Winston-Salem, N.C.-- U.S.-based upholstery fabric source Microfibres has opened a factory in China to serve Chinese and Asian markets.

The company also is producing a new line there for import to the United States, a move that will help the company enter a lower starting price point.

Privately-owned Microfibres, long known for its cut nylon flocks, spent $50 million to purchase a building in Foshan, in Guangdong province. But the city wanted the property for a housing development and agreed to build Microfibres a new 1 million-square-foot factory on the edge of town in exchange for the company's downtown holdings.

Microfibres invested $10 million to equip the new facility and plans to double that investment over the next 12 months, according to Michael Czarnecki, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the company's upholstery fabrics division.

It is the fourth plant for the 83-year-old company, which also has facilities here, in Pawtucket, R.I., and Laarne, Belgium.

The company has been exporting to Europe for decades and 11 years ago made a major investment in the Belgium plant.

"All of our growth for the past four years has been in export," said Czarnecki. "We see Southeast Asia as a big market for us," he said, noting that the company has been exporting to China for four years. "It's a huge market, and to be successful you have to have a plant in China."

The Foshan plant, which employs some 3,200 workers, "is not there to close down the U.S. but to allow us to go after the low price point," said Czarnecki.

The company recently hired Tom Hines, formerly of Glabman-Hines, which was a sales agent for Microfibres, as vice president of new business development. His responsibilities include development of a new line of upholstery fabric for the U.S. market made in Foshan.

That line debuted this month at the Showtime fabric show in High Point. It includes 140 SKUs at $3.50 to $13.95 a yard, FOB Winston-Salem, with the most popular SKUs at $3.50 to $4.95. The top of the line includes embroidery.

Czarnecki said the line, which includes dyed cotton rayons and printed cotton lines, is run off one color palette for efficiency. The company also plans to put in flocking at the new facility.

The new import line will be stocked in the company's 480,000-square-foot facility here for quick delivery. Customer service and other operations will be the same as if the product were made in the United States, according to Czarnecki.

<<Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved. -- 06/26/2009>>