Wearbest Unveils Outdoor Polypropylene Bella Dura™
December 29, 2004
GARFIELD, New Jersey — Wearbest Sil-Tex Mills has developed Bella Dura, a 100 percent solution dyed indoor/outdoor polypropylene fabric with a three-year wear warrantee for residential applications and two-years for contract use from American Fibers & Yarns Company based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
American Fibers & Yarns Company is a supplier of synthetic filament yarn to the home furnishings, contract and hospitality markets. AF&Y began life as Phillips Fibers Corporation, a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Company. In 1993, Amoco Fabrics and Fibers Corporation, a subsidiary of Amoco Oil Corporation, purchased Phillips Fibers Corporation. In 1999, Amoco sold the fibers division to a private equity firm, Monitor Clipper Partners of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Wearbest has a five-year exclusive on the product from AF&Y, which developed the polypropylene yarn program jointly with Gasner and his design team. Bella Dura, a new niche for Wearbest, also claims to exceed 1500 hours on the light fastness test depending on the color and is reported to exceed 75,000 double rubs. It is also said to be drapeable, stain resistant and water repellant. "A cordage process created the cottony hand for this product; it will not crock or pill and Wearbest spent well into six figures to develop the new fabrics," according to Irwin Gasner, principal of the 25 year old mill started by his father. All of the designs will be developed in concert with his jobber clients and will be decidedly American in style.
"If my father were alive today, he'd be very proud of what we have done," Gasner stated with pride. He said his employees cried when they received their end of year bonuses in 2004. "We're very bullish on the future of our business. China has a place in the business but we're using Asia for things we don't produce in the States. We expect to double our business with Bella Dura," Gasner maintained.
Wearbest, he says, is now running six days a week, 24 hours a day in one of the most expensive labor markets in the world—Bergen County, New Jersey, just 30 minutes from Manhattan.
"We have invested heavily in our business with a new Nedgraphics CAD system, software upgrades and a central computer. We no longer use a disc at the loom site. We've increased our capacity and added a new warping machine. We've also invested heavily in human resources. We have design teams with a junior and senior designer and a CAD operator on each team, focused on the niche markets we cater to in the mid to upper range price points. We're no longer a high-end mill. We make product for every price point in the $7-$15 area, our core business with healthy placement after one year in this category."
"We're able to produce 300-500 yards per color of any fabric in our line. We're continuing to expand our product range to our customer base and our business is growing. Wearbest also works with two silk mills in China to produce all silk and silk/ mercerized cotton blends but this is less than 10 percent of our business today. We are utilizing the world as our oyster," he said.
U.S. jobbers have previewed the collection and have placed full book programs for Bella Dura of at least 100 SKUs," Gasner added. The yarn dyed fabric is available in 45 colors and Wearbest is developing special designs for its jobber and furniture manufacturer clients, said Gasner. Eleven color families are available: violet, tortilla, shrimp, nectarine, chinchilla, Shiraz, summer blue, ocean green blues, chicory, yellow greens, and sunburst as well as 13 solid warp colors and a dozen warp colors end to end. Pricing is in the $10.95-$15.95 FOB range and is available with six week delivery, he said. "Outdoor fabric is a hot niche and we wanted to make sure we had the best fabric available on the market," the 50 year old executive said. "We didn't want to be a me-too mill. There are several other indoor/outdoor fabrics on the market and we wanted to be special." Bella Dura is geared to residential, contract and hospitality markets, he said.
In order to develop Bella Dura, Gasner hired an outside consultant, both an engineer and a designer to develop the specifications to meet the needs of residential, hospitality and outdoor markets—all in one fabric. Currently, Wearbest is doing a one-shot hospitality project in Taiwan for a jobber client. "We only sell jobbers. They are good to us and we are good to them. We are loyal to the people who helped us grow our business," Gasner said.
He is now putting the product into jobber books in the U.S. and will present the collection internationally for the first time at Decosit 2005. "We don't just sell jobbers we also sell many furniture manufacturers, and they are a very important component of our business," said Gasner.
American Fibers & Yarns Company is a supplier of synthetic filament yarn to the home furnishings, contract and hospitality markets. AF&Y began life as Phillips Fibers Corporation, a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Company. In 1993, Amoco Fabrics and Fibers Corporation, a subsidiary of Amoco Oil Corporation, purchased Phillips Fibers Corporation. In 1999, Amoco sold the fibers division to a private equity firm, Monitor Clipper Partners of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Wearbest has a five-year exclusive on the product from AF&Y, which developed the polypropylene yarn program jointly with Gasner and his design team. Bella Dura, a new niche for Wearbest, also claims to exceed 1500 hours on the light fastness test depending on the color and is reported to exceed 75,000 double rubs. It is also said to be drapeable, stain resistant and water repellant. "A cordage process created the cottony hand for this product; it will not crock or pill and Wearbest spent well into six figures to develop the new fabrics," according to Irwin Gasner, principal of the 25 year old mill started by his father. All of the designs will be developed in concert with his jobber clients and will be decidedly American in style.
"If my father were alive today, he'd be very proud of what we have done," Gasner stated with pride. He said his employees cried when they received their end of year bonuses in 2004. "We're very bullish on the future of our business. China has a place in the business but we're using Asia for things we don't produce in the States. We expect to double our business with Bella Dura," Gasner maintained.
Wearbest, he says, is now running six days a week, 24 hours a day in one of the most expensive labor markets in the world—Bergen County, New Jersey, just 30 minutes from Manhattan.
"We have invested heavily in our business with a new Nedgraphics CAD system, software upgrades and a central computer. We no longer use a disc at the loom site. We've increased our capacity and added a new warping machine. We've also invested heavily in human resources. We have design teams with a junior and senior designer and a CAD operator on each team, focused on the niche markets we cater to in the mid to upper range price points. We're no longer a high-end mill. We make product for every price point in the $7-$15 area, our core business with healthy placement after one year in this category."
"We're able to produce 300-500 yards per color of any fabric in our line. We're continuing to expand our product range to our customer base and our business is growing. Wearbest also works with two silk mills in China to produce all silk and silk/ mercerized cotton blends but this is less than 10 percent of our business today. We are utilizing the world as our oyster," he said.
U.S. jobbers have previewed the collection and have placed full book programs for Bella Dura of at least 100 SKUs," Gasner added. The yarn dyed fabric is available in 45 colors and Wearbest is developing special designs for its jobber and furniture manufacturer clients, said Gasner. Eleven color families are available: violet, tortilla, shrimp, nectarine, chinchilla, Shiraz, summer blue, ocean green blues, chicory, yellow greens, and sunburst as well as 13 solid warp colors and a dozen warp colors end to end. Pricing is in the $10.95-$15.95 FOB range and is available with six week delivery, he said. "Outdoor fabric is a hot niche and we wanted to make sure we had the best fabric available on the market," the 50 year old executive said. "We didn't want to be a me-too mill. There are several other indoor/outdoor fabrics on the market and we wanted to be special." Bella Dura is geared to residential, contract and hospitality markets, he said.
In order to develop Bella Dura, Gasner hired an outside consultant, both an engineer and a designer to develop the specifications to meet the needs of residential, hospitality and outdoor markets—all in one fabric. Currently, Wearbest is doing a one-shot hospitality project in Taiwan for a jobber client. "We only sell jobbers. They are good to us and we are good to them. We are loyal to the people who helped us grow our business," Gasner said.
He is now putting the product into jobber books in the U.S. and will present the collection internationally for the first time at Decosit 2005. "We don't just sell jobbers we also sell many furniture manufacturers, and they are a very important component of our business," said Gasner.
