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March, 2001—
Hunter Douglas Group, Rotterdam, Netherlands, announces the formation of Tapestria, a to-the-trade international online marketplace for interior fabrics. The Web site,
www.tapestria.com, is scheduled to be launched in the United States in February, followed by a European rollout later in the year.
Funded with an initial investment of $25 million, the online marketplace will allow interior designers to directly source fine fabrics from mills around the world quickly, efficiently and at highly competitive prices, according to a Hunter Douglas statement. Tapestria will be headed by founder and CEO David Sonnenberg, formerly the managing director of Hunter Douglas Europe.
Tapestria is planned as a new type of Internet-based marketplace. It is expected to function as a mix between an e-wholesaler and an e-marketplace. Tapestria will manage marketing and distribution, while enabling mills to manage pricing and inventory. The result, the company says, will be one of the first international business-to-business marketplaces with fully integrated logistics providing designers and suppliers with complete end-to-end fulfillment and substantial price benefits compared to traditional wholesalers.
At launch, through Tapestria, interior design firms will have online access to the fabrics of more than 40 European mills from Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom as well as leading mills in the United States, the company says. Initially 5,000 fabrics will be available online, a number which is expected to grow to more than 25,000 by late 2002, it adds.
"As longtime leaders in understanding the quality and service needs of the home furnishings industry, as well as the international home décor markets, we have the expertise and infrastructure to bring fabric manufacturers from around the world to the design community," said Ralph Sonnenberg, CEO of the Hunter Douglas Group.
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