FALL RIVER, Massachusetts — Duro Industries, a wet print and pigment textile printer, has thrown its hat into the upholstery ring with a  line of imported Chinese made fabrics with proprietary designs to be shown at Showtime.

Jack Nunnally, veteran fabric marketer, is director of sales/operations for Duro Decorative Fabrics. The line of 54 inch woven jacquards includes silk blends and some chenille priced in the $7.95-$14.95 range landed duty paid Fall River. Minimums are only 50 yards

Duro Industries is a division of Patriarch Partners, a $5.6 billion conglomerate which now includes Croscill Mfg. Nunnally is backed up by Joe Gatta; senior vice president, operations at Duro Industries and Xu Cai, director of Chinese operations. Edward Ricci is the president of Duro. Xu Cai, Joe Gatta, Jack Nunnally

“We entered the home furnishings business four years ago,” Nunnally explained, “in the low to middle price range.” Since then, Duro has traded up its line. Nunnally has been a consultant to Duro but he  joined the operation fulltime one year ago and is trying to diversify sales of the Duro line to include jobbers, distributors and retail accounts. “The line is woven in Hangzhou but the designs are ours alone,” he said. “In the last six months, we have had some success with furniture manufacturers and several jobbers as customers,” he said. Duro also produces a line of fabrics for Neiman Marcus. It also counts customers in the military and apparel fabric markets.   F&FI