

David Li, principal of ADF, Orient West in Shanghai and US; Shihabudeen Poilan, international purchasing executive for Almutlaq Holding, Riyadh with Myra Liang, China office executive for Almutlaq and Peter Wang, J.W. L. Main Co., Ltd., Shanghai wholesaler.

Kelly Chiu, Green City Draoery Co., New Taipai City, Taiwan and Samuel Hui, managing director, Harmontex

Longest picture Caption in 21 years! Jason Shi, sales department, Zhejiang Huilong Chemical Fibre Co., Ltd., Zhejiang, China; Ammar A. Marin Bdewi, executive manager, Tatra Manufactory, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Su Guangyou, Zhejiang Noah Textile Co., Ltd., Yuhuan, China; Abdul Maten Raif Al Bdewi, general manager of Tatra and father of Ammar: April Zhang, sales manager, Tatra based in Qingdao City, PR China; Mehmet Tijzlu,Tatra executive withSu Guangyou, also Zhejiang Noah. Tatra is a European and Saudi owned textile plant; Prayer rugs and upholstery.

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Rolando Henao, principal of Elfa Trading, New York. “I am looking for yarn dyed jacquards and synthetic leather. China is king of the $2-$4 fabric range.”

Claus Rosemann of Bahrain, UAE. “Hotel projects are booming again in the Middle East”

Winter 2011/2012 n

F FI NE W S (Continued from page 8)

Large Marketplace Emerges in China for Home Furnishings reflected the optimism that the time is ripe to enter the Chinese market. “China has many manufacturers of synthetic leather fabrics for furnishings but evidently China is seeking quality & service, which we deliver since we work with a top Italian technical expert”, said Massimo Tchen, owner & Mario Molteni, Technical Advisor, TALI, S.R.L, Italy specialized in synthetic leather fabrics manufacturing. The company produces in China but exclusively exported to European customers. Tali is now keen to establish business in China markets. “Our advantage is we are technically backed by Italian expertise and products are developed in Italy,” said Tchen. He also informed F&FI that China is now willing to give higher prices for dependable quality and he is confident to gain market share in the Chinese market.

Spanish Manufacturer Naturtex, engaged in designing, developing, produces unique and special textures that result into carpets, upholstery, decoration fabrics, modular panels & carpets. Priced to meet high-end market demand for hotel, contract and ultra rich homes, the show resulted in mixed response. “The interest in our range was curiously looked up on and we have already appointed a distributor last year expecting more business now in wards”, said Fernando Belso, Sales Manager, Naturtex, Spain. (See separate story on page 31) The four exhibitors from Turkey in the 2008 version of this show have now risen to 41. “It is obvious that the Chinese are earning more and their disposable income is rising. They like to spend and are acquiring newer life styles,”

observed Osman Canik, spokes person, UIB Exports Association, Turkey and owner of Elvin. “Sixty percent of our exhibitors here are satisfied and curtains are our mainstay. “Turkish suppliers are engaged in establishing relationship with agents and distributors in China.” Currently, there are 160 cities with a million plus population and as a comparison, Europe has 35 cities. The McKinsey Global Institute forecasts that by 2025, there will be over 221 cities in China with over one million people. As more Chinese households have disposable income in excess of their basic necessities, a substantial share will be spent on life style products. Wal-Mart, Home Depot and IKEA group are just examples that are well established and continue to grow. F&FI

Kowalczyk Named Robert Allen Group CEO; replaces J. Cordover by Eric Schneider

ew York, New York — Philip H. Kowalczyk will join The Robert Allen Group as president and CEO, and as a member of the Board as of November 1.

Phil Kowalcyzk

Jeff Cordover, formerly CEO, will become the non-executive chairman of the board of the company. The previous non-executive chairman was his father, Ron Cordover who is no longer involved with Robert Allen on a day to day basis. Kowalczyk’s appointment follows within 90 days of the departure of Greg Tarver, the previous president of Robert Allen Group who left and shortly thereafter became president and CEO of Covington Fabrics & Design LLC, the converter. His resignation followed the emergence of Altamont Group as the majority investor in Robert Allen Group just as its investment was increased July 14. Altamount, like Kowalczyk is an outsider with little or no experience in the fabric jobbing business. In the past few years, sales of Robert Allen Group have declined to the

point where it is either two or three in sales of fabrics behind Kravet in the USA. Kowalczyk has over 25 years of business experience with a background in retailing, brand management and management consulting but no experience in the home furnishings fabric business. His most recent position was president of The Body Shop, a bath and body retailer in the Americas (USA, Canada, Mexico). The Robert Allen Group is one of the three largest U.S. jobbers of decorative fabrics and furnishings to the interior design trade. The company sells its products under the Beacon Hill, Robert Allen, Robert Allen Contract and Robert Allen @ Home brands. The company has showroom locations throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and a worldwide agent showroom network. F&FI

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Hulshof Turns Leather Into Garden Soil developed a biogas process made from the solid byproducts of the tanning process including the wastewater. “We produce methane in this fashion which we sell to industry. This is an aerobic process. We also have a third company which produces animal protein fiber—the most expensive

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protein available--all realized from the tanning process.” Biogas is currently a one million Euro business for Hulshof while animal protein will increase from 6 million to 12 million Euros in the years ahead, he said. While tanning is a declining business, overall, his business should

increase, he pointed out. Part of the problem is that finishing capacity is 50 percent less than tanning capability, he said. “By developing these businesses, we have a more sustainable process. I sleep better knowing we are responsible,” he said. F&FI

www.fabricsandfurnishings.com

F FI calendar December 4-7 ITMA Showtime ITMA Showtime is one of the leading fabric industry trade events in America. The show serves as an ideal business platform for eminent corporate professionals to interact with each other and exchange the latest news, views and perspectives from the industry. The event is billed as the largest decorative items-related trade show in the Western Hemisphere and it lives up to this hype by drawing in more than 800 trade visitors with direct purchasing power. Participants are offered the chance to participate in the several informative seminars, forums and discussion sessions that are organized during the show and home furniture items, fabric products, handbags and decorative fashion accessories are some of the chief items of exhibit here. The show is extremely popular among visiting participants and an average of 110 business appointments are scheduled during the event every day. Exhibitors at the show are also listed in the official ITMA Member Directory. ITMA Showtime is attended by eminent professionals from the leather, fabric and trimmings sector. Fabric designers, manufacturing experts, quality analysts, engineers and sewing experts are among the prime attendees at the event. The show draws in participation from product researchers and governmental bodies as well. Venue: High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau Contact: International Textile Market Association

P. O. Box 1208, High Point, North Carolina, United States Of America Tel:+(1)-(336)-8856842 Fax: +(1)-(336)-8858926

January 9 – 11 PrintSource Printsource is the main resource for surface and textile design for America’s major manufacturers, retailers and catalogs, covering such industries as men’s, children’s and women’s apparel, bed and bath, kitchen and tabletop, paper goods and stationery, wall coverings, window fashions and other surface and textile design applications. It is attended by apparel and home textile executives; creative directors; textile designers; designers and merchandisers; product developers; textile mills; retail chains; private label developers; buying offices, direct mail catalogs. Printsource Exhbitors are a main resource for textile and surface design to America’s major manufacturers, retailers and catalogs, covering such industries as men’s, children’s and women’s apparel, bed and bath, kitchen and tabletop, paper goods and stationery, wall coverings, window fashions and other surface and textile design applications. Organizer: Print Source New York – 212.352.1005 Contact Massimo Iacoboni – 212.252.1005 Venue: 7W New York 7 West 34th Street at 5th Avenue http://www.printsourcenewyork.com/

11 – 14 Heimtextil Organized by Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Heimtextil is recognized as one of the biggest home and contact textile trade fairs in the world. It is a four day event and is expected to welcome more than 86,000 trade visitors from all over the world. Exhibitors include manufacturers from all sectors of the textile machinery industry, including spinning, nonwovens, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing, garment making, testing, software as well as dyestuffs and chemicals. Organizer: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage, 1, Frankfurt, Germany Tel:+(49)-(69)-7575000 Fax:+(49)-(69)-7575643 http://heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com

16 – 18 Texworld USA Texworld USA is the most prominent trade fair in North America devoted to apparel & fabric industry. More than 200 exhibitors are participating from across the world to showcase their latest prodcuts/services. Large numbers of professional visitors are expected to attend the show.The targeted visitors in the event Texworld USA are : manufacturers, trading companies, wholesalers, retailers, agents, designers & buying offices. The targeted exhibitors in the event Texworld USA are related to: cotton, denim, embroidery, fibers, functional fabrics, knits, lace, linen, prints, silk, silky aspects, wool & findings/trims. Last year (2009) 138 exhibitors from 13 countries participated in the show.

Advertiser Index

For more information about one of our advertisers, see the page number listed: Alps Industries Limited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Babei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27 Classical Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Crypton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3 D’Decor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-21 Dicitex Furnishings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 15 Express Air Freight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Glen Raven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 GM Fabrics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7 High Five Textiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Hong Kong Textiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Kravet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Marvocaldo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 New Line Fabrics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 33 Rockland Mills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 23 Textirama/MoOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Venue: Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, New York, USA http://www.texworldusa.com/ Messe Frankfurt, Inc. 1600 Parkwood Circle Atlanta, GA, USA Tel:+(1)-(770)-9848016 Fax:+(1)-(770)-9848023

20 – 24 Maison & Objet Maison & Objet Editeurs will be exploring the fashion world. New and creative design will be displaying at the event. The event will be a unique and dynamic platform gives you a great opportunity to discover new distribution channels. The event will offer the platform for the new brands, companies and the professionals to get exposure which will be beneficiary in their future prospects. Exhibitors will also get an opportunity to promote their creative ideas and views at the Maison & Objet Editeurs. The event will be promising the visitors of the event by providing quality products and services related to the industry. Maison & Objet Editeurs will be inviting most popular architects, interior designers, consultancies, decorators to participate. The event will also offer opportunities to the new exhibitors and brands which are new in the industry. Exhibitors of the event will present their new concepts and fresh ideas to the visitors which attract them most and encourage them to attend. Venue: Paris Nord Villepinte Contact: SAFI Tel: +33-1-811092009 Tel:+(33)-(1)-44290200 Fax:+(33)-(1)-44290201 http://www.maison-objet.com/

28 – Feb 2 New York Home Textiles Market Week At Home featuring Home Textiles showcases leading home textiles suppliers and established luxury brands at the Javits Center, as an extension of Home Textiles Market Week® in New York—the nation’s largest collection of mid- to high-end home textiles for bed, bath, and table. At Home – Furniture, located on Pier 94 represents a comprehensive, sophisticated collection of furniture, floor coverings, home textiles, wall art, lighting, decorative accessories, and more. Venue: J acob K. Javits Center, Pies 92 & 94, New York, NY Contact: customerrelations@glmshows.com 800-272-SHOW

February 14 – 16 Direction by Indigo Paris Direction by Indigo Paris is a leading international exhibition specialized in textile design and creation. With three editions per year, two for the fashion market and one for the furnishing one, Indigo offers to its exhibitors and visitors events to be inspired and prepare collections, get information on trends, and carry business between professionals. Indigo is the leading exhibition with 8000 trade visitors from the entire fashion industry : garment makers, distributors, retailers, luxury shops, weavers, finishers, printers, stylists. Venue: Paris Nord Villepinte Organizer: Premiere Vision Contact Person: Mr. Stephanie BINOIST Tel: +33-1-70387012 20 Boulevard Eugene Deruelle, 69432 Lyon, Cedex 3, France Tel:+(33)-(4)-72606500 Fax:+(33)-(4)-72606509 http://www.indigo-salon.com/

March 5 - 7 China Shanghai International Textiles Fabrics & Accessories Exhibition China Shanghai International Textiles, Fabrics & Accessories Exhibition (CTFE) shows the way to strengthen Garment and Textile industrial associations and clusters to compete in global market, and Free Trade Agreement. CTFE is the best choice for both domestic and international trade. As for the six years developing, CTFE has become the legend of the world textile industry, it shows more business chances. Visitors include Garment and textile manufacturers, Entrepreneurs, Machinery sales, Exporters, Fashion designers & makers, Fabric importers, Merchandisers, Production/plant managers, Engineers, Technicians, Procurement managers, QA/QC, R&D, Government officials from Thailand and other countries in the region are the target visitors. Venue: Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center Shanghai Gehua Exhibition Service Co. Limited Contact Person: Mr. Perry Chen Tel: +86-21-54451978 Rm1208 Xin’an Building No. 99 Tianzhou Road, Shanghai, China Tel:+(86)-(21)-51527671 Fax:+(86)-(21)-51527309

ZW Fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

www.fabricsandfurnishings.com

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