BRUSSELS, Belgium - Microfibres one-million-square-foot plant near Foshan, China is an infusion of American technology with the best of China, including lower labor costs, according to Michael Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, upholstery division. However, Czarnecki pointed out that Nanfang was never the lowest cost producer of fabric in China and that is not the goal of Microfibres, which is already producing better quality goods.

At one time, Microfibres had sales of 300 million, but not today. ''That would be a bit overstated with the market today,'' Czarnecki said. Microfibres is an 83 year-old, privately-held company by the McCulloch family in Pawtucket, R.I., which does not disclose financial figures. It is the largest producer of flock velvet in the world. ''The Chinese operation has started to produce other types of fabrics for domestic consumption in China and for export to the States,'' he said. This is a big departure for Microfibres which has always been a flock velvet operation with plants in Pawtucket, Winston-Salem and Laarne, Belgium.BRUSSELS, BelgiumMicrofibres one-million-square-foot plant near Foshan, China is an infusion of American technology with the best of China, including lower labor costs, according to Michael Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, upholstery division. However, Czarnecki pointed out that Nanfang was never the lowest cost producer of fabric in China and that is not the goal of Microfibres, which is already producing better quality goods.

At one time, Microfibres had sales of 300 million, but not today. ''That would be a bit overstated with the market today,'' Czarnecki said. Microfibres is an 83 year-old, privately-held company by the McCulloch family in Pawtucket, R.I., which does not disclose financial figures. It is the largest producer of flock velvet in the world. ''The Chinese operation has started to produce other types of fabrics for domestic consumption in China and for export to the States,'' he said. This is a big departure for Microfibres which has always been a flock velvet operation with plants in Pawtucket, Winston-Salem and Laarne, Belgium.

''Once Microfibres decided to put a plant in China, we were able to work with the Chinese government to take over what was a printing and dyeing plant known as Nanfang Dyeing and Printing Company, tear it down and rebuild it as Microfibres,'' Czarnecki said. That meant taking over the responsibility for employment and housing over 2,500 workers, including the construction of worker dormitories. ''The Chinese Government encouraged us to step forward and make an offer for the Nanfang facility which they couldnt refuse. We consolidated what were three plants into one and kept most of the workers employed,'' Czarnecki stated.

The Foshan plant has the capability to produce wide width and narrow width fabrics utilizing printing, dyeing and fabric preparation. It has also expanded the Microfibres line to include printed cotton and cotton blends, as well as polyester and poly/linen blends for sale to the USA and to China for use in apparel and bedding. ''In China, we sell our own line of finished adult bedding, including juvenile bedding through local agents. We sell our lines of Chinese-made upholstery through distributors in Europe and the USA.''

Currently, Microfibres offers top-of-the-line wet-printed and flocked linen, cottons and jacquards (featuring pigmented metallic highlights) at a price of $7.95 per yard in the American and Chinese markets. ''China to China is a big deal for Microfibres,'' Czarnecki said.

The first printed fabric collections in the non-flock items are selling for $3.50 per yard FOB USA and a step up is available for $4.95 per yard on heavier cotton hopsack cloth. ''We offer quilted and embroidered items for both the upholstery and bedding markets,'' Czarnecki said. A 16 color hopsack cloth line is available in piece dyed solids and there is a cotton/poly rayon blend at $4.95 per yard. The minimum order required is one roll.

The Microfibres plant in China follows a four year effort to bring export of container loads of Microfibres product from the USA to China every five weeks. ''China is such a big market that we decided to really service it on a local basis,'' Czarnecki said. Resource International, in the Shenzhen area, is the Microfibres exclusive distributor for American made product sold in China. Future plans call for a new flock line that will be installed within 12 months in the China plant. ''We will also bring new base cloth qualities from our China based plant into the USA market where we will flock them in the American Microfibres plants in Winston-Salem and Pawtucket,'' he said. ''These U.S. plants will continue to churn out flock for the U.S. and international markets,'' he said. ''There is still some growth left for flock in the States and the Chinese flock output will give this product a second wind. We are extending the lifecycle of flock velvet with what we are doing in China today, no question.'' Czarnecki said. ''All of the Microfibres nylon velvet designs are copyrighted and, sooner rather than later, there will be a test case in China to protect Microfibres copyrights from counterfeiters in China,'' he said. ''Working with our distributor in Eastern Europe, we have made progress protecting our design copyrights in Poland and Lithuaniamore than we thought we would. Thats why we have high hopes for copyright protection in China.'' The styling effort for the Chinese market is headed by Tom Himes who rejoined Microfibres about one year ago.

''Once Microfibres decided to put a plant in China, we were able to work with the Chinese government to take over what was a printing and dyeing plant known as Nanfang Dyeing and Printing Company, tear it down and rebuild it as Microfibres,'' Czarnecki said. That meant taking over the responsibility for employment and housing over 2,500 workers, including the construction of worker dormitories. ''The Chinese Government encouraged us to step forward and make an offer for the Nanfang facility which they couldnt refuse. We consolidated what were three plants into one and kept most of the workers employed,'' Czarnecki stated.

The Foshan plant has the capability to produce wide width and narrow width fabrics utilizing printing, dyeing and fabric preparation. It has also expanded the Microfibres line to include printed cotton and cotton blends, as well as polyester and poly/linen blends for sale to the USA and to China for use in apparel and bedding. ''In China, we sell our own line of finished adult bedding, including juvenile bedding through local agents. We sell our lines of Chinese-made upholstery through distributors in Europe and the USA.''

Currently, Microfibres offers top-of-the-line wet-printed and flocked linen, cottons and jacquards (featuring pigmented metallic highlights) at a price of $7.95 per yard in the American and Chinese markets. ''China to China is a big deal for Microfibres,'' Czarnecki said.

The first printed fabric collections in the non-flock items are selling for $3.50 per yard FOB USA and a step up is available for $4.95 per yard on heavier cotton hopsack cloth. ''We offer quilted and embroidered items for both the upholstery and bedding markets,'' Czarnecki said. A 16 color hopsack cloth line is available in piece dyed solids and there is a cotton/poly rayon blend at $4.95 per yard. The minimum order required is one roll.

The Microfibres plant in China follows a four year effort to bring export of container loads of Microfibres product from the USA to China every five weeks. ''China is such a big market that we decided to really service it on a local basis,'' Czarnecki said. Resource International, in the Shenzhen area, is the Microfibres exclusive distributor for American made product sold in China.

Future plans call for a new flock line that will be installed within 12 months in the China plant. ''We will also bring new base cloth qualities from our China based plant into the USA market where we will flock them in the American Microfibres plants in Winston-Salem and Pawtucket,'' he said. ''These U.S. plants will continue to churn out flock for the U.S. and international markets,'' he said. ''There is still some growth left for flock in the States and the Chinese flock output will give this product a second wind. We are extending the lifecycle of flock velvet with what we are doing in China today, no question.'' Czarnecki said. ''All of the Microfibres nylon velvet designs are copyrighted and, sooner rather than later, there will be a test case in China to protect Microfibres copyrights from counterfeiters in China,'' he said. ''Working with our distributor in Eastern Europe, we have made progress protecting our design copyrights in Poland and Lithuaniamore than we thought we would. Thats why we have high hopes for copyright protection in China.''

The styling effort for the Chinese market is headed by Tom Himes who rejoined Microfibres about one year ago.