COCENTAINA, Spain—“We suffered four to five years in the domestic market but things seem to be improving in Europe this year,” says Francisco Pastor Jover, principal of Jover, one of the big names in Spanish fabrics today.

His brother Oscar is his partner and they represent the second generation of family ownership. The company produces wide width goods for drapery, about 70 percent of its business with the balance in upholstery.

“The domestic market has stabilized and we’re increasing our local service as well as pushing more export and diversity,” he says. “One cannot compete with Turkey or China in this business today. We’re offering a big range to the domestic retailer and increasing service. Our export business to global wholesalers is dead. It used to be 95 percent of our business. Now, we focus on retail, contract and manufacturers. In addition, our yarn business, ‘Commercial de Urdidos’ is profitable.” Francisco Jover Pastor (center) with his two sons, Borja, 27 and Alejandro, 23

“We’re also focusing on hotel business which the foreign competition cannot handle as well from a long distance. We can produce 2,000 meters on our looms for a hotel project in two weeks time.” Jover said he can do all textile operations including finishing, warp printing, transfer printing and crushing of fabric in his factory with 120 employees and 50 looms. This is a plus when serving the contract specialist in Europe, he says.

“We concentrated on the domestic retail market where the crisis has been the toughest. We have developed a new concept in Jover Deco which allows our domestic customer to calculate confeccion on the computer and then we can deliver tailor-made product to the retailer. We also have a new sampling program for the shops,” he adds.

Jover is also developing some new technical fabrics in the form of soundproof panels and antibacterial bed coverings for hospitals.

His two sons are helping out with the new programs. Alexjandro has just finished school while Borja has been with the company for one year and helped with the Jover Deco software project.