Kiryat Malachi, Israel —While other flock producers have folded up their tents due to lack of demand, Flocktex continues to grow to the tune of 20 percent ahead in 2011 over 2010 and continues to innovate its line of Impala velvets based on new flock technology.

Several companies have tried to copy the Flocktex line but they have only succeeded in copying older products—not the new ones from Flocktex, said Mayer Zeiler, entrepreneurial owner and founder of this 35 year old manufacturer. The current product line has been developed in the past two years due to the expansion of the factory and the installation of the high tech line which led to Impala. He expects to continue to bring out new products to make it even more difficult for the remaining competition to copy his line. “Today, Impala has become its own category of product and not so much a substitute for leather,” he said.

“As they cheapened the leather quality used in 80 percent of the upholstery today, manufacturers began to search for a superior product to leather. Leathers are now trending down to velvets and that’s where Impala fills the demand,” said Zeiler said. Mayer Zeiler, principal Flocktex, Keir Malachi, Israel with Lutz Neubert, product manager, fabrics, Saum & Viebahn, Kulmbach, Germany with Christian Gick, principal of Schwab & Gick GmbH & Co., Lichtenfels, Germany

The Impala line is available in 200 different options: plains, velvets and various corduroy effects. Its latest innovation is Velsoft, a fabric that is designed to have several different softness levels for use in upholstery. Like all Flocktex products, Velsoft is priced at $19-25 plus per yard to the wholesaler and is therefore at the higher end of the fabric market today. Velsoft is also available in up to 50 colors and several different patterns even though the most popular colors are browns, beige and ecru. “Even in white, Velsoft exhibits superior stain release properties including tough stains from ketchup,” said Mayer Zeiler, the founder and CEO of the 35 year old mill. Flocktex products withstand 100,000 double rubs, Zeiler stated.

The proprietary technology used to make Velsoft is kept under wraps but it seems to use several layers of flock on flock to produce a fabric that looks like nothing else on the market.

The Flocktex customer base reads like a Who’s Who in the upholstered furniture industry. Companies like Steinhoff Group, Himolla and Hukla offer Flocktex products on an exclusive basis under different trade names. In all cases, the products are marketed as high end upholstery even though flock started out as a commodity, a relatively inexpensive fabric that was overproduced, knocked off in China and eventually died off almost everywhere in the world, except for a few pockets.

Sofas routinely sell at retail at $4,000+ with Velsoft upholstery, Zeiler pointed out. 8 Mart, an eight year old Moscow based furniture producer offers Flocktex products on an exclusive basis. The company sells to 400 stores in Russia and as far away as Australia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine

Flocktex is one of the few companies that has cemented its reputation with the continued success of its ranges. It sells container load quantities through a limited number of fabric wholesalers like Schwab & Gick GmbH based in Lichtenfels, Germany. “The competition is very strong in the velvet market today,” said Christian Gick, principal of Schwab & Gick, an important distributor of Flocktex velvets. ”There is no profit margin selling Chinese textiles. I prefer something like Flocktex.”

Flocktex is represented by wholesalers in the USA, UK, Europe, Russia and India.   F&FI Velsoft line by Impala from Flocktex covers different softness levels as well as different designs and 50 colors.