Exhibitors rethinking Heimtex presence
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, February 5, 2007
Frankfurt, Germany — Light attendance at this month's Heimtextil fabric show here is prompting many decorative fabric producers and suppliers to reconsider their presence at the event.
For high-end companies such as Duralee, Fabricut and Kravet, the consensus is that shows like Maison & Objet in Paris are a better venue to reach their designer clients than is Heimtextil.
Companies with piece goods business, meanwhile, appear to be thinking that two other European fabric shows, Proposte and Decosit, are more appropriate venues to work with their distributor customers.
Nonetheless, a number of companies at Heimtex said they were pleased — to a degree — with business here.
"Piece goods customers are no longer coming here en masse," said Arnie Masarsky, director of international sales for Kravet. "From our cut order customers, it was a decent, OK show. We did fairly well."
Nonetheless, he said Kravet's energies will be focused in the future on Maison & Objet, where it already has a presence, as well as at a site off the grounds of Proposte and at Decosit.
The company's divisions include the U.S.-based Lee Jofa and Portfolio, as well as G.P. & J. Baker and Mulberry Home in the United Kingdom.
David Klaristenfield, vice president of Fabricut, is exploring the potential of Maison.
But he was upbeat about Heimtex: "We didn't think the show here would be strong, but we had the right people in the booth."
At supplier DeBall, Stephan Sayer, director of upholstery fabrics for Canada and the United States, said the company was "very excited by the response, especially from our North American manufacturers and jobbers. There was lots of interest and we had good feedback on our new pricing."
Rockland Mills President Stan Fradin expressed surprise that the company exceeded last year's strong results, after heavy and successful pre-Heimtex sales efforts.
"And we got new customers out of the mix. Heimtex is still a viable venue for us. It sets the tone for the year," said Fradin.
"It was fair. Everyone said traffic was down," said Lee Silberman, senior vice president of Duralee. "Everyone is saying Maison & Objet is the place to be. The main thing for us is to see our current distributors, and if we pick up a couple of new ones, it's a bonus."
Mike Shelton, president of Valdese, said, "The show was very poorly attended by our existing customers, or by the potential new customer we had hoped to see."
In contrast, he said the company succeeded in its efforts to source new product for Valdese's VIP brand.
"It wasn't bad," said Steve Schroeder, director of international sales at Quaker, of business at Heimtex. "We had positive reaction to our new decorative fabric export lineup."
New fabric directions, meanwhile, were few and far between at Heimtextil this year. Instead, refinements and enhancements of prior years' directions were predominant.
Key themes included metallics, new shadings in the orange color family, black and white, and silhouettes in muted colors.
Pinks, from pales to hot shades, were a prevalent color statement.
Boras
Boras of Sweden mixes hot pink, gold and a reddish rust in this Art Nouveau floral interpretation on a cotton print.
Naturtex
Large rectangles of jute and wool form a dramatic rug statement at Naturtex of Spain.
Wind
Deco flowers in a rich pink on a straw ground are one of the jacquards highlighted by Wind of Belgium.
Linie design
Denmark's Linie Design creates a striking rug with an undulating series of white dots on a black ground.
Arnova
Faux leather of PVC with polyester creates a supple fabric at Arnova Tekstil of Turkey.
Saum
A range of pinks to reds combines for dramatic effect in a floral jacquard by Saum & Viebahn of Germany.
