At this week’s Interwoven textile fair in High Point, the talk seemed to focus on two major “T” words: tariffs and texture. While the latter gave marketgoers a healthy dose of tactile style, the former had some expressing fears, others capitalizing on opportunity, and the show itself seeming a bit slower than usual.
“People aren’t even making appointments for Interwoven if your products are Chinese-made,” said K.J. Morgan, North Carolina sales rep, Thibaut. “I was at Sherrill yesterday, and they said that they’re not looking at any fabrics from China at all.”
Morgan said that most of Thibaut’s indoor/outdoor performance fabrics are made in Italy and Belgium, giving them the advantage of lower tariffs (goods from the European Union are currently subject to a 10% duty). This market, they introduced a number of new outdoor fabrics in a rainbow of poppy colors and punchy patterns.
While Thibaut had plenty for interior designers at Interwoven, some of that all-important buyer demographic bemoaned their experience with other companies at the show. Two designers who wanted to remain anonymous complained of fabric makers not having or being unwilling to share pricing, likely because of the volatility of the tariff situation.
“When I would ask some of them about prices, they would look down, like they didn’t want to talk about it,” one said.
Para Tempotest also produces its fabrics in Italy, and Tempotest Home Inside supervisor Daniel Byrd said the company has taken a “wait and see” approach to the tariff situation, with the 90-day reprieve on European duties set to expire in July.
Byrd said Tempotest has seen an uptick in interest from companies looking for alternatives to textiles from China, but they felt the show was a bit softer overall. That said, they had plenty for showroom visitors to see, with a new book of fabrics in on-trend colors boasting plenty of soft texture.
“We’ve had a lot of texture requests, and more subtle earth tones such as terra cottas and greens,” Byrd said.
Z-Wovens’ Sunbelievable introductions also brought the texture, with plush boucles and even light fringe.
“Retailers have been asking for more textured accents,” said Bea Spires, vice president of design, Z-Wovens and Sunbelievable. “They’ll pair it with some of the cleaner plains.”
Z-Wovens’ Vice President of Sales and General Manager Chip Finneran said the company saw brisk business at Interwoven, including some looking to take advantage of lower tariff impacts due to the textile maker’s Vietnam factories.
“We’ve had a full showroom and extra people walking in,” he said. “It has been good.”
Z-Wovens’ neighbor, STI, enjoyed similar traffic during Interwoven, with plenty of interest in its domestically made Revolution performance fabrics. Anderson Gibbons, vice president of marketing for Revolution, said they’ve seen increased demand for their tariff-free textiles, particularly for the outdoors.
“We continue to take market share in outdoor,” he said. “Prior to the pandemic we were less than 5% outdoor — today we’re about 25%. That’s being driven by traditional retail customers.”
Texture has been a big component of Revolution’s products, and Gibbons said that aspect coupled with competitive prices has really fueled the business.
“Where we fit in for performance fabric is with texture and value,” he said. “And with the current increases in the global supply chain, the A-grade of outdoor fabric has disappeared. We’ve really created a foothold being that A-grade.”
Revolution will debut two new collections at Casual Market Atlanta in July, and in the meantime, the company has enjoyed a busy Interwoven.
“It’s been phenomenal,” said Sean Gibbons, CEO of Revolution, STI and Brentwood Textiles. “We’ve had walk-ins who didn’t have appointments, and companies from different industries that we would never see.”
Other domestic fabric makers enjoyed similarly busy markets. Valdese Weavers saw plenty of traffic for its Inside Out performance line, which featured a patio-perfect palette of light pinks, blues and greens, as well as plenty of texture.
“We introduced our new performance boucle, which brings a high-design approach with a refined texture and sophisticated palette,” said Jill Harrell, director of marketing and brand communications, Valdese Weavers.
Texture was the big story at Sunbrella, too, with the use of novelty yarns creating dimension both in look and hand.
“We’re talking about layering different types of textures, very much inspired by natural elements, and everybody wants their environment to be cozy and tactile,” said Amy Gillam, design manager, Sunbrella.
Patterns also played a big role in the intros from Sunbrella throughout its in-house line, as well as new designer collaboration collections with Block Shop and Max Humphrey. Humphrey’s line features a lodge-inspired aesthetic with masculine plaids, checks and forest motifs, while Block Shop’s Hollyhock collection draws inspiration from the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright home of the same name. The line offers a feast for the eyes with bold geometrics, unexpected floral motifs and even stained glass flourishes.
“This line has us thinking about surfaces and textile design in a different way than we have thought about them in the past,” Gillam says of the partnership with sisters Lily and Hopie Stockman, the founders and creative force behind Los Angeles-based Block Shop.
While Sunbrella has facilities in China, most of its fabric production is based in the U.S., which has put them in a good position to react to the tariff situation. And as the industry faces continued uncertainty with tariff reprieves and a seemingly ever-changing import policy, Suzie Roberts, vice president and general manager of the furnishings business unit at Sunbrella parent company Glen Raven, said the company plans to take the lessons it learned during the pandemic to weather this storm, too.
“You learn to roll with what happens,” she said. “And so that’s what we tell people now — just cut through the noise. Let’s keep doing what we’re doing and focus on what we need to do to. There’s a lot of stuff happening, and we try to partner as much as we can with our customers because that’s how we will help each other to get through this.”
