Orders Pick up at Showtime
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, June 16, 2011
The Ramtex showroom displays fabrics using fibers that are alternatives to costly cotton. The line sells for $5.95 per yard. Customer Stan Becker, left, talks with Danny Koroni, Gary King and Chelsea Hernandez of Ramtex.
HIGH POINT - Winding up the International Textile Market Assn.'s Showtime fabric show here last week, exhibitors said buyers made longterm fabric commitments despite continued cloudiness in the U.S. economy and fear of a double-dip recession.
"There's definitely an upswing in confidence and optimism for the future. That's backed up by an increase in orders, and an openness to new placements and fabrics." Cathy Smith, De Leo Textiles
"Our customers are thinking about growth more than just survival," said Zack Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing for domestic resource Valdese Weavers. "There's not as much paranoia - which is healthy."
He said attendance at the show was "slightly above normal" with customers visiting the showroom "with very specific shopping needs ... which vary wildly from customer to customer."
De Leo Textiles' appointment books were fuller than usual and reception of the line of Turkish textiles was strong, according to Cathy Smith, director of design and merchandising.
"I don't think (manufacturers are) completely confident as in past years. They want to keep it safe. They're cautious about what they pick." Tannia Herroz, Morgan Fabrics
"There's definitely an upswing in confidence and optimism for the future," she said. "That's backed up by an increase in orders, and an openness to new placements and fabrics."
Like Valdese's Taylor, Smith said customers aren't going too far out on a limb with orders, with the up-anddown swings of retail sales making production schedules unpredictable.
"They're not wildly optimistic, but they're not pessimistic, either," she said.
Meghan McLawhorn, assistant director of the ITMA, said the show registered representatives from 863 companies through the third day of the show, up from the 787 from the same time in December.
One piece of good news at last week's event was that erratic raw material price increases on cotton and other raw materials had finally stabilized, although at levels much higher than a year ago.
"It has stabilized a little bit in the last month ... or at least there hasn't been a rise in prices," said Adrian Dombey, president of Eroica Enterprises, a Miami-based fabric supplier.
Several Showtime vendors, including Eroica, were looking for ways to give customers more for the higher prices they are paying for fabrics.
"Our company has been focusing on creating good-value products," said Dombey. "We want customers to feel they're getting very well priced products for the quality, design and trends we give them."
At Chinese mill Westgate Home, President David Li said, "You've got to give people a reason to buy, and we're going after that higher perceived value."
That includes new finishes to fabrics and a new faux leather line in a price range of $5.95-$8.95 per yard, along with embroidered outdoor fabrics that Li said were new to the industry.
Several mill executives, including Li, said that while the price of raw materials has stabilized, the industry has other price issues to deal with.
Li said the Chinese government has set a national goal to double the income of workers in five years beginning in 2013, which should lead to rising labor costs. That, coupled with inflation, the increase in fabric demand from within China, and a decreasing number of mills, are among factors expected to keep Chinese fabrics from returning to their former price levels.
Cotton prices rose in the past year from 40 cents to 70 cents per pound to a high of over $2 per pound, but had fallen back to $1.68 per pound last week.
Despite the decline, Chelsea Hernandez, design and merchandising director for Ramtex, said the company is using less cotton in favor of more affordable fibers to give customers a more predictable pricing structure and keep volume flowing from the company's mills.
"It all about everybody's bottom line," she said. "Cotton has come down but that doesn't mean we'll see (lower prices) right away. Sometimes it takes months."
Meanwhile, the company is offering a poly-fiber line called Empress in 54 colors at $5.95 a yard. Response has "been overwhelming," she said. "Everybody loves it."
Beginning July 1, Los Angeles- based Morgan Fabrics will drop an 8% surcharge on fabrics because raw material prices have stabilized, said Tannia Herroz, product development manager.
The company, which imports from China but stocks for quick delivery, brought out new padded fabrics at Showtime.
Herroz said they're "easy to sit on" and add texture to an upholstery product's look.
"I don't think they're completely confident as in past years," she said, referring to manufacturers. "They want to keep it safe. They're cautious about what they pick."
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Showtime buyers more willing to order fabrics
Jun 8, 2011
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