Valdese Builds Import Business Around China But Has Lingering Doubts About Tariff Impact
October 17, 2025
Patrick Shelton
VALDESE, NC–Valdese Weavers didn’t realize how important it was to make a deal to sell Visatex products to the American market last January during Heimtextil 2025.
While 85 percent of Valdese products are made in the USA, its VIP imports division continues to grow with 15 percent of the overall Valdese business according to Patrick Shelton, Vice President, Marketing, at the company 15 years.
Valdese is running full blast with single digit sales increases overall for 2024 and 2025 and is still building its international portfolio of sources through VIP which is managed by Richard Langone for the past three years.
Another issue concerning Shelton is the closeness of Interwoven and the Furniture Market.
“Some customers are choosing to shop our line during the High Point Furniture Market and skip Interwoven,” he says. The Furniture Market is held October 25-29 while Interwoven is November 18-20.
Valdese is one or two in sales in the USA, only challenged by Glen Raven Mills both in the $200-$300 million range. Glen Raven is the maker of Sunbrella(r); STI in Kings Mountain, NC is a distant third and after them, the volume drops precipitously to smaller players like MTL Inc. in Jessup, Pennsylvania and David Rothschild Company in Columbus, Georgia.
Currently, Valdese is converting its designs through its VIP import division with Visatex in Spain and selling them in the US market for $9-$12 a yard. Visatex is selling Valdese upholstery fabric in Europe, specifically Valdese Sustain(r) performance fabric made of olefin and polyester. This is a bleach cleanable product for $5-$12 a yard that Visatex is treating with FR finish for the Euro market as of November 1.
Valdese is also importing velvets from Korea which now trigger a 15 percent US based tariff in the VIP division. “This is a tremendous business for us, as big as it has ever been,” according to Shelton, a second generation family member of the Valdese team. His dad, Michael was CEO of the company before he retired several years ago. Valdese is an ESOP owned company.
“Navigating China is a big challenge for Valdese,” Patrick adds.
“While we are still buying from our partners in China, they can sell the product anywhere else in the world without the huge tariffs the U.S. is now placing on the Chinese goods. We can sell our own products to the U.S. market in the face of the lingering uncertainty with the 100 percent tariffs on Chinese fabrics in the USA. Still, China will not go away but they can sell their products everywhere else but the USA. We don’t want to interrupt our service to our customers on the Chinese products we carry but my crystal ball is cloudy.
“We have had several price increases on our finished upholstery due to the tariffs of 15-50 percent that we have to pay. We had an increase in May and will have another increase at the end of year–single digit increases,” he says.
“Valdese also buys yarn from India, Turkiye, Taiwan and Indonesia. We’d love to buy only U.S. made yarns but there is a lack of viscose yarns in the USA. We use all fibers to serve a broad range of markets here. We’re running three shifts a day, ⅚ days a week with a six week leadtime. We have 150 looms and 700 employees and four production facilities within five miles of each other. All facilities have undergone serious renovations.”
While 85 percent of Valdese products are made in the USA, its VIP imports division continues to grow with 15 percent of the overall Valdese business according to Patrick Shelton, Vice President, Marketing, at the company 15 years.
Valdese is running full blast with single digit sales increases overall for 2024 and 2025 and is still building its international portfolio of sources through VIP which is managed by Richard Langone for the past three years.
Another issue concerning Shelton is the closeness of Interwoven and the Furniture Market.
“Some customers are choosing to shop our line during the High Point Furniture Market and skip Interwoven,” he says. The Furniture Market is held October 25-29 while Interwoven is November 18-20.
Valdese is one or two in sales in the USA, only challenged by Glen Raven Mills both in the $200-$300 million range. Glen Raven is the maker of Sunbrella(r); STI in Kings Mountain, NC is a distant third and after them, the volume drops precipitously to smaller players like MTL Inc. in Jessup, Pennsylvania and David Rothschild Company in Columbus, Georgia.
Currently, Valdese is converting its designs through its VIP import division with Visatex in Spain and selling them in the US market for $9-$12 a yard. Visatex is selling Valdese upholstery fabric in Europe, specifically Valdese Sustain(r) performance fabric made of olefin and polyester. This is a bleach cleanable product for $5-$12 a yard that Visatex is treating with FR finish for the Euro market as of November 1.
Valdese is also importing velvets from Korea which now trigger a 15 percent US based tariff in the VIP division. “This is a tremendous business for us, as big as it has ever been,” according to Shelton, a second generation family member of the Valdese team. His dad, Michael was CEO of the company before he retired several years ago. Valdese is an ESOP owned company.
“Navigating China is a big challenge for Valdese,” Patrick adds.
“While we are still buying from our partners in China, they can sell the product anywhere else in the world without the huge tariffs the U.S. is now placing on the Chinese goods. We can sell our own products to the U.S. market in the face of the lingering uncertainty with the 100 percent tariffs on Chinese fabrics in the USA. Still, China will not go away but they can sell their products everywhere else but the USA. We don’t want to interrupt our service to our customers on the Chinese products we carry but my crystal ball is cloudy.
“We have had several price increases on our finished upholstery due to the tariffs of 15-50 percent that we have to pay. We had an increase in May and will have another increase at the end of year–single digit increases,” he says.
“Valdese also buys yarn from India, Turkiye, Taiwan and Indonesia. We’d love to buy only U.S. made yarns but there is a lack of viscose yarns in the USA. We use all fibers to serve a broad range of markets here. We’re running three shifts a day, ⅚ days a week with a six week leadtime. We have 150 looms and 700 employees and four production facilities within five miles of each other. All facilities have undergone serious renovations.”
