ISTANBUL, Turkey – For the first time in ten years, Hisar Tekstil has incorporated velvet into its product portfolio to satisfy cyclical home couture trends and customer demands. According to Fatih Ates, marketing and sales regional chief for the foreign trade department of Hisar, the company has recently purchased several machines to increase its velvet and chenille production capacity. He expects the new waving machines to be fully operational by late August.

"At Evteks we have launched ten qualities of velvet in the medium price range, with seven to eight designs in each quality," said Ates. "For this fair we are very happy with the result. There was a huge interest, especially in our velvet collection."

"We were established in 1973," Ateks said. "We stopped producing velvet in the 1990's when it was no longer fashionable. Last year we saw that it had become fashionable again so we decided to reinvest in it. The result has been very good and we plan to increase it. It's common sense."

Ateks also indicated that Hisar has given velvet its own collection, making it Hisar's third. The two standing collections were Hisar and Altelena, which was created three years ago for the contract market. Velvet now makes up 15 percent of the company's textile production, while chenille, boucle and satin make up 85 percent.

Although several exhibitors at Evteks indicated that chenille has become less popular, Ateks said that Hisar will also increase its chenille production in order to appeal to customers in Russia, Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries.

Hisar produces upholstery textiles. Hisar Tekstil is a sub-brand of Marmara Mensucat, a yarn and fabrics weaving plant.