LONDON, United Kingdom – Textile designer Aleta Bartel-Orton has now made her work available on Hemp, for upholstery use.

Her designs are also now offered on a heavyweight linen for curtains.

Bartel-Orton has chosen a Hemp that carries a drape that is more elegant than "normal upholstery fabric," and is more "silk-like" to the touch. The range of Hemp she has selected is ideal for use on sofa and dining upholstery as well as wallcovering.

BANGALORE, India — High-end silk producer JK Fabrics PVT Ltd. will debut jacquards, satins, dobbies and embroideries with their first major decorative home textiles push during Heimtextil, January 10-13.

JK Fabrics has been exporting apparel fabrics for 30 years. According to the company, their customers abroad demanded flawless furnishing silks for some time—and they've decided to answer the call.

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Florida — Uffner Textile Corp., a four-year-old transfer print converter is launching its first line of woven upholstery with a 250 SKU collection of U.S. made goods this fall.

"We want to emphasize 'U.S. made' in this upholstery line," said Judith Uffner, a founder of the firm with her son Stewart, president, and husband Jerome who acts as the converter. Jerome has over 60 years in the textile business. "We don't have to wait for a ship to come across the ocean with the goods," she said.

HIGH POINT, North Carolina — Four partners with expectations of a $50 million business in five years, have formed a new company under the name of Tahoe LLC which incorporates equipment and designs from Elizabeth Weaving Mills and Elite Textiles.

The plant will house 45 dobby and jacquard looms including wide width and finishing equipment to in order quickly produce one piece minimums, Peter A. den Boer, president of National Contract Associates (NCA) confirmed.

GREENSBORO, North Carolina — Glen Raven Mills has broken ground on a new weaving and finishing mill in Suzhou China that should be on line producing Glenn Tuft® outdoor fabric by spring, 2006.

KINGS MOUNTAIN, North Carolina — As of June 1, STI, one of the few remaining North American upholstery mills, has signed a design consultancy agreement with Glen Read Designs of Beverly Hills, California and LKP Design Associates of Hickory, North Carolina, to design, color, and merchandise new upscale fabric designs that will be produced by STI.

LOS ANGELES, California — Libas Limited, a U.S. based silk importer has launched a line of trim to go with their pre-existing collection of Indian silks. The debut marks the company's first venture in the trimming business.

"It gives our customer more to choose from and the ability to color coordinate," said Joyce Harmon, Libas national sales manager, cut yardage.

Libas has decided to answer the demands of their customers, according to Harmon. "Our cut yardage designers want an all inclusive collection, including trim to match our silk," she said.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Several American upholstery mills are scrambling to find new sources of acrylic fiber to replace the loss of Solutia's Acrilan® brand.

Solutia Inc. expects to exit the acrylic fibers business, pending approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Lonfil of Italy and other suppliers based in Italy and Turkey are expected to make up the gap in the American supply. In some cases, mills need 250 colors of yarn to produce their running upholstery lines when a supplier can only produce 50 different colors.

GARFIELD, New Jersey — Wearbest Sil-Tex Mills has developed Bella Dura, a 100 percent solution dyed indoor/outdoor polypropylene fabric with a three-year wear warrantee for residential applications and two-years for contract use from American Fibers & Yarns Company based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan – Crypton will introduce its latest addition to their super fabrics line in 2005 at the winter edition of Showtime in High Point, North Carolina from January 9 to 13.

Best Friend, a solid woven companion line to Crypton's Wegman Collection. In addition, new colors will be introduced from Crypton's luxury performance lines, Interlude and Velese.