JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — Quietly, EuropaTex International has become an important force in trimming in the USA with an annual sales growth of ten percent since 2004 with 20 percent more growth expected in 2014 according to Greg Kiriakou, President.

EuropaTex has 75 collections of fabric and trimmings, 40 sku’s in each and back up, on the shelf stock of 1500-2,000 yards per sku from $1.25 to $25 a yard, he says. “Companies usually add trim as an accessory but we started the business with both fabric and trim.”  “We have been geared to exports from the start but the domestic U.S. market started to move about eight years ago and now we’re starting to see a trend toward international business again,” he says.  About 70 percent of the business is in the USA with 30 percent geared to export.

The company operates out of a showroom with 20 fulltime employees and 25 sales representatives on the road in the USA. Greg is looking for more reps in Southern Europe and The Middle East. The warehouse is 22,000 square feet, is stocked to the ceiling with a second warehouse nearby in Patterson and a third is coming soon somewhere in North Carolina to service the furniture trade. 

Larisa Dervisec is Director of Sales and has been with the company since its inception ten years ago. She also works as a trim designer for the company. She received her MBA in Finance at Brooklyn College and picked up her design experience on the job, she says. When F&FI visited her, she was preparing a shipment of trim  to Japan, one of the many export markets she serves personally.

Kiriakou is constantly adding sku’s in fabric which is the fastest growing part of his business today, he says. EuropaTex sells jute and abaca trims in a 27 yard package and covers the medium to high end market. “We’re always looking for new designs from existing suppliers. We have our own designers working with us overseas on the new lines. 

China offers the best prices but India offers better products, especially embroideries and is closer in quality to Turkey today, especially since the Indian Rupee has dropped like a stone against the dollar,” Greg says. “On the other hand, these prices have gone up since the RMB is now 6.3 to the dollar where ten years ago, there were nine RMB to the dollar. We locked in our prices ten years ago and that has been good for our customers. We only had one price increase in the past seven years.”

“When you buy from India, it is a good idea to buy your own yarn to control the final product,” he points out. That’s exactly what he does as a converter and importer. He says that EuropaTex is a financial partner to several mills which produce to his specification. “Our trim mill produces for only four companies in the world and we are one of them,” he points out. Greg Kiriakou

Another trend he sees overseas is towards wide width drapery goods in the 118 inch width and this will become more important in the USA in the next decade, he feels. “Our new collections come in both single and wide widths in copyrighted designs. Our fabrics are exclusive to us in the USA and some exclusive to us worldwide.” EuropaTex participated in its first Heimtextil last year and plans to be back there in 2015. Twice a year Showtime is also on the show roster as is Dallas, Las Vegas and Atlanta for the home sewing show there.

EuropaTex, International is a family business which started life as a trimming specialist and curtain panel supplier ten years ago which rapidly expanded into upholstery fabrics, sourcing goods from China, India and Turkey. It sells its lines China to China; India to China and sells directly to U.S. furniture and drapery manufacturers as well as jobbers. Kiriakou says he also sells every major fabric retailer in the USA on a direct basis. “We have become a jobber resource and while a lot of suppliers are selling cut order, EuropaTex does not,” he says.

“We have grown our business exponentially by offering good service, good prices and good product,”   Kiriakou explains.   He admits to spending seven days a week in the business because he wants to, “loving every minute of it. The demand is there and the growth still comes. It makes me feel good,” he adds. He spends a lot of time airborne traveling to India, China and Turkey and sorting out new sources of supply. 

When he is not in the air, he tends to his family in New Jersey or spends time in Chalkiviki in Northern Greece. His father spends most of his time in his native Salonika, Greece while his brother Billy handles in house administration. He is looking at Spanish suppliers currently, because he sees them as the lowest cost producers in Europe today with the lowest labor rates. “Some Spanish suppliers are now producing in Morocco. My dad dealt in textiles for 40 years before starting this company and still helps me out in the sourcing end of the business.”

Greg’s grandfather was in the fur business but Greg’s father was the first to try his hand at textiles, ultimately selling sold every major American jobber years ago. The current business actually started on Walker Street in downtown New York over the Holland Tunnel but that location was changed with the move to New Jersey when that area gentrified and became a sought after housing market.