Showtime Exhibitors Expand
By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/9/2008
High Point, N.C. — Three of the largest tenants in the Market Square Textile Tower were in expanded showrooms for last week's Showtime fabric fair.
Valdese Weavers grew its space by more than 25% to 6,500 square feet. The company now has a sixth-floor showroom housing the Valdese and Valdese International Products lines and a seventh-floor space that is home to its Mancini line.
"We couldn't be more excited about our newly expanded showrooms in the Tower," said Mike Shelton, president of Valdese Weavers.
Valdese offers jacquard fabric for residential and contract furniture manufacturers and jobbers, as well as top-of-bed, recreational vehicle and multi-purpose categories.
JLA more than doubled its space to 2,800 square feet in a new showroom on the eighth floor of the Textile Tower. JLA is a converter of Chinese home textiles and all patterns are copyrighted by JLA Home Fabrics. When Costa Blanca Textiles recently decided to exit the U.S. market, JLA purchased the U.S. rights to market and distribute its Unisuede brand of sueded microfiber.
STI, based in Kings Mountain, N.C., nearly doubled its space with a move to a new 2,400-square-foot space on the sixth floor. STI produces a line of jacquard and dobby upholstery fabrics, all woven and finished in the United States.
"Our showroom in the Textile Tower has always provided us a great opportunity to show our line to a wide variety of buyers," said Sean Gibbons, ceo. "We see this expansion as a great opportunity to continue to grow our business."
"We are thrilled with the long-term commitment these key industry leaders have made to the Market Square Textile Tower," said Tom Mitchell, svp and general manager for Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. "The Textile Tower has served as the core fabric building in High Point since 1990 when it housed the first International Textile Market."
(Reported by HTT sister publication Furniture Today.)
