BUSTO ARSIZIO, Italy — Mario Cavelli, an Italian weaver since 1933, is slowly turning to other fabric categories for survival due to the steady price erosion of voile, its mainstay in the past, according to Sebastiano Malvestio, Export Manager.

For example, Cavelli is now offering a ‘Country Collection’ of dobbies in plaids, stripes and solids made in its own plant at 12 Euros a meter in seven designs and 20 colors. The minimum order is three meters.

“Today, there is no price for voile,” Malvestio continues. “Ten years ago it became a Turkish product; now it’s a Chinese product. The China price is around 33 cents per meter. The Cavelli price is 60 cents a meter but this is an upgraded product with special effects.” Cavelli: Sergey Bronskiy of L-Lux, Russian window fashions wholesaler with Mario Cavelli Export Manager Malvestio, export Manager Sebastiano Malvestio with Cristiano Cavelli, Commercial Director, and Russian customers Olga Linova and Olga Tolykova

“Plain voile is a simple and basic article so now it is also produced in other countries like Vietnam and the price of voile is going down due to this wide offer,” he adds.

“We continue to do special voile using 10 denier yarns and special super soft finishing, so we still produce voile for medium to high quality markets. Of course the quantities are no longer containers but rolls.”

“We still have about 65 employees and we work mainly with articles always available on stock, quick delivery and production--we must be fast to satisfy the different requests,” Malvestio continues.

“The Country Collection is an example of a wide collection, completely produced in our factory in Italy offered roll by roll; we also do an excellent presentation in books and it helps the final client in their choice.  

Malvestio participated at Evteks this year as well as making his regular appearance in the halls of the Villa Erba for Proposte. His boss, Mario Cavelli is also very active with the Board of Proposte. 

“While Evteks is not our main fair, it is a positive fair for Cavelli. At Evteks we developed new contacts interested in medium to high quality and Italian style. It also gave us a chance to expose our new Country Collection and let customers know we are not just about voile anymore.”