Birago Lentate, Italy — ”We are all worried and scared about the future of the textiles business in Italy but I am still like a lion about the future,” said Enzo Angiuoni principal of the family mill which bears his name

One of his newest and most promising areas lies in the outdoor market. He has an outdoor range in polypropylene using his special Ten Star® yarn which incorporates a water shield repellent in the finishing process with reportedly 1,500 hours of colorfastness. “It dries off in 10 minutes after the rain, free of odor, mold and mildew and is 100% recyclable, anti allergenic and anti stain,” according to Angiuoni.

His son Roberto believes that the key to success is in constantly updating the machinery so that no loom is older than seven years. According to Roberto, the two companies generate approximately $31 million annually and he expects to close the fiscal year up 10%. Currently, the price range at Texar is $15 to $60 per yard. Roberto Angiuoni

“We were lucky to have re-arranged our mill prior to the crisis while others have closed or are now having difficulties,” Enzo said. “We made investments in the mill to produce plain and jacquard velvet. We believe the family must stay poor but the mill must be rich with innovation so we bought new technology with the looms from Dornier.”  Enzo wants to be known for producing fabrics that represent excellent quality with better prices but he recognizes there is no end to the lowest price. He chooses Hermes as his model and admires Rohleder, Limonta and Devantex for the quality of their fabrics.

He is also experimenting with 340-centimeter width jacquard decorative panels in infinite heights, which can reproduce photographic scenes exactly like the original. He believes that this may be important for contract application and can be used in lobby corridors in any fabric. In addition to these panels, he is developing traditional wet printing on velvet.

“We found that digital printing for us represented nothing unique,” he said. “We prefer the wet printing,” he said. Enzo Angiuoni

Roberto, worked for Enzo in the early 90’s after graduating from the University of Milan but left the company in 2006 and purchased 58% of Texar Stoffe, an Italian jacquard manufacturer utilizing cotton, linen, silk, viscose and polyester. In the second quarter of 2011, Roberto purchased the rest of the company and merged production with his father’s company. Roberto is quick to point out, however, that the two companies operate as separate entities and that they only share the production space in Italy where the looms and other machinery are operated.

“We merged our production facilities and perhaps someday we’ll merge as one company all-together, but right now we have different styles and remain separate companies,” said Roberto.

“Texar accounts for only about 10% of annual sales right now but I know we will soon have a greater share of the revenue,” said Roberto. “It takes time.”

The range from Texar Stoffe also includes damasks, gobelins, liserés, brocades and lampasses. He estimates that 35% of the business for Texar is done domestically with the balance coming from Japan, U.S, Germany and the Middle East in such countries as Lebanon and Jordan. Although he won’t be showing at MoOD in September, he will be exhibiting at Shanghai Intertextile a month earlier in
August.   F&FI