Lantal Textiles Takes Orinoka Archives Out of Mothballs
December 17, 2002
RURAL HALL, N.C. — After reporting sluggish sales in the contract and transportation markets, Lantal Textiles has targeted the residential sector for growth. The contract jacquard weaver began offering the Orinoka brand to furniture manufacturers in 2001 and now it is focusing on increasing sales to residential jobbers, according to Lantal president Scott Walker.
In anticipation of orders for Orinoka-branded goods, Lantal has doubled its design and engineering staff to eight and added eight looms. High Point-based sales agency Homecraft, which has offices in New York, Texas, California and Canada, is spearheading the sales effort.
Walker said industry response to the Orinoka fabrics, which sell for $12 to $20 a yard, has been positive. "We're getting good placements from people. We want to be a middle to high-end manufacturer of decorative design products."
The company Orinoka was founded in the late 1800s as a residential manufacturer in Philadelphia. "It was well known from the '20s through the '50s for beautiful styling and great colors," Walker said. "But, as many textile companies did, they started to encounter difficult financial times."
In 1980, Orinoka went out of business and Lantal purchased its vast archives: "plus or minus 3,800 pieces of fabric and artwork," according to Walker. The cache of mostly jacquard designs in wools, cottons and silks date from the late 1800s to early 1970s and fit into contemporary, geometrical and transitional categories, Walker said. While the company sold a few Orinoka products under the Lantal name, it took several more years before it decided to brand them separately.
"Through the years, fabric manufacturers approached us about wanting to lease these archives from us," Walker said. "We had all of these beautiful archives from Orinoka and we'd stored them. If other manufacturers saw a benefit from these products, we should either seriously consider their offers, or find a better alternative for them and utilize them ourselves. So we applied the resources to develop that product line."
Lantal, whose business is anchored in the American and European contract and transportation markets, increased its effort to market Orinoka following the Sept. 11 attacks. At the time, the 116-year-old company generated 60 percent of its business in the U.S. transportation sector.
"Aviation especially was hit pretty hard by 9/11," Walker said. "But even prior to that, their financials had been suffering. There are times when it's not a matter of profits for airlines, but survival. They had to stem outgoing cash flow. We've obviously shared their pain. Knock on wood, but I feel like we've seen the worst of that. That U.S. industry last year lost $11 billion, this year $5 billion. They're not beautiful numbers, but they're better than they were. It's forced everyone to look at how they do business.
"We've always been very lean in terms of overhead so we haven't been too rattled. It's helped that we've had other products to stand on. You have to diversify. But you can't do 20 different things. You see some companies spreading too thin and then going into debt or going out of business.
"We'd like to see our contract, residential and transportation figures in equal proportion," Walker said. "But not at the expense of the transportation."
In anticipation of orders for Orinoka-branded goods, Lantal has doubled its design and engineering staff to eight and added eight looms. High Point-based sales agency Homecraft, which has offices in New York, Texas, California and Canada, is spearheading the sales effort.
Walker said industry response to the Orinoka fabrics, which sell for $12 to $20 a yard, has been positive. "We're getting good placements from people. We want to be a middle to high-end manufacturer of decorative design products."
The company Orinoka was founded in the late 1800s as a residential manufacturer in Philadelphia. "It was well known from the '20s through the '50s for beautiful styling and great colors," Walker said. "But, as many textile companies did, they started to encounter difficult financial times."
In 1980, Orinoka went out of business and Lantal purchased its vast archives: "plus or minus 3,800 pieces of fabric and artwork," according to Walker. The cache of mostly jacquard designs in wools, cottons and silks date from the late 1800s to early 1970s and fit into contemporary, geometrical and transitional categories, Walker said. While the company sold a few Orinoka products under the Lantal name, it took several more years before it decided to brand them separately.
"Through the years, fabric manufacturers approached us about wanting to lease these archives from us," Walker said. "We had all of these beautiful archives from Orinoka and we'd stored them. If other manufacturers saw a benefit from these products, we should either seriously consider their offers, or find a better alternative for them and utilize them ourselves. So we applied the resources to develop that product line."
Lantal, whose business is anchored in the American and European contract and transportation markets, increased its effort to market Orinoka following the Sept. 11 attacks. At the time, the 116-year-old company generated 60 percent of its business in the U.S. transportation sector.
"Aviation especially was hit pretty hard by 9/11," Walker said. "But even prior to that, their financials had been suffering. There are times when it's not a matter of profits for airlines, but survival. They had to stem outgoing cash flow. We've obviously shared their pain. Knock on wood, but I feel like we've seen the worst of that. That U.S. industry last year lost $11 billion, this year $5 billion. They're not beautiful numbers, but they're better than they were. It's forced everyone to look at how they do business.
"We've always been very lean in terms of overhead so we haven't been too rattled. It's helped that we've had other products to stand on. You have to diversify. But you can't do 20 different things. You see some companies spreading too thin and then going into debt or going out of business.
"We'd like to see our contract, residential and transportation figures in equal proportion," Walker said. "But not at the expense of the transportation."