POMANO BEACH, Florida—Valley Forge Fabrics, Inc. expects to cap its best year in its 37 year history according to Michael Dobin, President, if the first four months of 2014 is any indicator. 

Valley Forge is the largest wholesaler of decorative fabrics to the hospitality trade in the world and Dobin, second generation family management of the firm with his sister Diana is very bullish on the future of his business in the USA. 

In line with that statement, Dobin says that Valley Forge has made a big turn towards Made in USA fabrics for the hospitality trade. Several American mills are benefiting from this trend including Valdese Weavers and Abercrombie. For this reason, Dobin will be spending his time visiting his Southern U.S. suppliers at Showtime USA in June as opposed to traveling abroad, he says. However, Ahmet Sapmaz, Vice President of Sourcing for Valley Forge, is actively visiting mills worldwide, but especially Turkish suppliers who are gaining ground with Valley Forge this year. Mike Dobin

Faux leathers especially, are being bought from US suppliers as Valley Forge has completely eliminated the Asian sources of these products, Dobin points out.

“With the American suppliers of faux leathers, we know exactly how they are making these products. You can’t be as confident with the Chinese suppliers of faux leathers in this regard,” he adds. “We are supporters of sustainability and using the right components in the manufacturing process. We trust the American suppliers to do this. He commented that he was pleased to see that O’Sullivan has rebooted its vinyl fabric business in Virginia at the hands of Konrad Hornschuch of Germany. Ahmet Sapmaz

Valley Forge prides itself on making delivery dates and expects the same from its suppliers. “You can have a product that is a 7-10 on attractiveness but if you can’t get it from the vendor on time, it’s not worth much to us no matter how great the design it may be,” he explains.