WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — As the demand for velvet increases at the expense of leather and chenille fabrics in the furniture industry, Microfibres and Spectro in Leominster, MA., two of the last surviving flock producers in the U.S. are benefiting through more sales of its premium nylon flock lines.

“There is a shortage of velvet worldwide,” said Tom Himes, vice president, business development for Microfibres. Flock lends itself to creating a velvet that is fashionable and durable in a variety of deniers from micro (less than one denier) to 1.8 denier. “The future of our business lies in innovation. Right now, we are flocking cotton, cotton/linen  and viscose in natural and patterned goods with jacquard velvet looks on natural grounds for $8-$9.00,” he said. “Flocking is still the most efficient way to make a pile fabric,” Himes said. He pointed out that faux suede is not growing as a category the way it used to but velvet iss taking up the charge.

Microfibres is selling Infinesse®, a double flock for the contract market that turns in 100,000 double rubs on the Weisenbeek Test, Himes said. This is achieved through flocking and printing on a fancy substrate, priced at $6.50-$8.50 a yard. This follows up ‘Lux’, a $9.50 a yard fabric double flocked on a dyed heavyweight substrate. It is flocked, piece dyed and embossed, Himes explained.

Microfibres still sells tons of flock in the $3.50-$5.00 range to motion and stationary furniture manufacturers but it has been successful in trading up the category to higher price-points. The company also imports cotton, cotton/linen blends into the U.S. through its Nanfang dyeing and printing facility in Foshan City, China. Microfibres prints in Winston-Salem, fiber dyes in Pawtucket, RI and in its European plant in Laarne, Belgium. Microfibres exports U.S. production to Europe and China and exports European production to China.

Spectro Coating Corp. is having a similar experience to Microfibres with its line of Primo 500 double flocked goods in the hospitality industry in 45 fiber dyed colors at $7.95. Spectro has had sales of this product to Europe under the name Primera. Spectro is also introducing Alpine, a $6.50 nylon single flock velvet with a simply Nano finish. Unlike Microfibres, however, Spectro is limited to fiber dyeing with a lack of wet printing facilities at its disposal.  

“There is no domestic producer of velvet left in America,” said Hemendra Shah, principal of Spectro. J.B. Martin produces velvet in Mexico, he pointed out.Hemendra and Raj Shah

Spectro has been diversifying into non home furnishings areas in the past few years, making it a stronger player as other flockers like Intermark and Terpel have folded. “We’re only 20 percent in home furnishings today. We sell flock fibers through our Claremont division and fabrics to other manufacturers and different industries including automotive and military markets,” Hemendra said. He works with his son Raj in Leominster, MA.

Spectro has cobbled together a unique sales team which now includes Susan Brehm, export manager and formerly with Intermark; Wayne Turcot, sales manager for Spectro and Johnny Keeton handles sales to the hospitality industry through converters and jobbers.           F&FI