HANZHOU, PR China—Babei has opened its first of what may be 100 residential shop in shops for its BellaBello brand at the LaCasa showroom in the Derlook building in Hangzhou and expects to be a $50 million company within five years including the mill direct business.

Babei has decided to exhibit its lines only at Intertextile Shanghai. It used to be exhibitors at several other international exhibitions. The mill is totally vertical from yarn twisting forward. It does not sell seconds. It is the key supplier to Coach Handbag and the major exporter of ties to the USA. “Coach requires three inspections of its fabrics before they leave our house,” Yak said. The Wang Brothers: Yak and Jason

“Our biggest business will be domestic China business—not export.  He expects domestic growth of China GNP to slow from 9.6 percent to seven percent in the future. That is still robust. Babei has been a fabric supplier to LaCasa, a well know upholstery line in China as well as being a supplier to Fook Yik, another major upholstery line made in China. He allowed that export has slowed down but domestic is speeding up. “Export will end up being 30 percent of Babei’s business—not 60-70 percent of the whole as it is now.  Domestically for us, bedding will be a major area of growth in 100 percent silk. Rachel Chan and Nikaa Wang, designers of BellaBello showroom

Yak Wang has appointed his brother Jason to manage this effort which represents a major step for Babei to develop the domestic Chinese market for better end fabrics. It also means that BellaBello will be importing as much as 40 percent of its collection from Europe and America, according to Yak and the balance will be Babei silk and cotton, linen or polyester fabrics. “People like silk but the price has risen 50 percent in 2011 and 100 percent more than in 2009,” Yak said. “We will sell silk and cotton blends primarily in the domestic China market. The initial efforts will be made in Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. These are the largest cities in China today.

The shops, each about 550 square meters typically, will supply the total lifestyle including furniture through LaCasa, distributor of Guy Rogers upholstery form the UK; carpet, lamps and all textiles for the home including bedding. Hangars and books will be installed in the shops. In fact, LaCasa has a joint venture to open BellaBello shops within LaCasa showrooms. “For long-, we have to do something like this in China. We’re not worried about being copied. That means someone will always be behind us but we keep doing new designs,” Yak said. “In 2012, we expect to be buying sheers and velvets from Italy and Turkey for these shops,” Yak said. “The customer wants more variety today including cushions, bedding and upholstery. We’ll have everything available to them at BellaBello.

We also expect to bid on hospitality projects in Asia through our affiliation with Thomas Chao of DIDC in Shanghai. Through BellaBello, we can go after hospitality projects, Yak explained. Lansdison Hotels in Greentowne specified all fabrics through BellaBello, Yak said. “We also decorated and installed 360 apartments with sheers in the Greentowne area,” he said. Babei already has a large workroom for this purpose as part of its Shenzhou City factory. “We can even buy spot orders for the hospitality trade for items not in our line. The customer wants to buy everything from one source today,” he said. 

Babei is also doing more business in the USA with the contract jobber in the FR business. All Babei designs are available in FR polyester, he said. Domestically, Babei is a major supplier of drapery fabric to Sands Group in Macao and through that affiliation, has also supplied Sands in Las Vegas. Other hotels to its credit include Four Seasons in Hangzhou.  F&FI