Fabrics & Furnishings International - Winter 2019/2020 Issue by Fabrics & Furnishings International

The Global Home & Contract Sourcing Newspaper Volume 30, Number 1 • Winter 2019/20

U.S.-China Tariff War Benefits Turkish Mills China

1,486 shipments (41.3%)

India

By RAY PARKER

788 shipments (21.9%)

Italy

EW YORK — United States-bound waterborne Turkish textile shipments rose in the past two years, according to the data by global trade intelligence firm Panjiva. Turkish fabric exports rose from 3.9% to 7.5%, year over year, October 2017-18 to October 20182019, according to an F&FI study using Panjiva data from some of the top 45 U.S. jobbers/converters. Meanwhile, Italian textile exports declined from 19.7% to 9.5% during the same period, according to the study.

342 shipments (9.5%)

Turkey

270 shipments (7.5%)

South Korea

166 shipments (4.6%)

Belgium

107 shipments (3.0%)

Taiwan

107 shipment (3.0%)

United Kingdom 57 shipments (1.6%)

(continued on Page 33)

Ray Lenauskas Laments U.S. Supplier Loss • PG 20 Ray Lenauskas

Robert Schweikert

Egypt

Important source countries for 40 U.S. jobbers

38 shipments (1.1%)

Mexico’s Mills Move In as U.S. Tariffs Weigh On China • PG 32 Solomon Gallante, owner of Rahga Textiles

Low-Priced Chinese Upholstery Drives SIC Global Textiles • PG 60

Hightex Opens New Factory • PG 18

Wenlong Lu

Robert Culp IV Becomes CEO in 2020 PG 18 •

Adriana Hoyos

Ecuador’s Hoyos Furnishings Buys $1 Million From European Mills • PG 16

Amitabh and Supriya Himatsingka Buy into Calico PG 68 • Culp IV

Amitabh Himatsingka

CONTENTS

16 22 66 69

Winter 2019/2020 | Vol. 30, No. 1

The Global Home & Contract Sourcing Newspaper

La-Z-Boy Fabric Turns to Mexico

Kurt Darrow

PUBLISHER & CEO Michael Schneider, Publisher/CEO Tel: +1.212.404.6936 Mbl: +1.917.399.7464 michael@fabricsandfurnishings.com

931 Manhattan Avenue, Suite 3 Brooklyn, NY 11222 U.S. Tel: +1.212.404.6936 Fax: +1.866.891.6345 www.fandfi.com ISSN: 1523-7303

Member:

Economist Predicts No Recession for U.S. and EU

F FI Michael Pugliese

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/PUBLISHER EMERITUS Eric Schneider Mbl: +1.917.251.9922 eric@fabricsandfurnishings.com

F&FI Celebrates 30 Years in Publication and Looks Back on Past

Printer

Sutherland

Proofreader PaperTrue

Art Director

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ray Parker Mbl: +1.305.942.7741 ray@fabricsandfurnishings.com

Roxanne Clapp, RoxC LLC

Distribution

APC & Express Air Freight

E.U. Legal Counsel Herman Nayaert

F&FI NEWS NETWORK India | S. Vishwanath UK | Jennifer Castoldi

SALES

Beaumont Names Matthew Crew MD

Matthew Crew

CORRECTIONS TO AUTUMN ISSUE: Hello Eric, I was excited to read the August issue of F&FI after your visit to our showroom during showtime. I always enjoy reading F&FI and it is especially nice when you find yourself featured in print or photos. Much appreciated! However, I must point out a mistake that was made in the Paul Ma article. You had stated that Paul purchased Advantage fabrics from me, and that is not the case. If you may recall, Greatex Canada (Sheldon & Benton Lewis) were the owners of Advantage Fabrics (U.S.),

Oaktree (U.K.) and Art Novel (Germany). Greatex filed bankruptcy in July of 2018, and although I helped negotiate the sale of Advantage Fabrics to Paul Ma, he actually bought Advantage from the Lewis’s. Just wanted you to be aware of the correction. Thanks and I’ll look forward to seeing you around Market and the many shows we attend! Best Regards, Bob Gorman, VP Sales & Merchandising PMT FABRICS Corrections – Address any factual errors to: Ray@FabricsAndFurnishings.com

TURKEY, BELGIUM, HOLLAND, GERMANY Sevim Güneş Mbl: +31 6 8290 9965 Whatsapp: +90 532 2362524 sevim@fabricsandfurnishings.com

CHINA, SOUTHEAST ASIA Sonia Tan Tel: +86 133 8601 9288 WeChat: SoniaTan25034704 sonia@fabricsandfurnishings.com

INDIA Siddharth Vishwanath Tel: +91.97.42164757 sid@fabricsandfurnishings.com

PORTUGAL, SOUTH AMERICA Renato Strauss Mbl: +55.11.99188-8966 renato@fabricsandfurnishings.com

UK, IRELAND, FRANCE, SPAIN Bernard Bain Tel: +44(0)7423306500 bernard@fabricsandfurnishings.com

MEXICO Alexis Gomez Tel: +52 1 663 101 6505 alexis@fabricsandfurnishings.com

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION IN INDIA

Get & Gain Centre is the official subscription agent for Fabrics & Furnishings International in India. The price of a subscription in India is $250.00. Please contact GET AND GAIN CENTRE /SPACE AND TIME CENTRE ATTN;- MR. VASANT.S.JAIN 301,SAGAR SHOPPING CENTRE, 3RD FLOOR, OPP. BOMBAY BAZAR, 76,J.P, ROAD, ANDHERI ( WEST) MUMBAI – 400 058 INDIA. MOBILE NO. 9820720189/ 7303655501 | Tel:- 0091 -22-26775822 / 26773888 ©COPYRIGHT 2020 by Fabrics & Furnishings International.. All U.S. and International Rights Reserved.

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Turkey’s Aydin Tekstil Opens New High Point Showroom F&FI News Network

IGH POINT, N.C.— Turkey’s Aydin Tekstil has opened a new showroom in the Market Square Tower on the fourth floor, located at 305 W.High Ave., to accommodate all product groups for the U.S. market. “We’ve been waiting to consolidate this part of the operation for sever-

al years,” CEO Ali Sami Aydin says. “We’re very pleased with our new showroom and now able to showcase more introductions that will continue the robust growth of our company. Our new showroom will set the tone for our next chapter with expanded collections.” A new agent, Textilelinks’ Salman Chaudhry, and new collections are planned for the U.S. market. Aydin will be showing various themes that offer

Turkey’s Aydin Tekstil has opened a new showroom in the Market Square Tower on the fourth floor.

new designs and innovations in upholstery fabrics (flat woven, jacquard fabric, velvets, knitted fabrics for all residential and contract markets), decorative rugs, and mattress ticking.

“We look forward to serving all our customers with our door-todoor service,” Aydin says. “We look forward to serving all our customers with our door-to-door service,” Aydin says. “Stemming from our worldwide growth and the additional expansion plans of our U.S. line, this new showroom is just part of the internal operational steps we are taking to improve the purchasing experience of our customers.” F&FI

CEO Ali Sami Aydin says a new showroom is planned as part of the expansion in the U.S. market. 14 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

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COVER STORY

Ecuador’s Adriana Hoyos, an Upholstery Buyer of $1 Million, Likes Shopping at Proposte F&FI News Network

UITO, Ecuador—Adriana Hoyos Home Furnishings, an upperend lifestyle line of furniture and home accessories founded in 1994, is now a million-dollar consumer of upholstery fabrics purchased directly from mills. Hoyos is the designer and owner of the $20 million brand in retail, primarily in the $15-$30 per yard range with Imatex and Prosetex in Italy, Verstraete in Belgium, and Crevin in Spain. She especially likes Crevin’s Smartcare fabrics. She is a regular shopper with her daughter, Andrea Perez Hoyos, director of product development, at Proposte. “We buy as much as 50,000 yards of upholstery per year from five different suppliers, but the Chinese minimums are too much for us at 1,000 meters per color,” Hoyos says. Adriana Hoyos and Her suppliers demand only 150-yard minimums. her daughter She also works with Kravet and Romo for cut yardAndrea Perez Hoyos age when she needs something special for a project. Hoyos Home Furnishings stores its inventory in a 20,000-square-meter factory in Quito with 300 employees. The company recently opened its first distribution store in Madrid. Sometimes she mixes as many as five patterns on one chair, but mostly she buys basics in light neutrals in grays and off-whites.

“These sell well in our markets of Miami (where she has a new showroom in the Design District), Panama, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica,” Hoyos says. Recently, she opened at Bloomingdale’s in Dubai as a Chair with two kinds of upholstery shop-in-shop. She travels 50% of the time looking for new dealers and working with designers, especially involved with hospitality and cruise projects, a growing part of her business. She recently completed Flora, a cruise ship of the RC Group. At High Point, she previewed six pieces from her upcoming collection, Galapagos, which came to the designer while spending time on the islands for her work with luxury mega-yacht, “Celebrity Flora.” The boutique cruise ship debuted earlier this year with Adriana Hoyos interior furnishings that pay tribute to the company’s Ecuadorian roots. When she is not traveling, she spends half of her time in her Quito headquarters. F&FI

Bedroom suite on Celebrity X Ship “Flora”

La-Z-Boy Fabric Weathers Chinese Tariff Storm F&FI News Network

Kurt Darrow, La-Z-Boy president

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ONROE, Mich.—La-Z-Boy Chairman, President and CEO Kurt Darrow says that his company was not seriously affected by the 25% increase in tariffs on Chinese fabrics coming into the U.S. on Oct. 1. For the past 10 years, La-Z-Boy has been cutting and sewing kits in its Tijuana, Mexico facility. About two-thirds of its fabrics, most from Chinese sources, are turned into kits, and therefore, are not covered by the tariffs, according to Darrow. He says La-Z-Boy had to pass through

increased costs on about one-third of its fabrics and this resulted in increases of 3.5% to 4% to its dealers. La-Z-Boy turns out about 25,000 fabric and leather kits a week from the Mexican plant. During an August web conference with the financial community, Darrow said that the La-ZBoy upholstery business was ahead by 20% for the first quarter of its fiscal 2020 year, and its operating profit doubled during that quarter versus the prior year during the same period. Interestingly, he says that stain-resistant fabric made from 110 bottles per sofa is 25% of La-Z-Boy sales today. F&FI

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COVER STORY

China’s Hangzhou Hightex Opens New Factory and Goes Vertical Low-end market not affected by U.S. tariffs F&FI News Network

HANGHAI — Hangzhou Hightex Co. Ltd, a manufacturer of upholstery fabrics and finished products, will open a new factory in Hangzhou. Wenlong Lu, president and founder of the company, says the 50,000-square-meter [538,000-square-foot] facility, which employs 600, will open in a couple of months. It’s a final step in his ambition to make his mill “vertical.” “We want to be more competitive,” Lu says through an interpreter. “Before [the mill] was only for weaving, now, we also have the before- and after-weaving.” Hightex will be able to source, manufacture, and coat its cotton-linen fabrics, nylon-cotton-blended fabrics, bamboo-fiber fabrics, and other related products. The new mill will have an annual capacity of 20 million meters. On the F&FI World’s Top 50 Mills listing, Hightex ranks No. 32 with about $20 million in sales annually. Lu says he’s not worried about the U.S. tariff on Chinese goods because the “low-end market is good, but the higher end is tougher.” He adds, “We’re very good. It is not been an issue because our price is very competitive, even with tariff.” Hightex sells about 70 percent to the U.S., under its own True North Fabrics brand, and 30 percent to the domestic market. True North Fabrics is priced from $2.50 to $10 a yard, while the Yarn and Loom brand is priced $4 to $20 a yard. In the industry for 30 years, Lu started as the president of a chemical factory at 25, but he soon started his own textile company. He says over the years, there have been opportunities to invest in real estate and other ventures, but he wanted to stick with textiles. “I always look at the economy, both domestic and international, so I can predict what’s going to happen,” Lu says. Still, he’s not so optimistic about the global economy. “The furniture industry is going to be reorganizing as well as the textiles related to it,” Lu says. Wenlong Lu, president He notes one of the biggest changes in and founder of Hightex, the industry has been the speed of business, shows a best-selling fabric during Shanghai the need to make more fabrics in less time. Home Textiles [Aug. He used to make a product and sell it for 28-31]. five years. “Now, it’s two to three years to give customers something new,” Lu adds. F&FI 18 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

Robert Culp IV Becomes CEO in 2020 F&FI News Network

IGH POINT, N.C.— Robert Culp IV will become the CEO of Culp Inc. on Jan. 1, 2020. Culp is one of the world’s largest marketers of mattress fabrics for bedding as well as upholstery fabrics for residential and commercial furniture. As part of the company’s senior leadership for over fifteen years, he is currently the company’s president, chief operating officer, and president of Culp Home Fashions. “These changes reflect the continuation of the board’s long-standing succession planning process designed to provide continuity and a natural leadership evolution as the Robert Culp IV becomes company continues to execute its growth CEO on Jan. 1, 2020. strategy,” a company statement says. Culp IV has been employed by the company since 1998 and has served in various roles, including president of Culp Home Fashions, the company’s mattress fabrics division, since 2004. He became the company’s COO in 2018 and president in 2019. FRANKLIN SAXON NAMED EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN In addition, Franklin Saxon, Culp’s current chairman and CEO, will assume the new role of executive chairman on Jan. 1. Saxon joined the company in 1983, and he has been a member of the board of directors since 1987. He has served in various capacities, including chief financial officer from 1985 to 1998 and president of Culp Velvets/Prints division from 1998 to 2004. Saxon was named president and COO of the company in 2004, and became president and CEO in 2007. He was elected chairman of the board in 2019. Culp IV will assume Saxon’s responsibilities for operations of all the company’s divisions. Sandy Brown and Boyd Chumbley, leaders of the Culp Home Fashions and Culp Upholstery Fabrics divisions, respectively, and Paul Saunders, CEO of eLuxury, which operates under the Culp Home Accessories division, will report to Culp in his new role. Saxon will remain actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the company with specific responsibility for all corporate shared services, including finance, human resources, and information technology. “Culp IV is a proven leader and brings the right complement of operational experience and strategic insight to this position,” Saxon said in a statement. “Having worked with him for over 20 years, I am confident he is well prepared and has the vision, skills, experience, and leadership capabilities necessary to be our chief executive officer.” On behalf of the board of directors, Ken McAllister, lead director, added, “As part of the board’s ongoing focus on executive-succession planning, Frank and, prior to his death, Rob Culp, the company’s co-founder and former chairman, worked closely with the board over a period of years to plan this transition.” Culp IV said in a statement, “I am especially proud to carry on the legacy of my father and grandfather, who founded and built a company known for innovation and an unwavering commitment to both our customers and shareholders. …Frank Saxon has played a pivotal role in the growth and success of Culp, and he will continue to serve as an important mentor and leader. ABOUT THE COMPANY Culp, Inc. [NYSE: CULP] is one of the world’s largest marketers of mattress fabrics for bedding and upholstery fabrics for residential and commercial furniture. The company markets a variety of fabrics to its global customers of leading bedding and furniture companies, including fabrics produced at Culp’s manufacturing facilities and fabrics sourced through other suppliers. Culp has operations located in the U.S., Canada, China and Haiti. F&FI

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Rockland Industries Exits Several Textile Trade Shows. Executive Asks: Are They Still Effective? MoOD+Indigo closes, Proposte changes dates and NADFD pivots format By RAY PARKER

ALTIMORE — Rockland Industries President Darren Fradin says he started questioning attending textile fairs during this year’s Heimtextil in Frankfurt, Germany, then had serious doubts during the HD Expo in Las Vegas. Fradin, who has been attending trade fairs since the 1990s, and his team are now questioning the return on investment of attending textile fairs. Rockland is known for its Roc-lon blackouts. “The traditional type of trade show,” Fradin says, “is becoming less and less effective. … These are expensive [to attend]. … Is it wise to spend $20,000 for those events? All are being discussed.” Textile trade fairs had a rocky year in 2019, starting with Proposte organiz-

ers moving up their dates from May to April so that Proposte would follow Salon Del Mobile (The Milan Furniture Fair), thereby, the reasoning went, attracting more visitors. Proposte started in 1993. National Association of Decorative Fabric Distributors (NADFD) members are following a similar pattern in 2020, when the group’s fair will gather after BDNY for the first time. NADFD started in 1968. But the biggest blow came later this year when MoOD+Indigo organizers announced the trade fair would be canceled because of low participation as only 50 exhibitors had signed up, down from 200 the previous year. MoOD started in 1999. “We’re pulling out of Heimtex because the foot traffic in our hall last year was almost non-exis-

Darren Fradin

tent, they wouldn’t move us to a busier hall for 2020, and we’re seeing a trend with this type of show: less and less traffic each year,” Fradin says. MARKETS CHANGE, SO MUST TRADE SHOWS The Internet has changed the textile business, but not all trade shows have changed in response, Fradin says. But there is a solution, especially since the textile business still runs

on relationships and trust. “It’s a different time with the Internet,” Fradin says, citing slower foot traffic at the HD Expo in Las Vegas. “Even High Point [Showtime Market] has lost the magic it used to have.” Proposte is held at the Villa Erba in Cernobbio, Italy, and its convention hall, near Lake Como. Typically, Rockland executives attend four to six shows a year. “We are going to start exploring more dynamic events, where you can have one-on-one meetings and relationship-building opportunities with key decision-makers in the industry,” Fradin says. He applauds shows such as the Cruise Ship Interior Expo, held June 18-20 for the first time in Miami Beach, Florida. Fradin says Rockland landed three important

orders because buyers and sellers could sign up for one-on-one meetings. Fradin points to the upcoming All Aboard Design event, a cruise from March 12 to 16, 2020, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Cozumel, Mexico, as the future. [Full Disclosure: F&FI Publisher Michael Schneider is the organizer of All Aboard Design.] “I think it’s right on the money with these matchmaking events,” Fradin says. “Today, it’s more about getting your targeted message across … and having a meeting with a key decision-maker and building time for relationships.” Fradin adds: “[Trade shows] are going to have to continue to evolve. If they want to keep us, they need to make it more valuable to us.” F&FI

Canadian Fabric Importer Ray Lenauskas Sounds Off About Tariffs and the American Fabric Industry’s Destruction

Ray Lenauskas F&FI News Network

ORONTO—Exclusive Fabrics, a fabric importer, laments what has happened to the supply side of the business in the wake of China’s emergence as a major exporter. “The former large American mill suppliers could not be replaced,” Exclusive’s owner Ray Lenauskas says. “Collectively, they offered an extremely broad assortment of reliable, value-priced

20 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

and salable offerings which suited the needs of perhaps 90% of consumers.” “These mills were relatively easy to deal with,” he says. “Shipping was a non-issue. Their sales teams were local. As a group, they provided consistent quality, fashion, and selection. One production run looked like the next, and goods matched their customers’ samples. Product continuity was fairly reliable (although this started to change once China made inroads). The overall sourcing effort and stress their customers experienced were relatively low.” Lenauskas says, “Many revered wholesale and retail brand icons of the past have disappeared. Overall, today’s consumer lacks the need or desire for brands their parents once cherished. It appears society currently embraces short-term ownership as opposed to longterm keepsakes and related quality. Those who

value upscale product likely already own it. Those who do not are simply not interested.” Now with greater tariffs in place, he says what comes next is anyone’s guess. “The overall market and demand for fabric has dwindled and continues to spiral downward, as has the number of fabric customers at all levels,” he says. “Consolidation within the marketplace continues, and price dominates most segments.” He adds that the current duties are wreaking havoc on fabric importers. “Trade shows and fabric fairs have also suffered,” Lenauskas says. “I recall the masses pouring into High Point for Market and Showtime; ditto Decosit/MoOd, Proposte and Heimtex. One additional factor that must be mentioned is that we are all older. Retirement, succession, closing shop, health, and death have taken their toll on the state of affairs and status quo we once (continued on Page 23)

PHOTOS F FI

ACT

Some 400 Association for Contract Textiles (ACT) members attended the 2019 conference in New York City. Throughout the two-day conference, eight speakers gave presentations including three discussing how technology, specifically the internet and social media, continues to change the industry. Wells Fargo Securities Economist Michael Pugliese gave his predictions on the U.S., India, and China economies. [Read story on page 22.]

Elizabeth Stuart (left) at Milliken & Co. Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Karen Smant, senior account manager at Milliken & Co. Anne Chapman (l to r), marketing coordinator at Irwin Seating in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kim Glynn, buyer at Irwin Seating, Rob Mayer, president of Mayer Fabrics in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Jennifer Chiodini, director of supply chain at Irwin Seating.

Mark Schechter (Left), senior vice president sales at KB Contract in Denver, Colorado, Elaine Schroder, senior sales manager at KB Contract, and Mark Satcher, national sales manager at Spradling International in Pelham, Alabama.

Guest Sarah Stent (left) and Diane Hamlin-Zolenski, CMF design integration manager at Herman Miller in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Jeff Irwin (l to r), managing director at Lady Fabrics in Ocala, Florida, Allan Lowy Jr. at Lady Fabrics and John Rowan at CF Stinson in Portland, Maine.

William Foulkes, principal at Weft in Providence, Rhode Island, and Dave White, vice president of textiles at Luum Textiles in Chicago, Illinois.

Rebecca Lee (l to r), at Sunbrella Contract in Burlington, North Carolina, Carol Lindsey, textile designer at Suzanne Tick Inc. in New York City, Meagan Phipps, design director textiles at Suzanne Tick, and Meghan Spielman, textile designer at Suzanne Tick.

Dean Shull (left) at Sunbrella Contract in Burlington, North Carolina, and Chuck Ingersall, national sales manager at United Fabrics in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

Greg Herring (left), senior business manager at TSG Finishing/DEFEND in Rockingham, North Carolina, and Iskender Sheard, president Geo. Sheard Fabrics in Quebec, Canada.

Jennie Wilde (l to r), a guest, Irena Peer, director contract design and merchandising at Robert Allen Duralee Group in New York City, Mindy Marcus, principal at ME Textiles in New York City, and Ken Wolf, principal at Ken Wolf Textiles in Chicago, Illinois.

Sara Hall (l to r) at Sunbrella Contract in Burlington, North Carolina, and Susan Goldstein at Sunbrella and Lori Roop, director of design at CF Stinson in Portland, Maine.

Peter Dow, senior account manager at Milliken & Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Andrea Babb, manager of product development at Luum Textiles in Toronto, Canada.

Nathaniel Dubuque at Designtex in New York City and Teesha Prezeau, leader product services at Designtex.

Valerie Hamroff (left), design consultant at Fabricut Contract in New York City and Julia Dalton, a stylist at Nassimi in New York City.

Winter 2019/2020 â&#x20AC;˘ www.FandFI.com â&#x20AC;˘ 21

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COVER STORY

Economist Predicts Weakened Growth for Next 12 Months, But No U.S. and EU Recession

Some 400 Association for Contract Textiles (ACT) 2019 attendees hear about a moderate U.S. economic growth, while China and India continue growth spurts

Wells Fargo Securities Economist Michael Pugliese lives in New York City.

By RAY PARKER

EW YORK—In a speech in Lower Manhattan during the annual ACT conference in October, Wells Fargo Securities Economist Michael Pugliese predicts a bright future for the U.S. economy. “Our outlook the next 12 months is moderate growth (and) no recession,” Pugliese says to about 400 attendees on the New York University campus. “I hope he’s right” about no recession, TSG Finishing CEO Brian Rosenstein says. Throughout the two-day conference, eight speakers gave presentations including three discussing about how technology, specifically the internet and social media, continues to change the indus-

try. But four people including Rosenstein said the economy remains of primary concern. Economist Pugliese focused on several economic indicators he believes point to moderate growth in the next year: the U.S. has the largest deficit of the world’s major developed economies at –4% of gross domestic product. The GDP is the monetary value of all finished goods and services made within a country during a specific period. Although at first it seems a negative, Pugliese says the U.S. budget deficit in the near term may lead to faster economic growth because of lower taxes and greater government spending, which will be associated with better employment and more investment. Another positive indicator is employees saw their paychecks increase: real-wage growth increased this year on an inflation-adjusted basis, especially for workers in lower-paying industries, which increased 2.5% in July. In addition, while the U.S. household debt is still increasing, the household debt-to-disposable income ratio has increased. The household saving rate is 8.1%. “This is a positive trend,” he says. Wages are expected to increase because of a shrinking labor pool. The U.S. primeage population, or those aged between 25 and 54, has remained flat since 2008. Overall, the U.S. economic growth will slow from 1.5% to 2% in the next year, while core inflation has fallen below 2% since the end of 2018, so no recession is expected, Pugliese says. GLOBAL ECONOMY WEAKENS “We don’t expect a broad recession in Europe, China or another country,” Pugliese says in an interview. “We have seen growth

slow in other parts of world as in the U.S., and it’s been more pronounced in Europe the past year than in the U.S.” The European Union, he forecasts, will experience slower growth than the U.S., or from 1% to 2%. “The important take-away is directionally everyone is moving down; generally foreign economies have been faster down than in the U.S.,” Pugliese says. China and India, as developing economies, will continue to grow, but at a slower pace. “China as a developing country generally grows more than us, about 6%,” he says. “India is considered an emerging market. …Again, they have a catch up to industrialize with the U.S. There you too see things slow down from a year ago. (continued on Page 50)

Overall, the U.S. economic growth will slow from 1.5% to 2% in the next year, while core inflation has fallen below 2% since the end of 2018, so no recession is expected

Ilse Beterams Rejoins Serge Ferrari as Vice President, North America F&FI News Network

EERFIELD BEACH, Fla.— Ilse Beterams has rejoined Serge Ferrari as the vice president of North America. Founded in 1973, Serge Ferrari is a French industrial group that makes coated, decorative fabrics for many markets including marine and outdoor.

Beterams will oversee all operations in the U.S. and Canada, including sales, finance, and marketing. Jules Duguay left the position at the end of June. Beterams reports to Francois Géradin, the recently appointed vice president of sales Europe and the Americas. Beterams has worked with Serge Ferrari for more than

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Ilse Beterams

25 years. From July 2015 to April 2018, she served as the general manager of Serge Ferrari North America, where she led the division’s strategic restructuring and a 17% growth in sales. Prior to this role, Beterams served as the sales manager for Northern Europe, managing sales teams in Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, Scandinavia,

and the United Kingdom. She has worked directly with architects and engineers on many large projects, including the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where most of the new construction included Serge Ferrari composite materials. The company’s headquarters is in Paris, France, with offices around the world. F&FI

(continued from Page 20)

US Suspends Some Chinese Textile Tariffs

Ray Lenauskas knew and enjoyed. Unlike many things, the past is not a reflection of the future within our greater industry. What’s gone is gone.” The U.S.-China trade war is going in the wrong direction. “Starting a trade war with China was a foolish power play sure to backfire, given America’s economic dependence on Chinese goods and related prices,” Lenauskas says. “If this Act were implemented, it would spell immediate disaster for large American fabric converters, such as Culp,

Barrow, Morgan, Richloom, American Decorative Fabrics, etc., as well as dozens of smaller players, as current product line offerings and supply would be crippled.” “It would have the same effect on Ashley and other furniture importers; Walmart, JC Penney, Dollar Stores— the list is endless,” he says. “Millions of jobs would be at risk. The effect on the U.S. economy would be nuclear.” Lenauskas says that as a result of all this, he is “glad I live in Canada.”

LENAUSKAS LAMENTS LOSS OF VENDORS “I today tripped over an old list of our fabric suppliers, dated Jan. 1, 1999,” he says. “Eighty-three percent are no longer in business. There are more I could recall if I were to go still further back in time.” A few former suppliers were “purchased” along the way by others. Some of those still supply roll goods as before. Others no longer do, and some have consolidated their offerings with large minimums or runs only.

Lenauskas’s Supplier List: Jan. 1, 1999 Advantage Dicey Microfibres Advitech Dickson Montreal Woolens American Century Dobin Old Deerfield Ameriphlox Doubletex Parker Bros. Ametex Dukane Parade Arpel Leather Edgar Phillips Arte Tessile Erindale Pieters Avid FDH Pine Ridge Bartson Fabricraft QM Aumann Dekor FMA Quaker Bekaert Depla Mark J. Fisher Rapier Belding Hausman Glen Raven Richloom Blumenthal Golding Ronitex Bomar Greatex Rossville Burlington Guilford Rothschild Burlington Canada Gumtree Southern Phoenix CVT Hafner Stone Ridge Weavers Carolina Hamilton Sunbury Carpostan Hartford Swavelle Centrotex Hoffman Swift Chambers Home Fabrics Texweave Cleveland Joan Tietex CMI Industries (Chatham) King America United Trims Chromatex La France UPS Textiles C&A Velvets Lanscot-Arlen Valdese Cone Mills Main Street Volfi Covington Malden Waesland Culp Marque Weave Cyrus Clark Mastercraft Ellington Sears J.L. DeBALL (Canada) Mercer John Wolf Depraetere Millliken

Bartson Chambers Cone Covington Culp

Lenauskas’s List Today in 2019 Edgar Gumtree Parker Bros. Richloom Rothschild

Sunbury Swavelle Valdese

Concerns about holiday shopping season F&FI News Network

ASHINGTON — The Trump administration suspended its additional 10% tariff to take effect Sept. 1, which will now hit on Dec. 15, on about $200 billion in goods from China. Now, there is a 25% tariff on some Chinese imports, including textiles. Textile items that are on the tariff list include, according to the TRSA, which represents U.S. companies that supply, launder, and maintain linens and uniforms. • Man-made textiles: polyester, polyp propylene, rayon, and nylon • Corduroy, gauze, lace, badges, embroidery, and terrycloth-towel fabric • Cotton: fibers, thread, yarn, and denim • Silk Here are the other major categories included in the 25% tariff. • Plastics: vinyl flooring and other plastic floor and wall coverings • Raw hides and leather • Furniture, bedding, and mattresses: car seats; wood chairs; furniture designed for offices, kitchen and more; mattresses; lamps Not all Chinese textiles will be exempt until December. Tariffs on some $13.7 billion of fabrics and apparel are postponed until Dec. 15, but the 10% tariff will be added to about $39 billion on some fabrics and apparel, according to the Wall

Street Journal. It was not immediately known which fabrics would be included with the additional tariff. U.S. TEXTILE INDUSTRY REACTS The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) praised the suspension of the additional 10% tariff in a release, but on the other hand, it stressed its continuing objection to tariffs at all. The Washington-based NCTO represents the spectrum of the U.S. textile industry, from fibers to finished products. “We have long argued that adding tariffs on imports of manufacturing inputs that are not made in the U.S. in effect raises the cost for American companies,” NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas said in an Aug. 13 release. Michael Saivetz, Richloom Fabrics Group COO, agrees and points out that not only raw materials, but also finished Chinese products, such as a couch should also have tariffs but are not. “The increase is going to be passed on to the U.S. consumer,” Saivetz said in an interview last year, shortly after testifying in Washington. “[The tariffs are] making it less competitive for American manufacturers.” Richloom Contract holds rank 11 with $35 million in annual sales in the F&FI World’s Top 40 Contract Fabric Specialists, included in the Autumn 2019 issue. (Continued on Page 43)

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Larry Hulighan Leads Cotswold Industries Into Contract Furnishings Fabrics for First Time F&FI News Network

F&FI News Network

EW YORK— Cotswold Industries aims to gain a significant piece of the 30-million-yard, contract-fabrics business in the U.S. with a line of spun and filament polyester, as well as cotton, blended cotton and dobby fabrics suitable for piece dyeing or printing. This is according to Larry Hulighan, the newly named vice president of technical fabrics for the company’s contract furnishings fabrics division. Hulighan feels the “made in the U.S.” story that Cotswold represents will play well with customers who no longer want to count on China or Mexico for greige goods supply.

James McKinnon and Larry Hulighan

“My job is to look at the assets of the company and develop new business with the contract furnishings industry. What talents can I bring to the contract/hospitality converter and fabricator network in the U.S.?” Hulighan was previously with Copland Industries, a greige goods producer that closed last year. Cotswold is in diverse businesses with its products, including recycled textured polyester fabric for the flag and totes markets, which are wet-printed. Since 1984, Cotswold has owned Central Textiles, a woven fabrics mill near Clemson, South Carolina, which is one of its five facilities in the U.S. Others include Bowman Mfg., in Bowman, Georgia, a nonwovens processing facility

“There is an entrepreneurial spirit at Cotswold which drives innovation and the creative marketing of thousands of SKUs.” “We can deliver in six to eight weeks—not 12-14 weeks,” he says. “We produce narrow-width textiles in plain weave, twill, and dobbies for bedding , drapery, upholstery, and display, including fire-resistant fabrics at competitive pricing….

Proposte 2020 Meets April 27-29; Follows Salone Del Mobile Again

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for insulation, wiping cloths, home sewing, geo-textiles, and embroidery.There is also a plant in Piedmont, South Carolina, for apparel fabric wovens and knits. The company went vertical from yarn forward in 1984 with the purchase of Central from Cannon Mills. Up until then, Cotswold had been a converter since 1954. The third-generation-family business was started by James’ grandfather as a converter to supply Ford Motor Co. and eventually evolved into a vertical. James’ uncle and father both joined the business in the ’60s, his cousin in the ’80s, and James in the ’90s. There is an entrepreneurial spirit at Cotswold which drives innovation and the creative marketing of thousands of SKUs. James McKinnon, CEO of Cotswold and Hulighan’s new boss, says, “We have survived and prospered through innovation and by offering value to our customers.” F&FI

ERNOBBIO, Italy — Proposte organizers will continue following Salone del Mobile in 2020. Proposte will be held April 27-29 after Salon Del Mobile (The Milan Furniture Fair) ends on April 26. In 2019, Proposte started a month earlier on April 15 and attracted more visitors than previous years, the organizers said. When asked if the new dates were a success, Proposte President Mauro Cavelli said on April 16, “Yes, absolutely, there was a 20% increase in visitors [on the first day] … we haven’t witnessed for years.” When the new dates were announced in 2019, some observers were skeptical about visitors attending both events, traveling about an hour from Milan to Cernobbio at Lake Como. Italian designer Massimiliano Forasassi, frustrated by the change of dates at Proposte as well as the difficulty in gaining entry, wrote about the tony trade show in a LinkedIn article. “This edition of [Proposte] 2019 is much discussed due to the too early dates and restrictions imposed by institutions and the organization, restrictions that place limits on external exhibitors with fines that can go from 8,000 to 20,000 euros in case of early opening,” Forasassi wrote. In the latest release, Proposte organizers did not address the controversy of fining external exhibitors at Villa Erba. Still, Massimo Mosiello, general manager of Proposte, Roberto Luongo, general director of the Italian Trade Agency, and Cavelli, president of Proposte said in April the fair strives to improve in several ways in the coming years: attracting more buyers from around the world, such as the U.S. and China; promoting eco-friendly products; and communicating better with Cernobbio officials outside of Villa Erba. Three major Italian mills dropped out of Proposte in 2019: Mario Sirtori, Enzo Angiuoni, and Limonta. With the loss of those three mills, the Proposte organizers sold the space to Stead McAlpin (U.K.), Acarca (Turkey), and GM Syntex, the first Indian mill to gain admission to what was always a European exhibition. Overall, there were 85 exhibitors, including 33 Italian and 52 foreign. F&FI Entrance to Proposte 2019

Steve Pawl Now the First Chief Marketing Officer of Sunbrella Fabrics Repositioning the Sunbrella brand in crowded market F&FI News Network

URLINGTON, N.C.— Steve Pawl is now the chief marketing officer (CMO) of Sunbrella Fabrics, the first in the company’s history. Steve joins Sunbrella with more than 20 years of experience building international

consumer brands, having led companies like Husqvarna Group, Fruit of the Loom, Newell Brands, and Pfizer. As CMO, Pawl will direct the global brand strategy for Sunbrella as well as other trade brands within Glen Raven Custom Fabrics, best known as the mak-

ers of Sunbrella fabrics. The new position reflects the increased emphasis Glen Raven is placing on building connections with customers. Pawl reports to David Swers, president and chief operating officer of Glen Raven Custom Fabrics. Pawl was most recently

the vice president of eCommerce for Husqvarna Group, where he also served as the vice president of brand and product marketing for the company’s consumer brands division. As a leader of the billion-dollar global division, Pawl crafted a strategy for Husqvarna Group’s retail

Steve Pawl (continued on Page 42)

Ben Barbosa Exits RADG F&FI News Network

AUPPAUGE, N.Y.—Ben Barbosa has resigned his position as the sales manager of retail/manufacturing business and director of international sales at RADG LLC.

Ben Barbosa

His reason for leaving and his future plans are not known, but there has been a management exodus from Robert Allen/Duralee, especially after it was sold to Brant Enderle, principal of RADG. Barbosa joined Duralee Fabrics in 2010 as the director of export sales. He held that post at the merged Robert Allen/Duralee companies prior to it being sold to RADG earlier this year. Before joining Duralee, he was the international sales manager at Covington Fabrics from September 1991 to September 2010. F&FI Winter 2019/2020 • www.FandFI.com • 27

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China’s Zhejiang Huachen Sets Sights on U.S. Blackout Market CEO says U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods blocked American expansion this year By RAY PARKER

Editor’s note: At press time, Jones had left Huachen to pursue other opportunities.

HANGHAI— Zhejiang Huachen New Material Co., Ltd, a maker of blackout fabrics, has delayed its major push into the American market because of U.S. tariffs. CEO John Jones says officials in January were ready to hit America, but by March, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods stalled that plan. “That stopped us going there for a while,” Jones says; however, his goal remains the same. “It’s our goal still to get into America from China. …We can make a big difference in the U.S.” Jones says the Hangzhoubased company exports to the following areas: Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe and the Middle East. “Anybody who was buying in China for the U.S. has had to stop, so they’re buying

in New Zealand” and other places, Jones says. “With the tariff, these countries can now compete with China.” Zhejiang Huachen sold about $20 million in 2016, according to eworldtrade. com. Its Chinese factory covers 16,000 square meters [172,000 square feet] and has more than 200 employees with an annual production yield of 1.1 million meters, according to the company website. The company uses coating and flocking machines from Italy, Germany, and Korea, as well as imported materials from America. In cooperation with professors from the Chinese Academy of Textile Sciences, Huachen invites coating experts from Australia to assist in product development, according to the company website. NEW LINE TO COMPETE WORLDWIDE CEO Jones says there’s a new line to globally compete. “In China there’s only an

80-20 or a 90-10 construction, while in Australia, New Zealand, and [the] U.S., we use a 70-30, so we’ve gone to a 70-30 to catch up on a poly-cotton, just to compete with everyone else,” he says. In addition, he says consistency has been achieved because of the chemicals used to make the product. “Everything you use today must be the best quality because, if you don’t, it will show up later down the line,” Jones says. QUALITY IS NO. 1 Jones says he has pushed for consistency and quality since becoming CEO last year. He attended Intertextile Shanghai Home 2019 for the first time. “Quality at the end of the day is still more important than price,” he says. “I don’t care what anybody else says. … [At Intertexile] we’ve had three people in here today from South America, Australia, and Europe, and the first thing they say to us is, ‘thank you very much

for your support and your quality.’ It must be consistent. So if you have a quality product today, you need to be able to walk away knowing this time next year it’s going to be the same.” Brett Fleetwood, the managing director at Scorpio Agencies Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand, agrees that quality is why his company buys from Zhejiang Huachen, plus his relationship with Jones. LEADING A CHINESE COMPANY Jones has many contacts around the world after 40 years in the textiles business. Born British, he started out in the U.K. at a small textile company. He then moved to Melbourne, Australia, for six years, then the U.S., where he was a technician at various upholstery and coating companies for six years, then New Zealand for 14 years, finally returning to the U.S. in South Carolina. He’s been heading the

John Jones and Aaron Yang

Chinese company for a year. “Getting your point across in China is no different than getting your point across in New Zealand or anywhere else,” Jones says. “It has to be quality first and foremost.” “We all have our comfort zone and we have to step out there sometime.” Jones says his relationship with Aaron Yang, manager of second international business, has made it easier to change things there, as well as the support from the board chair, Sun Yue Hua. F&FI

Dominion Sample Expands North Carolina and Mexico Manufacturing Warehouses The U.S.’ largest trading partners are now Mexico and Canada so far this year, edging out China F&FI News Network

ARK CITY, Utah — Dominion Sample recently opened manufacturing warehouses in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in Tijuana, Mexico. Officials say this move shelves any worries about the latest tariffs on goods from China by President Trump’s administration. The U.S.’ largest trading partners are now Mexico and Canada so far this year, edging out China, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ben Mazor, Dominion account executive, says the warehouses’ locations had more to do with geography than tariff wars. “We’re trying to have one-stop shopping,” says Mazor, who attended the National Association of Decorative Fabrics Distributors (NADFD) conference on June 23-26.

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SI Corporate, which is the parent company of Dominion, is privately held, with 500 to 1,000 employees, according to the company’s LinkedIn profile, and its headquarters is in Montreal, Canada. Also in Montreal, Dominion Sample designs and manufactures sampling and sales tools, especially in wallcoverings and textiles. Overall, SI Corporate specializes in sample products, swatch cards and books, library sets, and custom presentation boards, among other fulfillment products. SI has other specialized businesses including: Fulfillment Solutions, which is in Charlotte, North Carolina, specializes in order processing, freight, and system integration, among other fulfillment functions; Sampling International, which is in Irvine, California, has produced custom sam-

pling tools for more than 30 years; Tactic (Sampling Products), which is in Saint-Georges, Canada, produces sample products for the building industry. SI Fulfillment Solutions more than tripled its space by expanding into the Charlotte warehouse of 117,000 square feet. Ben Mazor, account executive, and “Our clients needed Susanna Kwan, sales space,” Mazor says. manager, both at “[These warehousDominion Sample, es] make it easier attend NADFD conference in Park City. logistically.” F&FI

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Graham Bateman, 62, Dies While Hiking in Spain F&FI News Network

ERBYSHIRE, U.K.—Graham Bateman, sales director for Prestigious Textiles Ltd. (Bradford, U.K.) since 2003, died in an accident while hiking alone on the La Concha mountain on Costa del Sol near Marbella, Spain. He was found by Spanish police on Aug. 11. A spokesman for The British Interior Textile Association said that the trade “has lost a star who’s light shone bright.” Graham Bateman

Ann Gish Phillips, Luxury Bedding Designer, Dies at 70

Ann Gish Phillips F&FI News Network

IAMI BEACH, Fla. — The textiles industry mourns the loss of Ann Gish Phillips, 70, a prominent designer of luxury bedding, who died Friday, Aug. 2, after a two-year battle with lung cancer. The business started in 1991 based in California, and eventually Ann Gish, her maiden name, became an important luxury brand. Until this past June, Ann Gish had a single retail outlet in New York City, but many highend retailers and catalog merchants sold her lines. She was born and raised in New York City and Southern California,

Gerard Poirot, F&FI French Correspondent, Dies at 67

ARIS—Gerard Poirot, a correspondent journalist for Fabrics & Furnishings International, passed away suddenly on September 10. He was 67 years old and was born in Lorraine close to Nancy, France in 1952. He will be remembered as an enthusiastic gentlemen who covered the fabric business and events like DecoOff and Maison & Objet for F&FI. He frequently wrote about food and wine and offered critiques on local restaurants and was well known among the gourmet food crowd. He is survived by two daughters, Charlotte and Julie. After a church ceremony, a gathering was held to honor him at the home of Charlotte and Mathieu de Morais in Brossolette à Joinville-le-Pont.

and ultimately lived on the westside of Manhattan with her husband. She had also lived in France, London and Barbados. The Ann Gish brand will continue under the direction of her daughter, Jane, CEO, based in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her husband of 21 years, David Phillips, will continue his role as the company’s CFO. This statement about her work was on the company website: “Ann Gish is best known for her exquisite detailing and construction, along with the use of luxurious and innovative fabrics and designs. Ann is considered by many to be the consummate leader in the creation of contemporary silk bedding, decorative pillows and tabletops. The practical elegance of her design has affected the way beds and bed accessories are presented in the marketplace today.”

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Tiffany Exhibit Features Rubelli Fabric; Donghia U.S. Reorganizes F&FI News Network

HANGHAI—A magnificent Vision & Virtuosity exhibit opened at Shanghai’s Fosun Foundation, a non-profit arts center located in the city’s bustling Bund waterfront district, heralding Tiffany’s 180th anniversary. Andrea Favoretto Rubelli was on hand for the festivities and these pictures were taken by him. Rubelli/Donghia designed all the standard and custom fabrics accessorizing this important exhibition, which featured the famous 128.54 carat yellow diamond last worn by Lady Gaga at the Academy Awards in February. Tiffany continues to build stores in China, but its business with Chinese tourists in the U.S. is down 25% due to the tariff wars. Meanwhile, Donghia, Rubelli’s wholesale contract and residential division in the U.S., is undergoing a total reorganization, according to Andrea Favoretto Rubelli, but his brother Nicolò Rubelli, is now running the business since last January. Andrea Rubelli “The design department of Donghia has not disappeared but is being reorganized, also with possible synergies with Rubelli, who as you know, has very strong textile development capabilities. Nicolò is now supervising all of our five brands,” Favoretto Rubelli says. “We are indeed in the process Nicolò Rubelli of reorganizing Donghia in order to better benefit from the many opportunities offered by our market,” Nicolò Rubelli says. “In due time I will be happy to answer all of your questions.” F&FI

View of Shanghai 30 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

Fosun Foundation Museum

Tiffany Exhibit

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Mexico vs. China John Sofka faces off with Peter Hamilton

Mexico’s Rahga Textil Grows in Past 40 Years With Uptick Because of U.S.-China Tariffs

Solomon Gallante, owner of Rahga Textiles

and another 25% penalty on top of that for 40% in total, Mexico is now figuring even more prominently in the thinking of America importers. There is no duty on these fabrics from Mexico and delivery times are half of that quoted by the Chinese mills, as little as four to six weeks from receipt of order.” Rahga Textil was originally a converter that piece-dyed fabrics in Mexico. Its owner,

Hamilton says China Offers Tremendous Diversity in Product Unmatched Anywhere Else By Peter Hamilton to F&FI

At the moment, it looks like the +25% duty will stick on blackouts and sheers, which were earlier at 0% and 15% respectively. There is still inventory in the market, with W&I too, but as time passes that will be consumed and buyers will be faced with difficult choices, particularly on projects where a special deal on a special product from a specific source may have been quoted before all this blew up. While this brings Turkey back into play on sheers, because they are technically advanced in that product area, there is huge political and domestic uncertainty there, which may impact the reliability of supply.

F&FI News Network

EXICO CITY – Mexico’s textile mills have been quietly growing in the last 40 years and Rahga Textil is a perfect example. John Sofka, president of Softex Fabrics Inc. in California and exclusive U.S. agent and distributor for Rahga, knows Mexico because of his relationship of more than 25 years as well as his being an agent to other Mexican mills since 2000. Softex Fabrics is the agent and distributor for several other foreign textile manufacturers located in Turkey, China and Italy. Rahga is a great story, especially now, Sofka says, because the Mexican companies he represents generate about $75 million in sales annually. Rahga and other Mexican textile companies give the U.S. textile industry the chance to work with Mexico, instead of being forced to use China’s fabrics with tariffs. “The Chinese are at risk of losing major distribution and will have a tough time fighting their way back,” he says. “As a result of Chinese textiles carrying regular tariffs of 15% for polyester fabrics

John Sofka

Salomon Galante, eventually bought 118” /154” wide looms to become a fabric manufacturer. Textile companies besides Rahga that Sofka represents were originally Dobby weavers of 60” widths. “Today there are Mexican mills that rival Italian standards,” says Sofka, which he knows well due to his representation of many Italian textile manufacturers. Some feature 118” yarn dyed jacquards, fire retardant fabrics and 59” blackout fabrics.

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(continued on Page 43)

Peter Hamilton

On blackouts, it’s not straightforward for a number of reasons: 1. Supply chain – it is easy to focus on the coating of blackout when, so long as it is good blackout and reliable FR, the most important thing we see when we look at a hospitality drape is the weave, texture and color of the types of blackouts dominating the market at the moment. 2. While print provides a solution in some applications, what the high-end hotel wants in its textures is a real texture, probably in a cationic yarn dyed to an arrangement of neutral tones.

3. In China, there are endless weaving and dyeing options with reasonable MOQ (minimum order quantity), located at the back doors of the coating facilities W&I buys from. 4. Holding ready woven, or even ready-dyed fabrics in China, W&I can coat in as little as two weeks and get finished goods to the West Coast in as few as five weeks from-order, East Coast in two weeks more. 5. There is a far shorter control loop in dyeing, finishing and coating in one place than in losing time shipping dyed fabric by container to a coating facility that then finds there is a problem with the fabric, or loses more fabric than anticipated in coating and falls short on demand. 6. While coating outside China may be attractive in terms of the duty paid on importing to the U.S., the range of fabrics immediately available to these coaters, many sourced from China anyway, is inevitably limited in variety and quantity, so fast response to major projects really is only partial and originality will suffer. The balance of a project that might need to be woven and dyed in China before being shipped to the U.S. or any other global coating facility outside China will take much longer to land back in the U.S. than goods dyed and coated in China. 7. Above all, there is the question of capacity. There might be as few as 10-15 production lines truly suited for wide-width FR blackout coating outside China, fewer of these still in the U.S., most supplying specialized products to local markets. Against that, there are 50+ such lines in China, so it is simply not possible to eliminate this Chinese capacity from supply into the U.S. market and expect the remaining non-Chinese capacity to pick up the demand. (continued on Page 43)

(continued from cover)

Jobber/Converter Study: U.S.-China Trade War Boosts Turkish Textile Exports, While Italian Textile Exports Decline F&FI analysis shows Turkish exports almost doubled in last two years China’s and India’s exports to those U.S. jobbers remained about the same during the same period. Elvin Textile, a leading decorative fabric producer in Turkey, has experienced the boost. “You may be right in your research [and] from our point there is a 30%40% increase in our total U.S. exports,” Elvin General Manager Murat Canik says. “There is more positive reaction from U.S. clients to our collections.” With more than 50 years in producing technical and decorative fabrics, Elvin exports to more than 40 countries, including Italy, Germany, U.S., Japan, Korea, Russia, and China. U.S. companies such as the Richloom Fabrics Group are reacting to the tariffs in different ways, especially with its global reach. Michael Saivetz, COO / vice president, and Nolan Mitchell, vice president of upholstery sales/ merchandising, says this in a statement. “While overall Richloom is by no ways abandoning our ‘China strategy,’ there are portions of our diverse business where we are expanding our non-China global sourcing and domestic efforts in certain product categories.” Richloom has operations in six countries and ships products worldwide. It has a range of customers and industries. As a fabric converter and mill, Richloom supplies to the upholstery, decorative jobber, hospitality, over-thecounter retail, casual outdoor furniture, and recreational vehicle industries. Richloom

offers a range of products, from prints, wovens, dobbies, and jacquard textiles to intricate decorative textiles using fine bead work, embroidery and embossed treatments. During the past two decades, Richloom has vastly expanded its global footprint, most significantly with its Richloom Shanghai Trading company located in Shanghai, China. “Richloom maintains and has seen growth in its Asia business unit as a direct result of the tariffs as some customers look to expand their manufacturing in Asia to offset tariffs on fabrics imported to the U.S,” the Richloom statement says. “In other areas of our business, we are seeing an increased demand for ‘non-China’ product and we have already reacted accordingly.” While the F&FI study is not comprehensive of the entire U.S. jobber/converter industry, it does indicate changes in the supply chain. “China is still the place to go since everything is there already,” one industry observer says, who does not want to be identified. “If the tariff war continues, however, we’ll see more changes” to the supply chain. Here are the top five countries shipping to the U.S. jobbers/converters from Oct. 17, 2017 to Oct. 17, 2018. • China: 39.2% • India: 19.9% • Italy: 19.7% • Belgium: 4.3% • Turkey: 3.9% And from Oct. 17, 2018 to Oct. 17, 2019 • China: 41.3% • India: 21.9% • Italy: 9.5% • Turkey: 7.5% • South Korea: 4.6%

China

1,486 shipments (41.3%)

India

788 shipments (21.9%)

Italy

342 shipments (9.5%)

Turkey

270 shipments (7.5%)

South Korea

166 shipments (4.6%)

Belgium

107 shipments (3.0%)

Taiwan

107 shipment (3.0%)

United Kingdom 57 shipments (1.6%)

Egypt

Source countries for some of the top 40 U.S. jobbers.

38 shipments (1.1%)

TARIFF WAR BREAKTHROUGH President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 11 that China and the U.S. “agreed in principle” on a partial trade deal. It was a positive sign in the 18-month trade war that has rocked the global economy. The F&FI study of top U.S. jobber/converters and subsidiaries included: Mayer Fabrics, Fabrics Innovations, Integra Fabrics, Birch Fabrics, D.L. Couch, Pollack Associates, Carnegie Fabrics, Architex International, Chares Samelson Inc., ArcCom Fabrics, Designtex, Momentum Textiles, Swavelle Mill Creek Fabrics, P Kaufmann Inc., Valiant Fabrics, Thibaut, Rm Coco Décor Ltd, Scalamandre Stark Fabric, Keyston Bros., Pindler & Pindler, Schumacher, Robert Allan Duralee Group, Kravet Fabrics Inc., Richloom Fabrics Group, and others. A dozen of those companies were asked to comment on this story but declined or did not respond. Panjiva Inc. is a global trade data company based in New York City. It is a subscription-based website with import and export details on commercial shipments worldwide. F&FI

Digitalized Crowson Designs Live On F&FI News Network

ONDON, UK—Sharon Crowson, the managing director of The Design Archives, an editeur of decorative fabrics and upholstery sold direct to the designer, has nearly completed the digitalization of the 4,000 + pieces in the Crowson design library. The Warner Textile Archive assisted in the effort, according to Sharon Crowson, who started her company in 2017. She has built her new business on recoloring and reissuing Crowson original designs. Crowson Ltd., her father’s converting company established in 1978, was a huge success for many years until founder Derek Crowson decided to close the company he loved and retire from business life to Barbados in 2014. F&FI

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Tariff Trend: China’s Kentex Mills Relied Solely on U.S. Upholstery, But Now Adds Domestic Upscale Curtains Intertextile Shanghai exhibitors say trade war’s effects still unknown F&FI News Network

HANGHAI – Doris Deng, who has been selling upholstery fabric the last decade in the U.S., has pivoted this year into the Chinese domestic market with upscale curtains. Last week at Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles [Aug. 28-31], most exhibitors seemed to be discussing the U.S.China trade war, even if like Deng, they would not comment about any decline in American exports because of tariffs. The American market “is still good for us … because we have nice big accounts [that] have a facility in Vietnam,” said Deng, the principal

of Kentex Mills in Hangzhou that employs 300 people. She explains her American furniture clients have had the Vietnamese facilities because it’s less expensive to manufacture. “Now one more benefit is no tariff [on] goods from Vietnam,” Deng says. “We’re working together with our customers to offset the influence of the tariff.” Deng entered the Chinese domestic curtain market two years ago, and this year, she launched a new brand called La Belle Vie and opened a new Shanghai showroom for designers and distributors. She expects to have 1,000 distributors by the end of the year. She added the La Belle Vie curtains are targeted at upscale designers. The new curtains come in many fabrics and in 280-inch width. The price

range was not available. Deng wants the La Belle Vie brand to include more than curtains, but also such items such as residential furniture and bedding so that it becomes a “lifestyle brand.” As a result, she imports some products for the new brand, such as furniture and shears, from Germany and Japan. FROM LAW TO CURTAINS Deng grew up in Shanghai and studied to become a lawyer. But she decided to start a contract curtain business in 1992, after discovering she would be paid only 300 yuan per year in law, and after a real estate developer mentioned there were no upscale curtains available. The business grew and she bought a Hangzhou mill in 2001. China first opened parts of its economy to foreign investment and domestic entrepreneurs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Deng has seen the changes to Shanghai as a result. F&FI

Doris Deng opened her new Shanghai showroom for the La Belle Vie brand.

Entrance to Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles 2019

Wang Tiankai, left, the president of China National Textile and Apparel Council,speaks with Doris Deng, right, during Intertextile Shanghai 2019. The new Shanghai showroom for the La Belle Vie brand.

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“In order to reach the differing international fabric markets, we believe it is important to be in a specialized publication such as Fabrics and Furnishings International. In fact, through such an authoritative source, we can significantly improve our communication between the company, editors, wholesalers, and suppliers.”

For marketing information contact, Michael Schneider +1 212-404-6936 • michael@fabricsandfurnishings.com Winter 2019/2020 • www.FandFI.com • 41

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India’s Ascent Décor Launches High-End Upholstery at Heimtextil Ascent moves into new 40,000-square-foot facility and completes merger with group companies By Vishwanath S.

ANGALORE, India—Ascent Decor Private Ltd. has combined its multiple brands of furnishings collections for a merger: Ethnic Silk Mills, Revolution Textil, and Rumors. The company has also moved to a large business facility of 40,000 square feet, occupying three floors of office and warehouse space. “We have reviewed our performance for the year 2019, and amidst the parallel working on the processes of merger, we maintained our previous year sales,” Ascent Director Mukarram Syed says. “We had targeted to achieve 25% growth over the year 2018, but during 2019, we could only maintain earlier sales, which itself is an achievement considering the sleepy market conditions.” Gautam Surekha, director, says, “We have observed that the sales from the editors as well as wholesalers have been slow this year, which can be due to several reasons, such as the suffering of retail markets due to unfavorable geo-political conditions globally.” He adds that increasing internet sales to include customers in Europe, America, and elsewhere, could have also contributed to lower demand from wholesalers. “To be modest, 2020 seems to be coming up with new challenges and uncertainties due to situations arising from Brexit, China-U.S. tariff situation and Middle East slowdown,” Surekha says. “We are strategizing our approach to tackle these unfavourable conditions and have been working on new solutions … to stay dynamic and focussed as in the past.” Director Ramachandra Shastry says, “We do have a challenge, as domestically, special and performance yarns are difficult to source that are quality-certified, though fancy-yarn suppliers in India are adequate.” He adds the company in 2020 will introduce performance and contract fabrics, meanwhile it will look for suitable sourcing.

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Ascent offices

Ascent is in the process of acquiring two more sub-brands. Fabric Engine Collections will cater to the mass market segment, while Revolution Tex Creations will be a woven furnishings line from man-made fibres. LAUNCH HIGH-END UPHOLSTERY AT HEIMTEXTIL During Heimtextil 2020, Ascent will exhibit its complete upholstery range of high-end collections for the editors as well as a new line of collections, which will be blended furnishings in plain/structures, printed collections and will use a variety of structured base fabrics. Ascent Décor weaves and finishes its furnishings in its mill, which is a vertically integrated facility—from design to shipments all under one roof. F&FI

“We had targeted to achieve 25% growth over the year 2018, but during 2019, we could only maintain earlier sales, which itself is an achievement considering the sleepy market conditions.”

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Steve Pawl First CMO at Sunbrella portfolio, including repositioning and refreshing its brands. Pawl, who holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, says in a release the challenge for global brands is how to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. For Sunbrella, he says this means fostering greater engagement within targeted customers.

“Brands that are focused on the customer journey are the ones poised for sustained success,” he says in a release. “Once a user enjoys their Sunbrella Bimini top, we want them to turn to Sunbrella for their patio furniture, their indoor upholstery needs and for window fabrics, and realize similar enjoy-

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ment from those spaces.” Glen Raven President and CEO Swers says in a release: “As Sunbrella continues its growth trajectory, this [new CMO] position is a natural step in expanding the brand across complex markets globally.” F&FI

ABOUT SUNBRELLA FABRICS Sunbrella fabrics give consumers, designers, fabricators, and architects the materials they need to create in the marine, indoor- and outdoor-upholstery, window, commercial and contract sectors, according to the company. Introduced in 1961, Sunbrella fabrics are manufactured and marketed by Glen Raven, Inc., a 139-year-old family-owned company based in North Carolina with operations worldwide. Sunbury Textiles recently joined Sunbrella.

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Mexico’s Rahga Textil Grows in Past 40 Years With Uptick Because of U.S.-China Tariffs

China Offers Tremendous Diversity

“In the process of working with Mexican mills and their products, we got them involved in hotel work,” he says. “It became huge volume with half a million yards a month, which started with dobby equipment. Several converted dobby looms to Jacquard looms. Today they have converted to wide jacquard looms, 118” or split 59” weaving.” “Also, healthcare and cruise ship fabrics are available through Mexican mills in hundreds of SKUs and colors and FR (fire retardant) or antimicrobial coating when required,” Sofka says. “Mexican mills such as Rahga have also invested in blackout coating machinery.” Rahga owner Galante is currently investing in blackout coating in 118” widths, while other Mexican textile mills are offering 60”, three-pass blackout. Some are weaving and coating textured fabrics in three-pass blackout and two- and one-pass coatings. Hundreds of SKUs are available in a variety of colors and textures. Mexican mills like Rahga and others are using new and improved equipment enabling better reg-

istration of coatings and FR to be more competitive with the Chinese. Rahga has invested in new weaving equipment that is 154” wide. Also, they make available the split warp in two widths of 72” /75” to accommodate healthcare and shower curtain production. Since becoming a manufacturer, Rahga Textil uses better dye and fire-retardant equipment, and coating for anti-microbial and water repellency for healthcare. “We do beautiful designs in basic and exotic colors,” he says. “Cubicle curtains (healthcare) must be replaced every one to two years because hospitals have health requirements. Hotels might replace drapery only every five to seven years. Hospitals boil the fabric at 200 degrees in order to purge all bacterial elements. So, more turnover of the fabric in hospitals is also due to heavy washing and laundering requirements.” Rahga Textil, partnering with Jose Rahmane and his sons Jack and Charly of La Nueva Telybor, now offers the largest production of embroidered textiles available in Mexico for bedding, windows, and

decorative pillows. They manufacture embroideries on sheers and linens for the top-of-the-bed using Swiss Bishop embroidery equipment and now do 118” embroideries for U.S.- and Mexico-based hotels and healthcare facilities. Together, the two companies have produced embroidery for Victoria’s Secret and other top companies. They also manufacture puckered face bed sheeting with Lycra yarn because many hotels are moving away from a single top sheet and using a textured look for the top-of-the-bed. Rahga and other Mexican mills are an excellent option for American textile companies to combat the Chinese tariff/duty problem as well as an additional source for purchasing textiles. “There are hundreds of Mexican SKUs available now meeting FR and coating standards, blackouts, jacquards, sheers, bedding, print based fabrics and more,” Sofka says. Orders are usually processed in four to six weeks from receipt of purchase order unless they have special design requirements. F&FI

Demand and pricing from these non-Chinese coaters will quickly go up to a position where China comes back into play and the 25% duty has to be paid. 8. If you were a coater thinking of investing in new capacity outside China to take advantage of the new duty environment, would you in all honesty invest millions of dollars in a line that has to compete with the above, whilst at the whim of a President who may change his mind on the tariffs at the drop of a yard of blackout? W&I is sticking with China for all the variety it offers, the simplicity of the supply chain, and the high level of technical capability at its partner factories. After many years of investment in our Chinese supply chain team, relationships, quality and product development know-how, we are not going to drop that capability and compromise our product offering because of one man’s battle to protect jobs in the U.S. that have sadly not been there for many years, and are unlikely to be restored by his policies, at least in the world of blackout.” F&FI

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US Suspends Some Chinese Textile Tariffs NCTO officials testified on June 20, urging the Trump administration to also impose tariffs on finished apparel and home textile products. “U.S. manufacturers … have suffered enormously from China’s illegal IPR [intellectual property rights] activities and state-sponsored export subsidies,” Glas says in a statement. Also, NCTO wants the administration to “include de minimis shipments below $800 on the retaliatory list.” “The provision creates a significant loophole at a time when the admin-

istration is seeking to address China’s unfair trade practices,” Glas says in a statement. Fast Facts: U.S. 2018 Textile Industry The U.S. textile industry supply chain—from textile fibers to apparel and other sewn products—employed 594,147 workers in 2018. The U.S. government estimates that one textile manufacturing job in this country supports three other jobs. U.S. textile and apparel shipments totaled $76.8 billion in 2018. The U.S. industry is the

second-largest exporter of textile-related products in the world. Fiber, textile, and apparel exports combined were $30.1 billion in 2018. Excluding raw cotton and wool, half of the U.S. textile supply chain exports went to our Western Hemisphere free trade partners in 2018. The entire U.S. textile supply chain exported to more than 200 countries, with 27 countries importing $100 million or more. The U.S. textile industry supplies more than 8,000 different textile products to the U.S. military. The U.S. is the world leader in textile research

and development, creating next-generation-textile materials, such as conductive fabric with antistatic properties, electronic textiles that can monitor heart rate and other vital signs, antimicrobial fibers, lifesaving body armor, and new fabrics that adapt to the climate to make the wearer warmer or cooler. The U.S. textile industry invested $22.8 billion in new plants and equipment from 2006 to 2017. Recently, U.S. manufacturers have opened new facilities throughout the textile production chain, including recycling facil-

ities to convert textile and other waste to new textile uses and resins. U.S. textile mills have increased labor productivity by 60% since 2000. In 2017, hourly and nonsupervisory textile mill workers on average earned 136% more than clothing store workers ($646 per week vs. $274) and received health care and pension benefits. F&FI Source: NCTO.org.

The value of several U.S. textile exports increased 12% in the last decade, totaling $76 billion in 2018. Source: NCTO.org.

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Architex Sees Sourcing Shift From China to Other Countries: Turkey and U.S. Owner Keith Gordon reflects on tariffs, contract fabrics, and success F&FI News Network

orth Brook, Ill.— The fabric business will shift to Turkey, moving away from China, according to Keith Gordon, principal of Architex, one of the Top 40 Contract Specialists. “If you add the original duty of 17%, and add in the 25%, and throw in the freight, China is no longer competitive on price,” he says. “We’ll continue with China, but we’re not looking to buy more there unless the tariff situation gets under control.” Gordon says his company generated $33 million in 2018, and that his business is stable this year. [Architex sales were underreported in the Top 40 Contract Specialists listing in the F&FI autumn issue, he says.] “We will try to grow 5% in 2020,” Gordon says. “Oftentimes, purchases were dictated by currency fluctuations. We [have been] the largest purchaser of upholstery fabrics in Israel for the last 25 years. Turkey is a very important resource to us, while China will become less important due to the current situation.” “We buy from Kets

(Kadifeteks) in Turkey, our primary supplier, but we’re looking at others.” The new tariffs on Chinese goods allow companies to look elsewhere. “The customer is paying the added premium for Chinese goods today,” he says. “It opens up the world for us. As a result, we’ve expanded our American purchases to Valdese, Sunbury, and MTL. Our American business has grown dramatically in the last ten years. It is 35% of our sourcing and still growing.” He praises Crypton. “Crypton has been the salvation of the commercial textile business,” Gordon says. “It gave all the American mills the ability to compete on a performance basis.” He sees a growing segment in cruise ship interiors. The company has a fulltime rep in Miami and an A&D rep and a good relationship in Seattle: “We’ll market directly to the cruise ship industry with our IMO products.” In other sourcing areas, Gordon points to Europe. “The good European suppliers have survived, while the specialty boutique firms

have gone”, he says. “We like Gebruder Munzert and Rohleder in Germany; Moon (U.K.) and Prosetex (Italy). The Belgians we did business with have disappeared. I probably had 15 German suppliers at one time but now I have three. I’m buying more from fewer resources.” Gordon, who celebrated 40 years of business last year, is the sole owner of Architex. Prior to starting Architex, he was a sales rep for Coral Fabrics in Chicago— now owned by Samelson Chatelane. “There are still a lot of buyouts coming in the industry,” he says. “The contract market is a more secure market. There are not too many individual entrepreneurs left in this business.” But he hopes to keep it alive in his family. “My dad lived until he was 94,” he says. “I hope to hang around for a while longer. My son is 30. He’s an Architex rep during the day and goes to Babson Graduate School at night. Hopefully, he will be interested in continuing here. It has been a great business.” There are several keys to Architex’s success

Marketing Team: Left to right: Nicki Stephens, Nancy Diaz, Heidi Krugler, Lada Yourish, Nicole Otake, and Lauren Williams 44 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

including a wide product range. “We’ve gotten to the point that we are a generalist today and therefore have an appeal to all marketplaces,” he says. “ You can’t afford to ignore any segment of the business, which now includes schools, healthcare Keith Gordon and fast-food.” Gordon adds, “The market has changed ket and then you ordered dramatically over time. it,” he says. “Now, before We now sell fabric to a product is on the street, McDonald’s. Design has the customer knows how it crept into all arenas will perform. Pretty designs because corporations won’t cut it alone. Design recognize they must put must be enduring. Colors their best foot forward.” are important because In the past 20 years, if you have to live with those Architex was not dealing colors for five years.” with a corporate project, it He adds hospitality fabwould be healthcare. Today, rics last about four years, hospitality boosts sales. while “corporate fabrics In thinking back, Gordon can be used indefinitely.” still mourns the loss of Gordon recently visithis CFO, Mike Brill, who ed his doctor’s office. died unexpectedly three “It had a wool fabric years ago. “He was like that was 20 years old and the Roebuck in Sears & looked great,” he says. Roebuck; I was the mar“Wool has made a big keting/design manager comeback. Synthetic pricand he was our business es have gotten so high manager for 25 years.” that wool isn’t so outraRay Kirshner, the new geous in price anymore.” business manager, joined As for trade shows, in 2018 and has taken over Gordon agrees with anothoperations. The design er fabric executive quoted and marketing team conin F&FI recently, who said sists of six employees. that some trade shows “Business is complicated, have become exorbitantmore so than it was,” Gordon ly expensive to exhibit. says. “Today, you have to test “I attended Heimtextil fabrics before you market 2019,” he said. “Most of them. You need assurances my purchasing was done they are durable; [there are] at Heimtextil. I didn’t go different codes for different to Proposte this year, but performance qualities.” I’d still like to go to Como A fabric’s design if the timing is right. The used to sell but now great tragedy is that Mood/ it must also perform. Indigo disappeared.” F&FI “You used to sniff a blan-

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The Crypton Companies Acquire Abercrombie Textiles

F&FI News Network

EW YORK— Robert Pullen, formerly the vice president of sales at Fil Doux Textiles, has been promoted to a growing division as the vice president of hospitality & cruise. The company provides textiles to some of the world’s leading hotels including Robert Pullen Marriott, Hyatt, and Four Seasons. Prior, Pullen helped launch Mitchell Gold + Bob William’s hospitality division, among others. The self-described adventurer has travelled to more than 28 countries, sometimes with his beloved French bulldog, Harry. He has a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Wayne State University. F&FI

LOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — The Crypton Companies (Crypton LLC and Nanotex LLC), providers of performance textiles in the contract, home furnishings, and apparel markets, has acquired Abercrombie Textiles, a textile mill in Cliffside, North Carolina, from owner John Regan. Regan will remain with the company, Crypton said. Lance Keziah, president of Crypton, will oversee the company and has tapped industry veteran, Ernest Benbassat, as the executive vice president of operations. “We’ve worked with Ernest for several years,” Keziah says. “He is absolutely the right guy for the job as he embodies the passion and operational leadership to take Abercrombie to the next level.” “We’re bringing together an American mill and an American textile innovator that will not only preserve jobs but will also create growth and generate new opportunities for Americanmade textiles.” He added that Ernest Benbasset Crypton

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Fil Doux Textiles Promotes Pullen: VP Hospitality & Cruise

John Regan

is immediately infusing capital into the company and has been working closely with all suppliers and customers to ensure a smooth transition. Crypton will also be expanding Abercrombie into new markets. “All of this innovation and expansion means we’ll be positioned to create more jobs for American textile workers,” he says. Since its inception, Crypton has been committed to supporting American mills. Abercrombie has been working with Crypton for 17 years as a licensed mill partner, Keziah says. Under Crypton, Abercrombie Textiles will continue to manufacture dobby and jacquard fabrics for a variety of applications, including upholstery, bedding, wallcovering, cubicles and drapery for commercial, residential and transportation markets. F&FI

Lasek Joins Scalamandre as Vice President of Contract Sales F&FI News Network

EW YORK — Stefan Lasek has joined The House of Scalamandre as the vice president of contract sales. He reports to CEO Louis Renzo. Lasek comes with much experience, most recently as the national sales manager of contract at JF Fabrics, and prior to that, was the national sales manager

of contract at Kravet. Renzo says he expects Lasek to make Scalamandré a contract resource in the hospitality and healthcare arena. Lasek’s responsibilities include training the corporate and agent sales force, product development, and cultivation of contract clients. Lasek started on Nov. 11, 2019. He is based out of Scalamandre’s New York corporate office. F&FI

Stefan Lasek

Bill Rifkin Appointed Board Chairman of Covington Fabric & Design F&FI News Network

EW YORK — Bill Rifkin has been appointed the chairman of the board as of

Mark Kahan

Oct. 1 at Covington Fabric and Design. Mark Kahan has served as Covington’s chairman since 2008 and also its president and CEO until 2012. He has decided to devote more time to pursuing his legal, academic, and aviation interests, but will remain involved with Covington as he continues to be a member of the board. “It has been an honor to serve as the chairman of the board for these past 11 years,” Kahan says in a statement. “As Bill steps into

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the role as chairman of the board, I know his industry knowledge and insight will benefit the company.” Greg Tarver, president and CEO of Covington, says: “It has been an honor to report to Mark these past 8 years, and I look forward to working more closely with Bill going forward. …“We’ve enjoyed a close and interactive relationship with ownership all along. Bill’s strong financial background has been a tremendous asset to CFD.” Tarver says there will

be new initiatives. “We are expanding and upgrading our space in the Market Square Textile Tower for November Showtime,” he says in a statement. “The timing is perfect as we are launching our new Hilary Farr Design fabric collection and we’re expanding our furniture-focused prints and go-with collections.” About working with Kahan, Rifkin says, “We began our journey with Covington just before the Great Recession, Mark’s leadership, especially in

Bill Rifkin

the early years, was instrumental to our success. We have many new initiatives underway that we are quite proud of.” F&FI

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Graham Round Finds New Home With Tuvatextil, Spanish Indoor/Outdoor Fabric Producer

Sabates and Export Manager Belen Comas

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Economist Predicts No Recession India grew 7.4% in 2018 and we expect 5.5% in 2019. … Certainly, things have slowed down but that’s an economy that’s expanding.” Recessions are not necessarily inevitable. Pugliese points out Australia has had more than 25 years without a recession. There’s a popular economist’s saying that compares economies to a person’s body: Business expansions don’t die of old age but are susceptible to more risk. Pugliese says he encounters a common misconception when forecasting economic trends: People cherry-pick certain data to support their argument. “I find some people gravitate to data that supports their already-held view, such as the stock market is too high or too low, but data is a messy thing,” he says. “Think about it like a little data is a pixel in a larger picture, but when you put all the pixels together, you can start to put the whole picture together.”

F&FI News Network

ARRAGONA, Spain — Graham Round joined Tuvatextil as export manager in early 2019, after a 28-year career at Rafael Catala in a similar post. Tuvatextil, with an office and showroom in Barcelona and a mill in Tarragona, produces indoor/outdoor fabrics under the brand names Agora (solution-dyed acrylic) and Acrisol (a Dralon-branded acrylic, which is celebrating 22 years under the sun). Round is one of the three Tuvatextil export managers. He covers the U.K., Central Europe, and the Persian Gulf. His colleagues are Belen Comas (formerly at Rioma) and Sergio Moreno. All report to Gonzalo Sabates, CEO and founder, who is the team leader. “We just form a great team and the company is growing steadily each year,” Round says. Graham Round, right, and Gonzalo Sabates “We will be introducing two new Acrylic Dralon collections at Heimtextil, which will include three prints and four stripes, and two design coordinates called Origins and Bliss,” Round says. “In Agora solution-dyed acrylic, we will be presenting new colors in our Liso (plains) collection and a few more jacquard designs that we are working on,” he says. “The fabrics are all water/stain repellent and Agora is bleach friendly with a five-year guarantee against fading. We are a vertical mill and can do FR treatments and waterproof PU backing to make the fabric 100% waterproof.” Round adds that “prices are ex-factory, but we do CIF for certain quantities which vary from country to country.” The company exhibits at Heimtextil, Milan Salone, Spoga, Decosit, and Madrid Home Textiles Premium. “We keep all our qualities in stock by the piece and cut length,” Round says. “We also develop special collections with clients who are mostly furniture manufacturers. The Graham Round, left, wholesalers who sell our fabTuvatextil rics will have various price export manpoints depending on the type ager, joins CEO Gonzalo of client they sell to.” F&FI

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U.S. TARIFFS ON CHINESE PRODUCTS Although the U.S. trade deficit with China is relatively large when compared to America’s other major trading partners, only a small share of U.S. products is derived from Chinese demand. Simply, China relies more on the exports to the U.S., or $481 billion in 2018, than the U.S. on the exports to China, or $120 billion. The U.S. exports $2.5 trillion a year in goods and services, therefore it has a small “export exposure” with China, Pugliese says. He pointed out that all countries face slower economic growth in the next year including China, which must balance the demands of meeting economic targets while preventing debt imbalances. “[China] has eased monetary policy to stimulate their growth” Pugliese says. “Their growth will continue to downshift to a more sustainable pace.” F&FI

Outdura Fabrics Has New CEO F&FI News Network

UDSON, N.C.—Ulrich Tombuelt has been named the CEO of Sattler Corp., the parent company of Outdura — solution-dyed-acrylic fabrics. Tombuelt replaces Andreas Freiler and will be based in Hudson, North Carolina. Tombuelt was previously COO of Saertex U.S., a technical-fabrics producer in Huntersville, North Carolina. He reports to

Ulrich Tombuelt

Mannfred Heissenberger, the CEO of Sattler Sun Tex in Graz, Austria. Sattler purchased Outdura Fabrics from Shuford Mills in 2011. F&FI

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CONTRACT F FI

Carnegie’s Kaplan Leads Company in New Areas: Beefs Up Upholstery, Launches Xorel Artform, and Opens Space Division F&FI News Network

OCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y.— Carnegie Fabrics is on a mission to dramatically grow under the leadership of CEO Jim Kaplan. Kaplan joined the company in June 2018. Private equity firm Calera Capital bought the majority ownership

Jim Kaplan

of Carnegie from owner Cliff Goldman in December 2016. Kaplan says Carnegie generated $50 million in sales in 2018 with more to come. [Editor’s note: Kaplan says Fabrics & Furnishings International grossly under reported Carnegie sales in the Top 40 Contract Specialists listing in the autumn 2019 issue.] In 18 months at the helm, Kaplan has re-energized the business. “We have added 15 sales,

Mary Holt

including our own fulltime salespeople, although we still have some great independent reps, 60 salespeople in total,” he says. “We launched a new acoustic panel and baffle-product area under the name Artform. Carnegie upholstery is now a separate division under the leadership of Mary Holt, president, and we’ve hired Chase Taylor from Pollack as design director of the upholstery division.”

Chase Taylor

Also, Heather Bush, Xorel design director, has been named chief creative officer of Carnegie responsible for design, product development, and marketing. Kaplan also created a new division called Carnegie Space that will sell “easily installed” furniture and finished goods beginning in January 2020. Dana Pucillo has been named the sales and operations director of Space. Three fulltime Space

Heather Bush

sales representatives will market Space products on the East Coast, West Coast and Midwest markets. Kaplan was previously with Tai Ping Carpets for 14 years and prior to that, he was with Knoll also for 14 years, so he has lots of experience in the acquisitions business. He bought five companies for Tai Ping and he is currently looking for acquisitions for Carnegie. F&FI

Dana

Israel’s Etun Factory Closes The following is from Yishai Horn’s Facebook page a letter to his father Manny Horn F&FI News Network

“Today, after 151 years, the weaving machines stopped at Etun’s factory. “This is how an activity that has almost never stopped for more than a few days, not in two world wars, not in all the wars of Israel, not because of a double murder that hit the family at a terror

attack in 1970, not in recessions … and not even due to a competition from China. “A 151-year chain from the establishment by the brothers Sigmund and Leopold Horn, in Germany, in 1868, confiscation of the plant by the Nazis in the 1930s, and the re-establishment in 1934 in Tel Aviv. Three generations of management and work until today in YAVNE in 2019. “It is heartbreaking, but also a great pride when you look back, in terms of local textile industry, it’s almost

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the ‘last man standing.’ “From the production of blanket for the British army in the 40s, curtains for the U.N. building in New York, upholstery fabrics for the air force, curtains for ZIM liners in the 1960s, and involvement in the establishment of the Shenkar textile school. Supply of home furnishings to most of the hotels in Israel and abroad from Japan and Europe to Las Vegas and Eilat. In all these decades, the work was carried out in close cooperation with the best architects giving the clients the best service and

excellent products with the help of dedicated workers that you don’t find anymore. “And as a closing of the circle (or the laughter of fate) the last meters that were woven at Etun were ordered and will be presented as the opening project at the historical weaving department of the Bauhaus school in the city of Dessau in Germany next month. “So dear mom and dad, you can retire with pride and head up. And you will find out that quality time is not just to get up at five o’clock in the morning for 50 years.

Manny Horn

“We love you very much Gadi Yishai and Elad.” Video: https://youtu. be/FXDQnrKvcWg F&FI

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CONTRACT

Chinese Tariffs Boost Sales of North American Coated Fabrics F&FI News Network

2018 Value of North American Shipments in $ Billions

IAMI BEACH, Fla.—North American manufacturers of PVC and polyurethane fabrics are beginning to see a boost in their business with RV, marine, and furniture manufacturers. “We’ve seen a boost in our business since the U.S. tariffs against Chinese goods,” says Greg Taylor, the director of sales and marketing for Morbern in Canada. Morbern has manufacturing and distribution facilities in Canada and in the U.S. near High ■Value for 313 Textile Mills, 314 Textile Product Mills, 315 Apparel, and 32522 Artificial & Synthetic Fibers and Filaments Point, North Carolina, he says. “The real impact won’t be fully felt until 2020,” he adds, “as manufacturers realize they can buy vinyl Michael Novick, principal of CMI Enterprises Inc., a coated faband polyurethane upholstery in the local Canadian or U.S. market. rics producer in Forest City, North Carolina, sees a similar trend. “We also see some change in attitude toward PVC now that “We are noticing an uptick in interest for sure,” Novick says. all phthalates have been eliminated in their manufacture.” “However, it hasn’t resulted in that much of an increase in orders.” This has been a hindrance in the healthcare mar“We’ve been asked to do preliminary development. However, ket, but Taylor sees a change coming. most customers are waiting as long as possible to source domesDeitsch Plastic Co. in West Haven, Connecticut, also sees a picktically in the hope that the tariff issues get resolved.” up in PVC and PU business, according to Principal Yasaf Deitsch. Novick points out that “it’s a major cost and inconve“We are now competitive to Chinese prices, but our prodnience to recertify a new supplier. Having said that, most ucts are better products to begin with compared to what you users are preparing themselves for an alternative.” F&FI buy in China,” he says. “The Chinese dropped the price of bonded leather to $2.50 a yard when it was selling at $9-$10 a yard. They took some material out of it and it did not perform well.” Deitsch explains similar practices happened in other areas. “They did the same thing with PVC and polyurethane. The cheap Chinese PU fell apart in healthcare installations. We’ve always been competitive but now, with the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods, our products are more in demand.” F&FI News Network Deitsch expects to add more manufacturing staff in the Hospitality, where he future as it reaches full capacity going into 2020. He also AN DIEGO – Koni led a team that created expects to bring out new and better products for jobbers. Hospitality has named the brand, and he was “You don’t have to place container-load orders to get our prodSteve Ladd as the new responsible for sales ucts; 500-1,000-yard orders are fine with us,” Deitsch says. executive vice president worldwide. He also held of sales, responsible for a vice president position leading sales, developat Shaw Hospitality. ing national accounts “Koni’s new direction and assisting with brand and business model is integration. one of the many reasons The position means I am excited to join,” Ladd Ladd reports to Donald says in a statement. F&FI Flor, president, and Koni Kim, principal/CEO. Ladd has more than F&FI News Network about the upcoming shopping season. 30 years of experience in ASHINGTON – U.S. federal officials The United States Trade Representative the industry. He recently have listed the Chinese imports, (USTR) lists the Chinese imports with a served as the senior vice including textiles, subject to an additional 10% tax on Sept. 1 and those on Dec. 15. president for the floor10% tariff on Sept. 1, and those delayed “Certain products are being removed ing company Signature until Dec. 15. from the tariff list based on health, Hospitality, overseeing Earlier this week, the Trump adminsafety, national security, and other sales for North America. istration suspended its additional 10% factors, and will not face additionPrior to that, Ladd Steve Ladd tariff on certain Chinese imports, delaying al tariffs of 10 percent,” USTR offiserved as the senior certain products because of concerns cials wrote in a statement. F&FI vice president at Aqua

F FI

Koni Hospitality Appoints Steve Ladd as Sales VP

Mixed Bag: Some Chinese Fabrics Hit With 10% Tariff Increase Sept. 1, Others Delayed Until Dec. 15

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Hoffman Joins Ethan Allen F&FI News Network

IAMI BEACH, Fla. — Patricia Shanahan Hoffman was named the senior director, upholstery management for Ethan Allen Global Inc. in Patricia Shanahan Hoffman Danbury, Connecticut She replaced Anne Lekow at Ethan Allen in July 2019. Previously, Hoffman was director of wovens at Thibaut, a decorative fabric wholesaler in Newark, New Jersey, where she worked for over seven years. For eight years prior to that, she was the design director for the wholesaler Roth & Tompkins Textiles, based in East Norwalk, Connecticut. Hoffman is a 2000 graduate of Rhode Island School of Design with a master’s in textiles and a bachelor’s in graphic design from Carnegie Mellon University. F&FI

Ultrafabrics Launches its First BioBased Product: Ultraleather | Volar Bio F&FI News Network

EW YORK – Ultrafabrics, the Japanese manufacturer of high-end animal-free leather, is launching today (Sept. 24) its first bio-based performance fabric called Ultraleather Volar Bio. Company officials spent four years producing the new material for architects, designers, the upholstery and aviation industries, and automotive brands, such as Jaguar Land Rover. Ultrafabrics has used renewable plant-based material into the multiple layers of the product. Corn-based content is used to prepare polyols for polycarbonate polyurethane resin and wood pulp-based materials are used in the twill backcloth. A range of colors is available including grey, brown, rose, taupe, blue, green and orange. Officials say Volar Bio is the beginning of their journey towards greener products. By 2025, 50% of new Ultrafabrics products will include bio-based and/or recycled materials. By 2030, that number will increase to 100%. Toyohiko Nakagawa, the director of Ultrafabrics Holdings and president of Daiichi Kasei Co. Ltd. (DKK), the division responsible for manufacturing and engineering, says in a statement, “Over four years ago, we partnered with a boutique supplier and challenged them to create custom naturally derived ingredients that would improve our sustainability profile without sacrificing the renowned aesthetics and durability of Ultrafabrics.” F&FI

Diane Lyon Sillup Joins Thibaut F&FI News Network

Diane Lyon Sillup

IAMI BEACH, Fla. —Diane Lyon Sillup has joined Thibaut in Newark, New Jersey as the director of wovens, replacing Patricia Shanahan Hoffman. Hoffman recently joined Ethan Allen Global Inc. in Danbury, Connecticut Sillup has been an independent textile designer since 2011. She is a 1990 graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and lives in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. F&FI

MoOD+Indigo Out, Evolution Amsterdam In

Textile-designer fair Evolution Amsterdam meets Sept. 4-5, 2019, and May 27-29, 2020 F&FI News Network

MSTERDAM – Evolution Amsterdam, a trade show where textile designers can sell to converters, wholesalers, and mills, will fill the void left by the sudden closing of MoOD+Indigo this year. Evolution Amsterdam meets between Sept. 4-5, 2019, and May 27-29, 2020. “Just two months before opening the doors of MoOD+Indigo in Brussels, Easy Fairs decided to cancel the whole event,” Chris Verbeek, owner of Verbeekdesigns and CEO of Evolution Fair, says in a statement. “All studios already paid for the show and clients were invited already. Flights and hotels were booked, so you can imagine what impact the decision of Easy Fairs had on all involving parties.” Verbeek adds 65 studios have signed up for the September fair. Decosit, the original version of MoOD-Indigo, had its fair Sept. 10-11, 2019 in Brussels. See pictures of the event on page 59. Verbeek says with more time the May fair next year will be bigger. “Regarding the future, we are also exploring the possibility to have a third hall, which would have product presentations,” Verbeek says. “Companies can showcase their latest collections (wallpaper, textiles, stationery) and we also intend to incorporate digital printing as one of the features.” He adds: “We believe in a kind of boutique show. Not too big, so clients have time to visit all designers, also newcomers and not only the established studios.”

THE EVOLUTION OF EVOLUTION AMSTERDAM In 2013 and 2014, there were two editions of Evolution in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Design studios at that time were worried about MoOD-Indigo because of rumors the Brussels fair was struggling, Verbeek says. “As Mood-Indigo was sold to several fair organizers through the years apparently all problems disappeared and so Evolution was not needed anymore,” Verbeek says. Evolution organizers learned from the first fairs. A trade show in May seemed ideal because designers, clients, and customers would then have more time to develop products, especially for the upcoming Heimtextil in January, according to Verbeek. On June 4-6, 2019, Evolution began at the Westergasfabriek – a renovated gas factory with an industrial vibe. More than 50 studios from 16 different countries joined for the threeday show, Verbeek says. “We have to evaluate also this coming September edition to see if this could be a sustainable edition for the coming years,” Verbeek says. “Our plans [are to evaluate if] there is room for two shows a year. One in the period May-June and one in September.” F&FI

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PHOTOS

F FI

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles 2019 1

: Karmen Koh, (l to r) operation executive at Kintex SDN BHD in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jason Koh, sales and marketing executive at Kintex, Freeman Shen, president of Delta Textiles in Hangzhou, China, and Koh Dat Toon, managing director of Kintex.

2China, : Doris Deng, left, principal of Kentex Mill in Hangzhou, and Sonia Tan, F&FI sales rep in Shanghai. 3in Amman, : Mohammad Kalha, (l to r) principal of Kalha Home Fabrics Jordan, Kelvin Wang, general manager of Novatex

Fabrics in Hangzhou, China, and Naim Kalha, principal of Kalha Home Fabrics.

4South : Patrick Carlisle, (l to r) at Moore Resources Group in Melbourne, Australia, Caroline Whitty, general manager at Zepel Fabrics in Heidelberg West, Australia, and Stacy Long, sales manager at Innovd (Shanghai) Industry Co. in Suzhou City, China.

5Shanghai, : Bennie Yang, (l to r) at Houros Furniture Co. LTD in Roxy Yang, overseas sales manager at Houros

Furniture, and Shirley, at Hangzou Kelida Home Textile Co. LTD in Hangzhou, China.

6BV: Rene van Schie, (l tor) director of Cevege Fabrics in Haarlem, Holland, Sandra Fleetwood, director

at Scorpio Agencies LTD in Auckland, New Zealand, Brett Fleetwood, managing director at Scorpio, John Jones, CEO at HZR in Hangzou, China, and Aaron Yang, manager of second international business department, at HZR.

: Ari Greenfield,( l to r) president of Magitex in Miami, Fla., Nicole Xiao, principal at Ote Fabrics in Shanghai, Robert Greenfield, Magitex principal, Johnny Keeton and Dirk De Wilde, both agents.

8and: Greg Kiriakou, manager at EuropaTex in Jersey City, N.J., Gokcen Kibrit, area sales coordinator at Boyteks in Bursa, Turkey.

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PHOTOS F FI

DecoSit 2.0 DecoSit 2.0 Soldiers On BRUSSELS—DecoSit 2.0 relaunched itself at its old stomping grounds at the Heysel in September. The organizers promise a bigger event next year for international buyers and sellers of wallcovering, upholstery and window coverings. The dozen plus exhibitors held court for three days this year and were enthusiastic about their meetings with international customers.

Tuvatextil, Tarragona, Spain: Graham Round, export sales manager; Gonzalo Sabatés, CEO and Belén Comas, export manager.

Muvantex, Deerlijk, Belgium: Gregory DeMunster, Skander Bechedly and Jo De Munster (Greg’s dad and owner).

Inge Lidl, owner of ili-Stoffe, Tettenweis, Germany and Kishan International owner D.N. ‘Vicky’ Venkatesh, Bangalore, India. Weverij Van Neder, Anzegem, Belgium: Brigitte Bellemans, Charles Martin and Philippe de Vos.

Annabel, Gent, Belgium: Bruno Derumeaux, principal; Frederic Denoo, Artis (agents); Yassine, buyer from Maryam Couture, Trappes, France. Marlene Moreau, sales area manager, Safilin a linen factory in SaillySur-La-Lys, France, with Raghu Raghunath, owner of Raghunath in Mumbai, India.

Beaulieu Fabrics, Waregem, Belgium: Simon Bowler, Koen Vanackere, Ivan Vandeputte and Marijke Claeys.

Home Textiles Premium Fair Spain’s Home Textiles Premium Fair

MADRID—Home Textiles Premium by Textil Hogar was held September 11-13. Some of Spain’s most important suppliers turned out for the event. Here’s Froca, Tuvatextil and Aznar, a few of the companies which participated in this fair:

Daniel Longo, Lonfil Sales Manager, Barcelona, Spain and U.S. with Carlo Longo, CEO, Lonfil, Italy and Rafael Pascual, President, AquaClean(r), Alcoy, Spain.

Juan Marin, general manager, Froca, Alicante, Spain, with Javier Castillo, Buyer, El Corte Ingles, Madrid Gonzalo Sabates, CEO of Tuvatextil, Tarragona, Spain, with customer Akhilesh.V.M., principal of Riva Furniture, UAE. Tuvatextil produces outdoor fabric for furniture.

Mara Marti, sales manager, Textile Deco, Spain, with Laura Donate, export area manager and Ana Rios, international division manager (both with Aznar, Valencia) with Eduardo Aznar, managing director, Aznar Textil. Winter 2019/2020 • www.FandFI.com • 59

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COVER STORY

Poland’s SIC Global Textiles Grows With Economical Upholstery Fabrics

F&FI News Network

HANGHAI – Poland’s SIC Global Textiles, a wholesaler of upholstery and decorative fabrics, plans to compete with a new line of economical fabrics. CEO Robert Schweikert says many of his fabrics are priced from $1.50 to $3.50 a meter. SIC annually ships 30 million meters, mostly to Europe, Russia, and Ukraine [80%]. “We want to break down the look of a $5.50 item,” he says. “We are selling them for $3.50, so that is actually the new line. We also try to find more economical items, which are not so much supplied in the market. When we speak about economical items, we mean we are selling them under $2. That is the strategy we have for the collection.”

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Based in Lodz, Poland, SIC officials started working 14 years ago in China, establishing suppliers, and eventually opened an office and warehouse in Liping. SIC employs over 100 people. The second-generation owner says the biggest problem with the European market is the dollar-euro exchange rate, which “is killing everybody at the moment.” “That is why we’re introducing more products,” Schweikert says. “With old items you cannot increase the price anymore because they are already at the bottom … so you must move into new items these days.” He hears others lament declining textiles sales, but not in the lowend sector. “The competition is not small, but we are price leaders … and are growing every year,” he says. In January at Heimtextil, SIC introduced its water- and stain-repellent finishing. The first is done in China, while the easyclean finishing is completed in Europe. “That gives us flexibility for the markets asking for it,” he says. “We can supply with or without [the finishing] in Poland, testing it internally and in Germany.” SIC has a geographical advantage, he says, since there are many furniture manufacturers in Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. SIC upholstery fabrics include plain-knitted fabrics, wovens, artificial leather, and others. Its decorative fabrics include jacquards, taffetas, voiles, and others, which are

available in different widths, embroideries, prints or dyes. They also offer blackouts. Schweikert says he wants to expand into the U.S. market. “We’re not afraid about warehousing in another continent,” he says. “Our collection is not suitable for the U.S., so maybe there will come a time in the next two or three years to attend a fair and to understand the market better.” F&FI

Scotland’s Bute Fabrics Links the Past to the Future Bute Fabrics goes from Haute Couture to contract office industry By RACHEL TENACE

try, but by the late 1970’s, towards many new and had changed to weaving innovative concepts, includcontract furnishing fabrics, ing the mission to educate primarily made of wool, for women, promoting susbig office furniture comtainable farming, as well as panies, such as Steelcase making their mark in politics, and Herman Miller. botany, medicine, architecWhat is also quite remark- ture and arts. Mount Stuart able about the Bute family is was also one of the most that they have broken down technologically advanced many barriers houses itsthe time,Future…Bute with A Thread Linking the Pastinto Fabrics does that and more!

and helped central heating, electric lead the lights, telephones, the way first Avito Viret Honore, which inindoor-heated Latin means “To ﬂourish in an honorable ancestry”.

That’s the motto for this pool decades old weaving mill which is steeped in history and one that and domessuits this company perfectly.

tic elevator. Rachelle Tenace Situated just off Situated just oﬀ the coast Scotland, within the of coast of Scotland, the Firth of Clyde on the Isle of Bute, Bute within the Firth of Clyde Fabrics takes its inspiration from its ever on the Isle of Bute, Bute changing landscape of heather covered moors, Fabrics takes its inspiration wild forests, verdant green rolling hills and from its ever-changing rugged, sweeping beaches. It also is alandscape of heather covered testament to the employees of Bute, the hearty moors, wild forests, inhabitants and their ancestors, whoverdant not only y love affair with rolling hills and rugsurvived but thrivedgreen in this windswept textiles started at ged, sweeping beaches. It environment.

a young age, when on a also is a testament to the One of the things that I love most about the visit to NYC to visit my work a day in your life! employees of Bute, the textile industry is that it’s a craft rooted in the much older, and very I’m one of the fortunate hearty inhabitants and their past, an integral part of each country and glamorous cousin, Sandi, few who have done just ancestors, who not only culture’s history, but also constantly moving an interior designer with that and made a career survived but also thrived in forward too, embracing what we can and what her own office in midtown, out of my passion for this windswept environment. was, while at the same time, creating new and I was tasked with sortfabrics combined with One of the things that I innovative fabrics for what will be.

ing through little fabric my love of travel. love most about the textile swatches and organizing I am embarking on industry is that it’s a craft The history behind Bute Fabrics is a long one, them. a new adventure now, rooted in the past, an intetraced back to the infamous Robert I remember distinctly bringing stories that I love gral part of each country the Bruce, whose daughter, Marjorie, that it was hard for Sandi to anyone who is interestand culture’s history, but married Walter Steward and who’s son, Robert II, became the ﬁrst Stuart to tear me away from my ed in textiles, history, travalso constantly moving king in 1371. The Stuarts of Bute are job, imploring me to finel, design, world cultures forward too, embracing directly descended from him as well ish up so we could go to and people, with the purwhat we can and what was, as other Scottish monarchs including lunch! I exhibited the same pose to educate, inspire while at the same time, creMargaret, the only Scottish Queen to tenacity that I still have to and keeping the time ating new and innovative be canonized.

this day ( interesting that honored traditions alive in fabrics for what will be. my last name “Tenace” litthis ever changing world. The history behind Bute erally means tenacious in Follow me as I highlight a Fabrics is a long one, Italian and something my specific company, countraced back to the infaRobert II, had 21 children including John Stewart who Italian friends who know try, or craft in this ongomous Robert the was Bruce,how the Bute became the Sheriﬀ of Bute. This me well, joke about!). ing column featured in into existence. whose daughter, Marjorie, or Stewarts name came The Stewards Fast forward almost a Fabrics and Furnishings married Walter Steward were an Anglo-Norman family who came to Scotland half century later ( the International and11th let mecentury.and whose son,century, Robert II,the Bute in the In the 18th adopted thebecame Frenchthe spelling of the name, thought of that blows hear yourfamily, ideas and sugfirst Stuart became the Sheriff of Bute. ing of the name, Stuart. my mind!) and I’m still gestions! Stuart. Maybe it will be king in 1371. The Stuarts of This was how the Bute name After centuries of royal sorting through and included in future editions! Bute are directly descended came into existence. The marriages and historical Afterany centuries of royal historical organizing swatches, If you know great from marriages him as well asand other Stewards or Stewarts were connections, we fast forward connections, we fast forward to the late 1940’s, when John, Earl who laterwhen was albeit now for my career textile related stories, Scottish monarchs including an Anglo-Norman familyof Dumfries, to the late 1940’s, known as the 5th Marquess of Bute, establishes the company which would later be called, in the textile industry! please send to Rachelle at: Margaret, the only Scottish who came to Scotland in John, Earl of Dumfries, who Bute Fabrics. It was his intention to give employment to returning servicemen from the war. His As the old saying domanitextiles@gmail.com Queen to be canonized. the 11th century. In the 18th later was known as the 5th son, John Crichton-Stuart, the 6th Marquess of Bute, became an inspirational patron of artists goes, find a job that you Robert II had 21 children century,ofthe Bute family, of Scotland Marquessasofwell Bute,as establishand designers and was a key ﬁgure in the creation the Museum the love and you’ll never (continued on Page 72) including John Stewart who adopted the French spell-

n Latin, Avito Viret Honore, means “to flourish in an honorable ancestry,” and that’s the motto for this decades-old weaving mill, which is steeped in history and one that suits this company perfectly. The weaving mill is the most relevant industry located on the Bute estate. It initially wove apparel fabrics for the haute couture indus-

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India’s GM Fabrics Adds High-Density Looms to Offer Heavy-Jacquard Silk-Look Fabrics Introduces 30 stock collections, made-up range and performance fabrics during Heimtextil ‘20 By Vishwanath S.

UMBAI, India — GM Fabrics, a vertically integrated mill, is adding a range of new products, including performance fabrics, as part of its global strategy. “In 2020, we have a host of new offerings, which includes performance fabrics, expanding the existing range, and we are focusing on made-ups,” Managing Director Gurvinder Singh says. GM Fabrics has invested in equipment infrastructure and installed high-density looms to manufacture silklook jacquards in polyester or blends. It also installed a wide-width printing machine because that sector has grown in both the domestic and international markets. “We invested in a brand-new pro-

Gurvinder Singh

cessing and finishing line for natural fibers, such as cotton, viscose, and linen including a wide-width stenter processing and finishing line,” Singh says. This will facilitate GM Fabrics offering dyed and printed bedsheets to its existing collections. In terms of new products, GM Fabrics has also added special water- and stain-repellent finishes. It also will focus on made-up products ready for use. “During Heimtextil, this will be showcased in an area of 20 square meters within our main stand displaying curtains and decorative cushions,” he says. The made-up products will be priced for the large retail chains in the U.S. and Europe. Also, the company will be introducing outdoor fabrics made of acrylic yarns. “We are conscious of the importance of sustainable, green initiatives, wherein we will be introducing a collection of fabrics using recycled yarns backed by relevant laboratory certificates. We will introduce 30 stock collections, which will include jacquards, drapery, and upholstery, digital prints, velvet jacquards, plains, and embroideries.” Officials also will showcase contract fire-retardant fabrics. “This is a new business focus for the inter-

64 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

national market, to service customers who are looking for smaller minimums and we plan to offer 50 meters per SKU, which will be supported by stock holding in our Mumbai warehouse,” Singh says. “Also, we are introducing a range of multipurpose texture fabrics.” MIXED BAG IN 2019 “For us at GM Fabrics, 2019 was a mixed bag with UK, Europe business being maintained and the USA grew marginally, but the

biggest setback continues to be the Middle East, and even Saudi Arabia markets are now struggling,” Singh says, adding its due to geo-political reasons. “The domestic furnishing business within India is also soft with a small spurt seen during festival periods only.” He says the 2019 launch of high-density fabrics [used in silk furnishings] has been positive, so it will be expanded and shown at Heimtextil 2020. “European markets have

shown very good response,” he says. “Preparing for challenges with innovation, quality, and new products at attractive prices has been an ongoing challenge.” “Overhaul of the business is challenging,” Singh says, “but we are better prepared, equipped, than ever before and we are introducing new products that are innovative as well as price sensitive.” F&FI

30 Years Ago Seems Like a Long Time, But it Went So Fast! By Editor & Publisher Emeritus Eric Schneider

IAMI BEACH, Fla. — Thirty years is a long time to do anything but in the fabrics industry, there are people who have logged even more miles and years than me. Things have certainly changed over the years from 1990, when we started Fabrics & Furnishings International. The impetus for the publication was certainly geared to the U.S. export fabric industry,

but this effort didn’t last very long. Other countries produced less expensive fabrics, their governments helped subsidize their activities, and there was a great deal of copying others’ designs. F&FI was in the forefront of highlighting design infringement by conducting World Fabric Forum panels at Decosit and Showtime. After a few years, that trend quieted down and so did the panel discussions on the subject. There are only a few American companies involved in fabric export today and design infringement is rare in the market. Most of the upholstery goods sold are unicolored with no real design to copy. I’m not aware of heavy-duty copying of decorative fabric designs these days, but it still happens once in a while. FROM EXPORTERS TO IMPORTERS The wheel turned and most of the product today is imported into the United States and Europe from China, India, and Turkey. We were glad when our global approach led to significant activity from our readers-customers in India, Turkey and even China. European mills and

converters have also been a boost to F&FI over the years. Here are some other big changes. First, printed fabrics have come and gone and are starting to creep back, mainly due to digital printing. It has given the industry a way to test prints without committing to the long runs that were typically required by wet printers. In the Spring 1992 edition of F&FI, 50 top printers and converters were identified. Of those 50, there are only 13 remaining. All the Dutch printers are gone. However, England’s Walker Greenbank is a survivor. Its purchase of Standfast, the U.K. printer, became an in-house printing arm for Walker Greenbank, all its divisions, and a commission printer for outside firms. They are to be congratulated for having the vision to structure a printing business in this way. Many wet printers have come and gone but there are still a few around who somehow survive. It takes volume to keep the print machine running and that’s why digital printing has taken over. Digital printing is less risky. Flock velvet, printed and plain, grew alongside the print business in the early 2000s. Flock quickly grew as a relatively inexpensive upholstery fabric for furniture, but there are only a few companies left in the business today. In North America alone, there were half a dozen major producers of flock in the 90s, and today, there’s just one left, and a few remaining in Turkey, China and Israel. With the Chinese in the upholstery woven business, prices of everything have dropped. This has placed further pressure on printed product, which intrinsically, cannot outgun the value of wovens today. With so much of the furniture industry playing it safe with unicolor fabrics, the industry has chosen to be innovative with finishes. There is little room left for design in plain dobby fabrics. This has led to the success of performance fabrics and soil-release products like Crypton and Aquaclean, to name a few. There are many fabrics available today with soil-release or no-stain properties. As the products have changed, so have the companies which make them. It used to be that Teflon and Scotchgard finishes spent huge sums of money to promote themselves, but this has completely disappeared from the market. Along the same lines, there were important fiber brands like Antron nylon and Avora polyester, but fiber brands became a marketing relic. Only Trevira and Trevira CS have survived as well-known fiber brands today and this goes hand in hand with contract fabrics. Trevira made it possible to create beautiful fabrics with contract specifications over 30 years ago

because it produced an inherently FR fiber. This spawned the contract fabric industry first in Europe and then in the U.S. Contract is the fastest growing part of the fabric business today, spurred on by hospitality projects. Along with the branded finishes and the branded fibers which disappeared, the mills of yesterday are also no longer here. Quaker, Joan, Mastercraft, and Collins & Aikman are all gone, just to name a few. So many American and European mills have disappeared over the years, there’s no point in mentioning all of them by name, but there is one mill-man who made a lasting impression on me in the past 30 years. His name was Andrew Major. He made Mastercraft Fabrics into the powerhouse of its time. Andrew was the godfather of it all as far as I am concerned. He knew the worth of the designer and how to make money in the upholstery fabric business. He stood alone in my mind as one of the great men I have known. Despite global consolidation, or maybe because of it, D’Décor of Mumbai, India, owned by brothers Ajay and Sanjay Arora, has become the largest mill in the world. Gary and Jason Neiman, another set of brothers, have built a colossal converting operation by the name of Bru, and a sister division, Fiber One, which produces FR polyester. I personally praise them for their tremendous accomplishment. They have succeeded and have grown either by line expansion or through acquisitions. Bru has been especially active in acquisitions and joint ventures with wholesalers around the world. Here are some of my other observations. Some of the most successful mills made their fame by focusing on niche market segments. Today, Glen Raven is the leader in outdoor fabric sales with Sunbrella, based on a solution-dyed-acrylic fiber. Others have followed their lead and have made outdoor fabrics a

very dynamic growth market worldwide. Of course, there are other niches: green fabrics made from recycled polyester; blackout drapery linings pioneered by Rockland Mills’ Roclon. Roc-lon is also one of the pioneers of American export and one of the last men standing in this regard. Aside from the mills, my retrospective would not be complete without commenting about the wholesaler or jobber. As with the mills, there has been a consolidation among the jobbers worldwide, but Kravet, JAB, and Fabricut have done the best job of acquiring other high-end brands and making them successful again. They should be congratulated for their respective vision and fortitude. Their strength is in their global distribution network and tremendous selection. One problem for the supplier is the growing lack of interest in carrying inventory by the jobber. This puts a lot of pressure on the mill and converter to carry the inventory, instead of the jobber. Ways are being found to produce more targeted collections that require less inventory. Order minimums for the wholesaler have declined. Those who produce fabrics and find a way to reduce opening orders will be the winners of tomorrow. E-commerce is certainly cutting into the traditional marketing of fabrics through the designer. The consumer can now buy anything online including designer fabrics. This represents a challenge to the conventional jobber, but many are already involved in selling through the internet. Mills and converters are also participating online, even if you can’t recognize them by their names. E-commerce is changing the fabric industry. Boy, it has been a long ride for me, and I treasure the friends I have made and the great stories I have been privileged to write. Two years ago, my son, Michael, took the ball with Fabrics & Furnishings International and I am sure glad he did. For most entrepreneurs like me, succession is a problem. Nobody wants to let go but I did. I started in the fabric business at the age of 18 covering the business as a journalist and here I am still doing the same thing at nearly 72. I guess you could say that I loved doing it all these years. I would be remiss if I didn’t say “thank you” to all who have been reading what I wrote. Without all of you, it wouldn’t have happened the way it did! Thanks especially to those of you who became my good friends. F&FI

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Marteks Upholstery Pumps Up Overall Amitabh and Supriya Sales Himatsingka Buy Into Third collection to be shown at Heimtextil 2020 Calico, Specialty Retailer blending mostly natural fibers such as of Decorative Fabrics F&FI News Network

URSA, TURKEY — Marteks A.S. addition of upholstery fabric manufacturing to its existing drapery production is propelling the company to higher sales in the $26 million range, according to Principal Kaya Cinoglu. ”Our sales were up 7% in 2019,” Cinoglu says Marteks, which introduced its first upholstery collection in September 2019, has followed this up with an expanded offering for Heimtextil 2020, according to Cinoglu. At its current sales level, Marteks would be well within the top 25 mills of the world if the list was published by F&FI today. (See original listing in F&FI autumn 2019 edition.) “We have had success with our last upholstery launches. Our production went from 100% draperies to 85 percent to 15% upholsteries within a year,” he says. “We do not want to compete with China or our home market Turkey,” Cinoglu says. “Our upholsteries are suited to fit high-end interiors and prices are at the higher levels. We are

linen, wool, hemp, cotton and viscose. “We have built a complete collection and Heimtex 2020 will be our third one. We are working with Dutch, American and Italian designers to come up with the looks the market is interested in buying. We continuously show the developments to our top jobber clientele to get proper feedback starting from $10-$25 per meter.” Cinoglu adds that he wants to put “our own signature on the collections.” “We just built a brand new laboratory to make all the testing in house. We can do Martindale, seam slippage, pilling testings in-house now. We plan to expand our testing capabilities in 2020 with new machinery investments,” he says. F&FI

Kaya Cinoglu

Erdheim Joins Crestmont F&FI News Network

AUPPAUGE, NY — Jeffrey Erdheim has been named executive managing director of Crestmont Fabrics Ltd. Erdheim will be responsible for “motivating advances in our current sales and distribution as well as our already innovative products and stellar customer service,” according to Principal Judi Harris. Crestmont is a major American converter and importer of decorative and drapery fabrics. Erdheim will report directly to Michael J Harris, president of the company. Erdheim comes from a long list of achievements in his 40+ years in the home textile industry. He was co-owner of Jeffrey Fabrics, and subsequently employed as the vice president Jeffrey Home division 68 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

Jeffrey Erdheim

of P/Kaufmann, which bought Jeffrey Fabrics in November 2016. Erdheim honored his three-year buyout contract before leaving several months ago. He has extensive experience in the sourcing of Home textiles and creating top-of-bed programs for big-box retailers. Jeffrey also sold decorative fabrics to top-of-bed manufacturers. Erdheim was partners with Jeffrey Goldman in Jeffrey Fabrics from 1987 until it was sold to P/Kaufmann nearly 30 years later. F&FI

F&FI News Network

ENNETT SQUARE, Pa. — Amitabh and Supriya Himatsingka have bought into Calico, the retailer with 70 design stores across the U.S. Founded in 1948 as Calico Corners, the company is the largest specialty retailer of decorative fabrics, custom window treatments, and soft furnishings for the home, according to the company. Owners Amitabh and Supriya Himatsingka are veterans of the textile industry. Now the president and CEO of Calico, Amitabh was involved with family mills in India for 30 years. Supriya, the vice president of design and development, is a graduate of F.I.T. with a degree in textile and surface design. She also had her own business, creating fabrics and accessories for the juvenile market. They live in New York City and Unionville, Pennsylvania, near Calico corporate offices. Former owner, Bert Kerstetter, continues as chairman at Calico. In addition to Calico, the Himatsingkas have another business venture, Textiles 360, a two-year-old wholesale company based in New York City. Textiles 360 sells highend fabrics to American jobbers and others from select mills all over the world, with a special focus in India. “It has been inspiring to see the dedication of Calico employees and the work ethic that brought the company to where we are today,” Amitabh says in a statement. “We are optimistic about our future together.” Calico has evolved since its inception in 1948 when the first Calico Corners store opened in Bedford Village, New York. In 1970, the company was purchased by Everfast, Inc., a firm that had been converting fabrics since 1896. Gradually, Calico stores were established in most major markets across the U.S. Today, with 70 stores and online business, Calico has grown to be the largest specialty retailer of decorative fabrics in the country, offering thousands of designer fabrics and managing fabrication through a network of professional workrooms. The company offers custom window treatments, Hunter Douglas blinds and shades, bedding, furniture, slipcover and reupholstery, pillows and cushions. Calico enhances the shopping experience with free in-store and in-home professional design consultation. The company headquarters are in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. F&FI

Calico owner Amitabh Himatsingka (l to r), Margaret Thurmond, vice president of store operations, and owner Supriya Himatsingka.

Textile Veteran Matthew Crew Returns to Fabric Wholesaling as Managing Director for Bill Beaumont Textiles in UK F&FI News Network

HORLEY, U.K. — Bill Beaumont Textiles, a small wholesaler, has appointed textile veteran Matthew Crew as managing director. Crew will be taking over from Daniel Beaumont, who has left the company to pursue other interests. Beaumont joined the family business in 2011 and was appointed managing director in 2015. The company’s founders Bill and Hilary Beaumont have already retired. Prior to joining Beaumont, Crew was managing director of Crowson Fabrics Ltd. for almost 16 years, from 1985 to 2001, where he facilitated the rapid growth of the business, when the company became a market leader in the 90s. Crowson ceased doing business in 2014, when founder Derek Crowson retired. (For more about Derek Crowson, see page 33 in this issue.) Crew held other positions after leaving Crowson, including managing director of his own company, TRU Textiles, for nearly 10 years. Since then, he has gone on to hold other marketing and sales positions with Ian Mankin Ltd. in Burnley and Rufflette Ltd. and Pavillion Textiles Ltd. in Manchester. Prior to his new post at Beaumont, Crew was marketing director of Pure Contract Furniture in Hiderstone. The Beaumont textile firm was purchased by Mohamed O. Al-Guthmi Co., a major fabric wholesaler based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May 2017. The Arabic wholesaler

Matthew Crew

reports sales worth approximately $150 million. Crew reports to Al-Guthmi’s board of directors in Jeddah. The board is headed by Ahmet Al-Guthmi but Al-Guthmi’s son, Omar, is playing an increasingly important role in the company’s growth, as evidenced through his spearheading of the Beaumont acquisition. With Crew’s appointment, the group says that it has ambitious plans for growth and diversification into new global markets, the implication being that Beaumont is the beginning of a new era for Al-Guthmi. Crew says, “Ironically, back in my Crowson days in 1994, some 25 years ago, I

used to travel to Saudi and sell to Mr. Al-Guthmi Sr., so it’s ironic that I find myself in this unique position.” Crew indicates that so long as he performs, he has a free hand to call his own shots and develop the Beaumont business. The new managing director has an extensive history of experience in branding, marketing, design, export distribution, and general sales. Bill Beaumont Textiles will be holding an exhibition at Heimtextil, hall 4.1. at G40, which will be Crew’s first opportunity to meet with the new team. F&FI

Winter 2019/2020 • www.FandFI.com • 69

DESIGN F FI

Grasscloth, Crystalized Feathers, Bold Prints and More

By JENNIFER CASTOLDI

aterial innovation is a game-changer these days be it developing a new technique for mass production or keeping alive a skill that has been passed down through generations. Surface design for interiors can also be a simple print, or a marriage of material innovation and print design to create a multi-layered effect. Here are some of the latest developments in the design scene.

irds of a feather do not always flock together. During our recent travels, the Trendease Team has come across numerous artists and designers creating striking pieces with feathers. From home textiles to fashion to art, all of them are individualistic and full of inspiration. Some may remember Muuna’s crystalized feathers from the Surface Design Show 2019 New Talent selection. Also producing impressive pieces are artist Marie-Ange Daudé who transforms feathers into one-of-a-kind art and Pascale Theron who looks at creating a sustainable market for high-end ostrich feather wall hangings.

credit: Marie-Ange Daudé

credit: Pascale Theron

70 • www.FandFI.com • Winter 2019/2020

credit: Muuna

ere you will see examples of high-end hand-crafted denim textiles using a “secret formula” in an Italian enclave near Venice. The combinations of techniques are inspiring. Jeans Décor produces hand-made denim textiles better described as a “modern interpretation of medieval tapestry.” The company impressively pairs the streetwear representation of jeans and the color of life: water. They poetically write, “Where human hands skillfully come into play, imperfections stop being flaws.”

exture is the name of the game and grasscloth is the winner in the high-end category. What exactly is grasscloth? It is a handmade, natural wallcovering, woven out of arrowroot, bamboo hemp, jute, raffia, reeds, or sea grass. It can be quite pricey. As with most natural materials, there are dissimilarities in shading, coloration, slubbing, and texture with each roll, which rather than considered a defect, is actually part of the charm of this sophisticated material. Due to being straight from nature, exact seam matches are impossible, and the plain designs will create a paneled effect. Some editors or manufacturers might create a pattern or texture to blend this more seamlessly. credit: Portofino Italian Wallpapers Dynasty Textures, Antique Grass

A credit: Brewster Home Fashions

credit: Brewster Home Fashions

t the high-end of the selections for wallcoverings grasscloth, paper weaves, linen netting, silk, and woven textiles are choice options. Advances in technology mean that manmade textures can have a more natural look by using embossing techniques and vinyl. Of course, PVC is one of the most widely used plastics, but the downsides include the chemical additives evaporating into the air over time, which is not the healthiest for us or the environment. That said, it is still an affordable option and still holds a large share of the market.

ooking to give bed and bath a kick? These latest design directions certainly have oomph. While trekking through the trade shows, aisle by aisle, this is a trend we saw emerging. Dual action pattern layering, catering to a variety of tastes from classic scrolls to bold black and white stripes, is in the fashion pipeline. Different looks that caught our eye: • Bold black and white stripes combined with bold, colorful bouquets and animal motifs/patterns. • Bold black and white stripes combined with photorealistic flowers. • Gradient and monotone mandalas overlapped by a rainbow of birds, butterflies, and flora. • Large-scale florals patterned over with polka dots with accents of paisleys, checks and stripes. • Flowers overlapping scrolls, latticework, and bucolic scenes.

credit: Jannelli & Volpi

credit: Apelt

credit: Bedding ensemble from Royal Textile B.V. by Melli Mello

credit: Marburg

Jennifer Castoldi is the CEO and Chief Creative Director of Trendease International. Since 2004, Trendease has been providing cutting-edge and competitive design information to readers and clients spanning over 170 countries. Trendease is an influential resource reporting and consulting on global trends and key international design events. Hundreds of images and forward-thinking articles are presented on www.Trendease.com each month, additionally videos and podcasts are available on www.Trendease.TV.

Winter 2019/2020 • www.FandFI.com • 71

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