HIGH POINT — The Showtime fabric fair here continues to carve a niche as a home for better leathers. Those interested in promotional prices need to look elsewhere.

Leather introductions were notably limited at the just-concluded event, with some leather suppliers offering as few as two new articles. However, buyers saw broadened color palettes for existing tried-and-true sellers.

Simone Lagnerini, president of Green Hides, a supplier of Italian hides, said he was happy that “all of our appointments showed up, plus some new ones. Traffic is not what it used to be. Our goal is to get one new customer at every show. Here, we saw three or four new ones, one of which is very interesting.” 

Green Hides introduced a full-grain aniline pull-up called Africa, available in four colors. “It’s not expensive, but it is on the higher side of medium,” Lagnerini said.

With the Euro still in flux, Lagnerini said it is difficult to pass along costs to customers.

“But when we work with higher-quality companies, it’s not hard to pass on 5 or 10 cents more,” he said. “We are not dealing in a battle over promotional pricing. We’d rather lose some business because of price than hurt our quality.”

Joelle Kuhlman, a partner in LSA-Wipelli, said more high-end manufacturers are trying to find their niche here. “Instead of competing at the lower end, they are separating themselves,” Kuhlman said.

Don Giles, president of Moore & Giles, a resource for better goods, said, “We are not a commodity supplier.” The eight new leathers in his collection drew a good reception, he said.

Max Lapegna, a sales representative for Italian tannery Leder, said, “Worldwide, there has been a big return to Italian leathers. The past two years was a bit of a gold rush over China. The Italians lost their minds and did not concentrate on what they did best. We reacted. But now we’re back to doing what we do.”

Comparing leather trends to the fashion industry, he said, “In the end, everyone always returns to Italy. We are more creative (than Asia) in our capability, with what we can accomplish. Even the Chinese are buying (Italian hides) for production of high-end and even low and medium grades. Our prices are better if you take into account the ratio of quality to price. If you want low prices with nice (characteristics), we offer that.”

  Steven Judd, president of Leather Trends, a New York-based global hide supplier, said, “Prices have been going up all year all over the world.” But that has been a boon to his warehouse operation in Archdale, N.C., he said, adding, “We can offer full-grain anilines at a value.”

This market, Leather Trends introduced three articles (types) of high-end leathers in seven colors each, and added six colors added to existing lines.

Friitala Branaa, meanwhile, has been renamed Zenda as the company consolidates divisions in the United States, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany and South Africa under a single, uniform brand.

“It has all been positive,” said Managing Director Juan Diego Casaretto of his Showtime experience. “We had lots of appointments and people stopping in to visit our newly remodeled showroom.” 

Zenda introduced four leathers in as many as five colors each, and added 15 colors to its existing line. “We had 25 different new products here,” Casaretto said.

Among upholstery manufacturers shopping Showtime, Bradington-Young’s Conrad Kerley, director of leather and import operations, said prices appeared to be fairly steady, with no huge increases.

“But we did not see as many (types of leather),” he said. “Suppliers are introducing two or three, not the usual five or six leathers, although they added more colors to their bestsellers.”

Lee Fautsch, vice president of sales, home furnishings, for Flexsteel, was “looking for value, whether at the low or the high end,” while John Sellers, director of sales and marketing for Euro Design, was seeking to “spiff up” his line. He also was intrigued by microdenier faux leathers from Direct Textiles, as well as Valtekz’s premium product from Germany employing a proprietary embossing process.

McKinley Leather President Jim Mitchell and Vice President Lori Sadowski shopped for high-end articles, while Tanya Skinner, president of DeNovo Group, sought color trends to incorporate into leather/fabric collage looks. 

 Gary Zuckerman, vice president of U.S. sales and marketing for Jaymar, was looking “for inspiration.”

“I come here to see more than product — also textures, details, ingenuity, things that give us an opportunity to show our custom capability,” he said, “and I found some things. I’m not interested in saving 5 cents. I want to share energy and give customers a reason to be excited.”