LONDON, United Kingdom – Romo Ltd., a 106-year-old fabric and wallcovering wholesaler with $84 million in sales, expects to significantly increase its business with the introduction of "Mark Alexander" and "Kirkby Design" brands in the UK this past fall with an expected launch in the USA, according to Felicity Mould, director of creative marketing.

The Mark Alexander brand of fabric and wallcoverings is a high-end, luxury brand for Romo under the direction of in-house designers Mark Butcher and Alex McKenzie, formerly designers for the Hodsoll McKenzie brand, now owned by Zimmer + Rohde. In concert with domestic mills, the pair says they will focus on the development of natural fabrics in cotton, linen, wool, silk and mixes. It will be a diversification from the bright coloration of the Romo brand which has the strongest and broadest color palette, to understated elegance in softer colorations. "These are classic designs with tactile qualities and understated luxury. We will not use poly or ester," McKenzie said, with a dry sense of English humor. Both report to Jonathan Mould, who is taking an active role in the design of all Romo fabrics.

The Kirkby Design line will cover the contract program for performance fabrics in all Romo ranges. These are primarily plains with a sophisticated palette in a more up-to-date design, multipurpose product line. This range has moved away from the re-upholstery market under Kirkby House to the designer market. "We have a more throw away culture," Felicity said in explaining the change here. Worldwide, reupholstery has declined in favor of replacement of upholstered furniture, she said.

In addition, Villa Nova, the mass market Romo brand in Europe, also known as Villa Romo in the USA, will continue to be offered. "We would be happy [just] to hold our own in 2009, but our export business continues to grow," Felicity said. While the UK business represents 45 percent of sales for Romo with export sales at 44 percent, the USA is at 11 percent and growing, she said. All product is shipped from the UK warehouse in Nottingham.

Diederick ten Bokkel Huinink is the recently appointed export sales manager for Romo brands. He was previously the Belgian agent for Romo, a position his wife will take over. Romo sees more potential in the Middle Eastern, Asian and Russian markets. The company also won the highly-coveted "Queens Award for Export" last year, according to Felicity.

Wallpaper, which is seeing a renaissance worldwide at the expense of painted walls, now represents 15 percent of total Romo sales and is growing at a faster rate than fabrics for all Romo brands. In fact, wallpaper sales have doubled in the last two years for Romo, Felicity said. Romo is also the distributor for Arté wallcoverings of Belgium in the USA and has been since 2005, when Romo opened its US division.

To help further penetrate the fabric and wallcovering market, Romo has also opened a new showroom in the D&D Building in New York City on the seventh floor and DCOTA in Boca Raton, Florida is scheduled this spring. Romo utilizes agent showrooms in 50 countries worldwide.

"We haven't generated this much activity since we revamped Romo and developed its own design studio 20 years ago when my father Jonathan took control of the business," Felicity explained. (Jonathan Mould, the hands-on CEO of the fifth generation family owned company was sailing in the Caribbean during our interview. Jonathan's other daughter Emily Mould is the design director, currently on maternity leave.) Felicity has been a part of the business for the past three years since Romo opened its design studio in Chelsea Wharf, a stone's throw from Romo's showroom in the Chelsea Harbor Design Center here. Jordan, Felicity's brother has graduated university and is traveling for a year but he is expected to join the family business at the journey's end. Lindsay Mould, Jonathan's niece, is the UK sales manager for Romo.