Decosit draws support, but less traffic
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, September 23, 2007
Brussels, Belgium — With acknowledgement from all quarters that attendance was down, American exhibitors at Decosit here earlier this month continued to express support for the decorative fabrics show.
For most American exhibitors, Decosit produced good business with new customers, including some from Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
On a region-by-region tally, exhibitors cited the apparent downturn in attendance from Japan and the Middle East. The beginning of Ramadan later in the week of Decosit was viewed as the reason for the absence of large numbers of Middle Eastern customers.
There also was concern that the textile show in Shanghai, China, just a week before Decosit may have cut into attendance in Brussels.
The weak value of the dollar against the euro was considered a plus for Americans selling to the European market, adding strong value to their lines.
"We've been really busy," said Mike Shelton, president of Valdese Weavers. He credited several factors, including Valdese's recent acquisition of Circa 1801/Doblin, the expansion of its various brands' product lines, and the reworking of its agent network by Cynthia Parrish, who has been director of international sales and marketing for 18 months.
"The quality of the customers coming in during Decosit with our new agents has been dramatic. It's the best show we have ever had," Shelton said.
With a new stand and the dramatic presentation of a specially created color story, Tietex, another U.S. company, was "very busy and it was a very good market," said Martin Wildeman, chairman and CEO. "We made a big push with piece-dyed fabrics produced in our plant in Thailand with an eye to the European market. European colors tend to be more accepted in countries other than the United States, like those in Central and South America."
Wildeman added that while he views Decosit as a European market, he saw quite a few American customers. He added that this is the third year that the company has had its Tietex Europe operation, based in the Netherlands.
At Fabricut, Vice President David Klaristenfeld said the launch of new Vervain luxury fabrics and the debut of the Isaac Mizrahi collection added up to a strong show.
"Vervain was extremely successful, and Isaac was an unqualified success — he's so right for Europe," said Klaristenfeld.
"It was better than OK," added Stewart Jervis, vice resident of P/Kaufmann. "Although traffic was down, business was good. Decosit is a great way to see the world in a week." For P/Kaufmann, prints were a "mainstay" of its success, he said.
Roger Gilmartin, president of Covington, concurred that the show was good enough to meet expectations, "given the state of the market in general."
"This is the first Decosit that we didn't write substantial orders, but still we were very pleased with the results," said Rocco Simone, senior vice president of Sunbury. He estimated attendance was down 20%, but said he was pleased nonetheless.
"The dollar probably influenced Europeans, and Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand were strong," he said. "We're not unhappy at all."
But one aspect of the show that "is very disturbing," said Simone, is "the freedom that people feel they have taking pictures of fabrics of outside stand fabric displays. They use cameras and cell phone cameras. We're closing in our booth next year."
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Decosit draws support, but less traffic
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