Debuts new line from China
HIGH POINTÂ — Blumenthal Printworks reaped the rewards
of a revamped business model that came together like a perfect, albeit benign, storm at Winter Showtime 2013.
The company debuted its first line of fabrics from China, about 60 SKUs, and offered better prices on domestic goods thanks to more efficient manufacturing.
“We’ve reinvented Blumenthal in response to how the market is changing,” said President Harry Blumenthal. “We’ve been able to take maximum advantage of our technical capabilities, including air-jet looms, to produce great values, and every appointment we had at the show was very positive.
“There’s an advantage to being a mill with domestic production to back up the sourced goods, because we can offer so much more flexibility to our customers,” he continued. “It’s a unique situation in a difficult time to see everything — design, manufacturing and merchandising — all coming together in just the right way.”
Blumenthal’s strategic plan was sidelined briefly last year by Hurricane Katrina, which forced its New Orleans-based operations to relocate temporarily to its mill in South Carolina.
Don Frail, who came on board as a merchandising and color consultant for upholstery fabrics last year, worked with Camilla Franklin, vice president of design and product development, to help refocus the line for upholstery manufacturers.
“The timing is good for this,” Frail said, “because manufacturers are anxious to balance their supplier base.
They’ve learned it’s not good to depend entirely on one kind of source, and we want to fill that domestic boutique mill niche. Value, quality, price, service, service, service and delivery, delivery, delivery are the keys to survival for domestic mills.”
“Don and Camilla have worked to fill in every gap in our product mix,” Blumenthal said, “and now we have great values at a variety of price points that will work for both Tupelo and Hickory.”
The company showed in a new space in the Suites at Market Square, and the showroom was used by the market’s organizers as an example for other exhibitors of how a temporary space can look as substantial as a permanent one.
