MIAMI, Florida — Orlean, a Sao Paolo, Brazil based manufacturer of wallcoverings and sheer curtain fabrics has opened its first branch in the USA here with another one to follow in New York within five years according to Gustavo Orlean, the 28-year-old second generation owner of this manufacturer and wholesaler. “The ultimate goal was always to sell our products in the USA and we anticipate having a total of 12 showrooms in the USA,” he says. Gustavo’s mother started the business in 1985 as a manufacturer of sheer curtain fabrics. Orlean offers exclusive product in Brazil but offers both exclusive and open line products in the USA. His mother and father are still active in the Sao Paolo based business but Gustavo will be joined by his brother, Marcelo, 32, in the U.S. operation. Aside from its own proprietary lines, Orlean is also the exclusive distributor of the UK based Prestigious Fabrics in the USA. “The fabric business in the USA is tough,” Gustavo says. “You have to come up with a well-established brand in the USA or be swallowed up.” This hasn’t stopped Orlean from producing a 60-70 percent sales increase for the first quarter of 2017 versus 2016. Christian Fong runs the Florida operation which consists of 13 employees including five salesmen on the road. The sales team covers Naples and Key West; Orlando, Tallahassee and Palm Beach. The sales force is earmarked for expansion in the future. “The wallcovering business in the USA is under developed, Gustavo says. “Florida is such a rich market. Miami is the bridge to the USA for Orlean. There is not one Florida like market in South America today.” The current 2,500 square foot showroom in the Miami Design District opened 16 months ago supported by a 20,000 square foot warehouse. Orlean feeds off of a 500,00 square foot warehouse in Brazil but Gustavo anticipates a complete reversal in the future when Orlean will begin to export its lines to Brazil instead of the other way around. When that occurs, there will be no warehouse in Brazil as everything will be shipped in from the States. “Corruption killed the Brazilian economy since 2014,” he says but “Brazil is still the best economy and the fifth largest in South America,” he adds. “It’s much less expensive to export from the USA to Brazil because of the tax situation in domestic Brazil,” he says. Orlean distributes its lines to 500 Brazilian retailers. Orlean carries a variety of wallcovering lines including its own plus innovators like Air Environments which works with real artists and pays them a royalty for each roll sold in the form of artistic murals that reflect actual artwork. “You can also change the substrate of the Air Environment designs,” he says. Orlean also carries natural and vinyl textured wallcoverings from Texum of France; Grandeco vinyls and Arte from Belgium. Gustavo says his eyes are open to other wallcovering line possibilities. Orlean works with a team of its own installers “who make the product look right for our customer,” says Gustavo. While the interior designer is Orlean’s main customer, Gustavo sees that designers and home owners are increasingly going direct to the manufacturer for the product.