Heimtextil 08_2
12/5/07
2:17 PM
Page 1
BIG WIN
BRANCHING OUT
SHOOTING STAR
Canadian mill Victor Innovatex acquires assets from Fall River, Mass.-based Quaker Fabrics Corp. Page 14
Dong Fu Long’s Shanghai Homes Bedding & Clothing acquires ‘Happiness’ brand Page 18
Chairman and founder of Dicitex Furnishings, M.L. Arora, brings company over $50 mill. mark Page 22
January 9-12, 2008 | Hall 4, Level 1, Walkway E, Stand 94
www.Sipco.net
Texco Boosts Sales Double Digit Growth Forces Move to New Warehouse by Eric Schneider
LMELO, Netherlands — Texco, a children’s’ textile specialist with 10 million euro in sales in 2007, is proving that licensed characters are a big seller in the 70 million euro European juvenile curtain market. Texco increased sales in 2007 by 25 percent, and licensed
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by Creating Licensed Cartoon Niches
products account for 15 percent of that business — the remaining in ready-made curtains and non-licensed designs, according to Henk Veldhuis, principal of Texco. Texco now employs 22 people and recently doubled its warehouse and Remy®, from Disney’s Ratatouille®
office space from 1,500 square meters to 3,000 square meters in its new Almelo location. Texco has succeeded with Disney because the sales of Princess®, Winnie the Pooh® and Cars® characters are breaking records for Texco and their retail partners. “Princess, Cars and Winnie the Pooh are the best designs for us. We get a marketing calendar which shows when the movies are coming and we can devel-
Ready-Mades Increase Textile Sales Globally
op the designs well before the movie plays. The moment they start to advertise, we can start showing the Henk Veldhuis, principal, Texco
designs to our clients. We started Ratatouille® three months ago for example, well before the movie came out.”
SSINING, New York — With an increasing demand worldwide to cut production costs and lower prices for endusers, the demand for ready-made bedding product has gained momentum. Having more than 30 years of experience in the ready-made business, US-based Richloom Fabrics has a leg up on other companies that are starting to tap into the market. According to Todd Cella, director of sales and marketing for Richloom Home Fashions, the company began overseas sourcing in the late 1990’s and by 2000, had active production in China, Pakistan and India.
Marrakesh by Westgate
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DeBall Unveils “Bambusa” Velvet Plains; Prints are Next in Line by Eric Schneider
by Kelly Hushin
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“We’ve have had the Disney license since 2006 and it has meant a lot to the company,” said Veldhuis. “Disney is 15 percent of our total business and growing. Such licensing for us is growing at a faster rate than nonlicensed designs. Now, we have our eyes on getting the Barbie® license.”
RANBY, Canada — DeBall Inc. is expected to show its customers early samples of its “Eco-
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Cornelius de Kort Friendly” woven bamboo plain velvet in 30 colors during Heimtextil. A bamboo print line is also planned as well as a line of apparel fabrics. About 30 percent of DeBall's business is in the apparel industry, said Stephan Sayer, sales director of DeBall.
"The bamboo face is harder to process because it soaks up water at a much greater rate than cotton," according to Sayer. "The bamboo velvet is piece-dyed with special equipment and tests up to 40,000 double rubs making it a natural for contract as well as residential fabrics." In addition to the new bamboo collection, DeBall is offering new cotton plains and new dyed and discharged printed velvets, which Sayer is particularly proud of since so much of the market relies on surface printing today. (Continued on page 40)