Swatches

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/9/2004 12:00:00 AM

Kravet movin' on up

BETHPAGE, N.Y. — Kravet Fabrics has purchased a two-floor cooperative at 22 West 21 St. in Manhattan to house a number of its divisions.

The 15,000-square-foot space will be used for the Portfolio division sales and design and Lee Jofa design, showroom design, construction and merchandising, said Cary Kravet, president.

The company presently occupies 12,000 square feet on four floors at 267 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. The new layout and space will offer much greater efficiencies, Kravet explained. The move is expected to be complete by year-end.

Craftex goes international, again

BLUE BELL, PENN. — Craftex Mills will be participating in the DecoContract Show — Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 11 to Sept. 14 — as one of the exhibitors in the U.S. Department of Commerce booths and in the hotel mockup presentation.

The company is moving back into the international sales arena after an absence of about six years. "We've pretty much ignored export but with the value of the dollar and the change in our product mix, we see an opportunity," explained Bob Blum, president.

"Craftex has always been a high-end fabric mill, but with new efficiencies and better, yet less expensive yarns, we have added lower-priced, but high-fashion fabrics that will give us more opportunities abroad as well as in this country."