Miami, Florida — The structure of the fabric industry has changed according to Adrian Dombey, principal of Eroica Enterprises here, a converter of jacquard drapery fabrics from China.

“Those who were mills are now distributors and converters; U.S. mills have been replaced by importers of Chinese fabrics,” Dombey explained.

Eroica Enterprises converts Chinese drapery goods with U.S. based design. The company is five years old with a 7,500 square foot warehouse that holds up to half a million yards, Dombey said. He projects a business of $5-$10 million in sales with a few more years.  John Bernell and Adrian Dombey

Eroica specializes in Chinese polyester velvets which are selling well in the $4-$6 range as well as polyester linen fabrics. Some of the drapery passes NFPA 701, Dombey said so contract is an attractive market to Eroica going forward. The Party industry also attracts Eroica and the firm participated in “The Event” (a show dedicated ot the Party Industry) in Anaheim this past January.

“If you are well positioned with Chinese mills as we are, you have a lot of selling possibilities for the future,” he reasoned. He may explore other products like mattress ticking and other markets like South America in the future. His focus now is the Midwest and the East Coast. He leaves the West Coast to the many Iranian borne fabric sellers, which dominate that area today. “I don’t want to compete with them out there!”

Dombey started in the wholesale textile business in Caracas, Venezuela in 1989 under the name ‘Textile West’ well before Chinese goods dominated the market. “The made in China lines became cheaper than the seconds and closeouts we bought from the US,” Dombey said. He started a retail business in Caracas in 1993 which buys goods in the $16/$17 range. The manager of the retail business attends Showtime and buys from companies like DeLeo, Home Secrets and Ramtex, one to two pieces of a color at a time. 

“The wholesale and retail business in Venezuela was good until November when there was a 100 percent devaluation of the currency. Venezuela is in chaos due to the tremendous drop in oil prices. Lucky for us, our U.S. business is up 40 percent this year over last,” Dombey said. Still, both of the Caracas based businesses survived and are managed by his employees.

Eroica’s Vice President of Sales is John Bernell, a graduate of the apparel fabric business who has worked with Dombey since Eroica started in business. 

Dombey’s interest in textiles was awakened by his father-in-law who still sells apparel fabrics in Caracas. Up until the point he got into the textile business, Dombey was a chemical engineer who played the piano; hence the name ‘Eroica’  which is the name of Beethoven’s Third Symphony. Dombey still plays a mean piano.