U.S. drives Texteis Penedo export growth

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Texteis Penedo

Guimaraes, Portugal

Ceo: Xavier Leite

Ceo, overseas north american mkt.: Christina Moreira

Principal businesses: bedspreads, bed linens, kitchen textiles

A manufacturer of top-of-the-bed, tablecloths, bed linens, upholstery and other categories, Texteis Penedo began exporting to the United States 10 years ago. Though it expanded its plant in Portugal by 50 percent in the last 18 months, said Cristina Moreira, "the space is still not enough to face the growth the company has experienced in the last 10 years."

Exporting to the United States now accounts for about half of Texteis Penedo's export capacity, estimated at $9 million a year, Moreira said. Besides the factory, the company also has offices in Italy (Penedo Italia), France (Importissimo with the Isadora trademark) and a showroom in New York.

Constructed of 100 percent cotton or a cotton blend, product categories center on bedspreads, tablecloths, bed linens, kitchen textiles, upholstery, tapestry and rugs for the middle to upper end of the market, she said.

Fabric blends include cotton/silk, cotton/linen and cotton/polyester in bedspreads, cotton/linen, cotton/ viscose and cotton/polyester in tablecloths; and Egyptian and Pima single and twisted yarns, Egyptian carded yarns, cotton/amicor, cotton/tencel, cotton/tencel/wool, cotton/tencel/ linen, cotton/silk in bed linens. Recently, it has been receiving more requests for higher-end matelasse, bed linen and table linens, Moreira said, and tapestry has also become very important to the North American market. The company works directly with retailers or wholesalers in the U.S. market.