Bardwil taps into long history of importing
Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Bardwil Linens
New York
Owner/ceo: George Bardwil
Assistant dir. of mktg: Linda Tan
Principal businesses: table linens, kitchen textiles
It's been since "day one" that the century-old Bardwil Linens, a table linen and kitchen textile distributor owned and operated by three generations of Bardwils, has been importing from overseas.
"We've been importing from the beginning," said Linda Tan, assistant director of marketing.
Assisted by several agents with which it partners, Bardwil imports an assortment of product — including plaids, jacquards, damasks, terries and dobbies — from various nations, including India, China, Taiwan, Spain and throughout the former Soviet Union.
For Bardwil, importing poses greater advantages and conveniences than manufacturing domestically.
"The advantages include cheap labor and cheaper prices to accommodate customers' price points," Tan said.
As Tan explained, Bardwil has increased its importing side of the business at the behest of retailers' demands for very low-cost product and tough competition.
"Some of them are going direct, which means skipping us — the middleman," Tan said.
Bardwil does some domestic manufacturing but has recently cut back to accommodate more importing, noted Tan.
Domestically, Bardwil produces with the help of ME-based manufacturing partner Dirigo as well as from its own company-owned Jersey City, NJ-based facility.
But Bardwil recently leased out half of the latter, which Tan described as a very large facility, as part of the company's effort to reduce its domestic production side considerably to accommodate more importing activity.
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