MOSCOW, Russia — “At Arben Textiles, we want to grow faster than the overall market so we always have an aggressive sales effort,” said Dasha Zelenova, commercial director.

She noted that Belorussia is now producing upholstered furniture for export to Europe in the same way that Poland does. Arben is supplying the Belorussian market, she said. This is providing a sales boost to Arben this year which sells about one million meters a month together with the sister division, Flandria, an upscale upholstery wholesaler.

“Arben Textiles caters to the Russian customer who likes to create their own sofa on a personal basis,” said Dasha Zelenova, commercial director. Dasha Zelenova

“Even before we come to MoOD, we have an idea of our collection and exactly what we are looking for,” she said.

“We make our own selection of suppliers and then make designs in-house,” she said. “The customer wants a choice and we try to give them a wide selection,” she said. Arben Textiles, was founded in 1994 by Archie Tchernov and his late partner, Benno Schmidt.

 “We tell our suppliers what we want and when we want it,” said Zelenova, who has an economics degree. “We do rely on their design team to make sure we get exactly what we want. We are less dependent on Europe for suppliers today. Everything we sell is put in stock. We have 1,500 items; 100 meters-10,000 meters for each item depending on the selling price.

Arben Textile is a volume oriented upholstery wholesaler which specializes in leather, artificial leather and jacquards in the $2 - $10 a meter price range. It specifies commodity oriented product from China   at the lower end of the price range and depends on Turkish suppliers for more creative offerings. In the case of the United States of America, Arben Textiles is one of two exclusive suppliers of Microfibres® in Russia. (The other supplier of Microfibres is Leathertouch, an important wholesaler in St. Petersburg.)