BAY SHORE, New York — Ben Barbosa, a 19-year veteran of the fabric export industry, will be joining the export staff of Duralee Fabrics here September 7. His new title will be Director of Export Sales. Barbosa was with Covington Industries in New York since 1991, as part of the acquistion of Spectrum Fabrics. His new office will be in Bay Shore at Duralee headquarters.

Barbosa will report to Lee Silberman, senior vice president of Duralee. According to Silberman, Barbosa's position was created specifically for him. “Ben will focus on Central and South America and take over most of my administration duties in export so that I can concentrate on our growing business in Asia where I want to establish Durlalee’s footprint in a major way,” Silberman said.

He expects to open a Duralee trading office in Shanghai by the first quarter of 2011 to further its China to China business. Silberman mentioned that Joel Rothstein will continue to focus on the Middle East market for Duralee export.

Duralee is a major U.S. based converter and jobber.