Heimtextil delivers strong results for U.S. suppliers
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, February 20, 2006
Frankfurt, Germany — Buyers from the Middle East and Russia, and some emerging high-end customers from India and China, contributed to the strong results recorded by American decorative fabric companies at the Heimtextil fabric show here.
Despite some pre-show jitters about show attendance and shaky national economies, American exhibitors were positive in their assessments of the January event.
They agreed, however, that traffic was down. British buyers especially were few and far between because the furniture show in Birmingham, England, had furniture manufacturers buying well before Heimtex.
Still, for Larry Liebenow, president and CEO of U.S. fabric major Quaker, "It ended up being a very successful show, but quite limited from the perspective of the customer base."
He said the biggest customer segment — from the Middle East — "was the real key for us. They definitely are moving to more differentiated product."
The presence of more Indians and Chinese made Heimtex "a good market for the upper end of the business," he said, although Europeans were quite limited in their presence.
Liebenow was concerned, however, that as China and India become bigger markets, it increases the risk that companies in those countries could copy U.S. designs.
"The U.S. government doesn't seem to have a clue about the reality of how to handle intellectual property issues," he said.
For Arnie Marzarsky, export manager for Kravet, Heimtex was a good show and indicated a healthy increase in high-end consumers in China. He called China a fast-growing market, "much like Russia some years back."
"It was fabulous — absolutely fabulous," said Tom Leahy, Waverly vice president, of the show. "Wednesday and Thursday, it was flat out all day. Romantic Overtures was a monster hit. I was amazed at the number of people looking for prints."
Leahy added that 60% to 70% of his traffic was new visitors to the space.
"We were pleased," said Allen Barwick, president and CEO of first-time exhibitor Shuford Mills. "The decision-makers were here and there was lots of interest in our outdoor fabrics."
Lee Silberman, senior vice president at Duralee also noted the growing number of Asians interested in high-end fabrics. For Duralee, that interest has increased with the opening of its showroom in Hong Kong.
"I can't complain," said Silberman of the show. "We got a couple of new customers, and our major distributors were here. It's a more effective market."
The U.S. Department of Commerce organized two pavilions at the show, one for fabrics and one for manufactured products.
"I was pleasantly surprised," said Jim Leonard, the DOC's deputy assistant secretary for textiles and apparel. "I didn't hear any negatives. Exhibitors wrote orders. There was good networking."
