Waregem, BE -- On September 1, Ragolle NV here has purchased the design archives and intellectual assets of ITM, a jacquard weaver in Kruishoutem, Belgium owned by Bernard Clarysse.

The purchase price was not disclosed. It will place Ragolle in the contract market for the first time. The company ITM was a part of the group Clarysse as was ETROTEX, another Belgian mill that was recently closed.

"As mentioned, company Ragolle bought all intellectual rights but no buildings, nor machinery nor human resources. As of today, the company ITM is still operational under the company Ragolle’s control and organization and will be step-by-step incorporated into Ragolle's structure," according to Guy Parmentier, Ragolle export manager.

"As a result of our continuous travels and market research, the integration of the ITM collection, mainly focusing on the specific “contract business“, will be a serious asset in the further development of the Ragolle strategy to enter seriously and strongly, the contract and hospitality market," he said.

"Besides this new avenue, the additional warps and yarn banks of the company ITM might become a nice supplement to our current upholstery fabric business," he said.

"As of this show MoOD 2011, we are still showing as two separate identities, but as mentioned, the company ITM will be incorporated into our professional structure and organization worldwide within the next months."

Ragolle is one of the leading weaving mills producing upholstery and home interior decoration fabrics as well as carpets/rugs. "We want to emphasize that our company Ragolle will ensure the continuity on all actual programs as well as provide the necessary support towards the existing ITM customer base," Parmentier added. "In other words, company Ragolle NV guarantees full continuation on current programs, service and delivery on all running and eventual future orders."

"With Ragolle’s technical  knowhow and organization, professional structure and long term strategy, we are committed to further develop and provide new collections within the known product range of the former ITM programs, focusing seriously towards the contract and hospitality industry worldwide."