CASABLANCA, Morocco — PIF SRL Textile Emotions has built its jacquard weaving business in excess of $25 million annually by staying focused on innovative design to meet the upholstery needs of global editors with maximum creativity, according to Samir and Nabil Tazi, brothers and principals of the high-end editeur.

The company grew its business in 2009 and expects a gain of six to seven percent in 2010 from the pickup in business during the first quarter of this year. The line is priced in the 12 Euro to 25 Euro range with some products as high as 50 to 70 Euro per meter. When it started its export business in 1998, PIF moved to high-end fabrics after noticing that local competition had focused on the middle market for production.

When Swarovski approached Samir with the idea of producing crystal laden fabrics, he became immediately interested and even developed a large machine to apply the crystals using the precise amount of heat and pressure. As the new exclusive Swarovski distributor in Morocco, PIF has become a seven-figure niche business specializing in the sale of crystal to craft jewelers and other crystal users. PIF also introduced several new successful lines through important European editeurs with the crystals.

Morocco’s flourishing economy grew six percent last year and afforded PIF with the opportunity to supply a newly built 700-room hotel in northern Morocco, as well as a recently completed boutique hotel, Namaskar, near the Mandarin Oriental. Its rapidly growing tourism industry, which is projected to reach 20 million people by 2020, will be highlighted by more chain hotels in the years ahead.

With 32 million people in Morocco, PIF’s growing domestic business as the market’s main supplier is ahead of Maveltex at $15 million in sales and Atretis at $10 million. However, PIF’s upholstery focus is on the export business, which includes 20 percent of its production in contract and the balance in residential. It also has a sizeable business in supplying traditional Muslim garments, giving PIF a special feel in developing the finer denier fabrics for home furnishings, according to Samir.

The spotless 20,000-squaremeter mill is in Berrechid, which is located about one hour away from Casablanca’s airport, and has a marketing showroom in Casablanca. The original company was founded in 1975 by Samir and Nabil’s grandfather who traded garments and specialized in “soievie” high-end, thin and fine yarns. The brothers received their education in Montreal, home to a growing French-speaking Moroccan population. Samir earned an MBA in economics and Nabil received a Masters in physics in the 1990’s, and then they joined the mill upon returning to Morocco. The first upholstery lines were made in 1979 as an addition to their garment making business. Samir pointed out that PIF was able to test its ideas on the local market before it began exporting 60 percent of its production. PIF makes 20,000 samples every four months for its customers and plows back about eight percent of its revenues in research and development. “If you don’t take care of your customers, somebody else will,” Samir said. As a testament to its depth in design, PIF has a total of 70 warps in Trevira and 80 warps in acetate, allowing quick changes in its production when needed. It guarantees to keep stock of its new designs for five years to each editeur it sells. “We want to be very close to our customers during these times,” said Samir. “Success is based on creativity and innovation.”

While other mills have diversified their businesses by increasing sales to furniture manufacturers, establishing retail stores in local markets or dabbling in real estate investments, PIF has remained true to its original vision as a supplier to important editeurs in every market. With 180 employees running three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, PIF has invested heavily in its business with 120 looms, both narrow width, and wide width for drapery, which accounts for 16 percent of its business. PIF chooses to buy yarns from outside suppliers but finishes the fabric internally along two lines.

“We are not limited by the yarn we make because we constantly add new yarns that we find including stainless steel, copper and aluminum, linen mixtures, cotton, raffia, abaca; polyester yarns for outdoor use — even yarns made from sugar and milk (polyactic acid) and fancy novelty yarns in silk and wool,” said Nabil. “We never want to repeat ourselves when it comes to new collections.”

Nabil has 10 designers working feverishly on new products, especially on jacquards with three dimensional looks. Recently, the company produced a 100-yarnper-centimeter by 100-pick-fabric in Trevira for contract. Three times a year, PIF introduces collections that each total some 1,500 sku’s: 10 to 15 collections in 10 designs and 15 colors each, about 5,000 to 6,000 sku’s each year, according to Samir. These collections are first shown in hotels that are near the four major fairs, Heimtextil, Proposte, MoOD and Maison Objet. The company focuses on its business in the Middle East, South America, South Africa, Far East and Europe.

In addition, PIF prides itself on putting its customers and suppliers first. “They are the kings and we serve them both,” said Samir upon reflecting on PIF’s growth in recent years.