GREENSBORO, North Carolina — The purchase of Bentex Mills by Bur lington®Technologies (BT) just one year ago is starting to pay off according to Michael Durham, President & CEO. Sales for the combined companies are up ten percent in 2013 Durham says, boosted by the return to local resources by American upholstery manufacturers. 

Since 2007, Durham, one of several partners in the Burlington Technologies business continues to seek acquisitions in the textile business for greater diversification. With the Bentex acquisition, owner Ernest Benbassat has been named Vice President of manufacturing, in charge of all weaving at Se7en, the sister division, as well as Bentex. Bentex was a contract specialist and continues in that vein for the newly combined companies, Durham explains. Both Seven and Bentex are jacquard weavers. By year’s end, Bentex equipment will be moved to Burlington facilities which total over one million square feet. 

Bentex was a specialist in privacy curtains but the overall contract business is scheduled to be expanded to other categories using BT equipment. “We want to be a value producer of fabrics— not the low cost producer,” Durham maintains. The company can internally produce its own dye lots from two pounds to 2400 pounds depending on the order size. Bentex focuses on custom sized dye lots while Se7en is open line. “A lot of dye houses went out of business because they could only dye a few fiber/yarn types while we can dye any fiber/yarn and blend. This is done through our BMS dyeing division.” 

Meanwhile, Seven is developing a furniture kit business for the US market through its cut and sew facility, Royal Park Sewing. Normally, that business is done through Chinese suppliers but Se7en is being shopped as a local resource by the furniture manufacturer looking for faster just-in-time turnaround time from a local supplier, Durham says. “China costs have risen 15 per cent a year.” Additionally, Se7en is developing a decorative pillow business through its cut and sew facility with Royal Park Sewing, acquired two years ago. 

Founded in 1997, Bentex Mills primarily serves the contract fabric market, providing products for health care, hospitality and office furnishings. Burlington® Technologies, Inc. is comprised of several business units: BMS - yarn-dyeing operations; Se7en - residential decorative fabrics; and Royal Park Sewing – cut & sewn products and services. BT also has affiliate companies: VitaFlex, a producer of patented stretchable non-woven fabrics; and Diagnostic Chips, an intellectual properties company that designs state-of-the-art Nano-fluidics lab-on-a-chip technologies to support the portable medical, biological, and food safety diagnostic test markets.