Our textile and home furnishing journey continues with this 2013 image of Marla in our Denver Design District showroom. We were somewhat unique from the other showrooms in the center as it was possible for interior designers to buy furniture and accessories off the floor rather than waiting for a custom order. We draped 3 yard lengths for display of our most exciting new fabrics around the showroom. We shopped around the world for fabulous fabrics and furniture and also visited domestic markets in High Point, New York, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco.

We are in Frankfurt in 2013 looking for beautiful new fabrics at the Heimtextil show at the Messe. I’m walking from the hotel to the U-Bahn subway on a chilly January morning.

Embroidered fabrics were becoming very important to us and I fell in love with this one from an Indian supplier. We bought it!

Marla loved chatting with our suppliers. It was always fun catching up with people from around the world we hadn’t seen since the last trade show.

It was exciting to see how various companies set up their tradeshow booths. Many had little tables set up for writing orders and providing snacks, lunch,…and beer or wine! The larger exhibitors even had kitchens with hired waitstaff.

This Spanish supplier’s unusual booth at the show was full of color. In the 1980s and 90s many very high-end interior fabric companies, like Zimmer + Rhode, Pierre Frey, JAB Anstoetz, Rubelli, and others spent tens of thousands of dollars with over the top (sometimes two stories high) exhibition spaces.

Finalizing an order and negotiations.

Marla writes a purchase order for embroidered sheer fabrics with a Chinese supplier. The best part of Heimtextil was obtaining national exclusivity.

Many Indian suppliers moved from silk to producing beautiful embroideries on cotton and linen blends as seen at one of our favorite companies, Universal Overseas Ltd from New Delhi.

It is great to be married to a “detail” person!

Marla and I enjoyed discussing religion with this particular group. The owners above practiced Jainism, an ancient religion that teaches the way to liberation and bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation. The essence of Jainism is concern for the welfare of every being in the universe. Jains believe that animals and plants, as well as human beings, contain living souls.

We are creating a coordinated collection from GM Syntex, one of our largest Indian suppliers.

Thunga Silk was one of our first silk suppliers we originally found at a trade show in Brussels. This picture is later at Heimtextil 2015.

We have so many memories of our sourcing trips to Heimtextil in Frankfurt. The days were long but always resourceful. 2015 was our last trip before selling the business in 2017. This is Marla on the Zeil, a bustling area of stores and restaurants. It was always freezing at night but fun to explore then go out for dinner.

Ristorante Sardegna, just off the Zeil, was one of our very favorite Italian restaurants in Frankfurt, but always very difficult to get a reservation. I fondly remember their sensational Saltimbocca alla Romana, a fabulous veal dish!

I’m giving a 2015 fabric line showing in our warehouse showroom for our inside staff.

The front window of our Denver Design District showroom in 2013.

Though decorative fabrics and window coverings were our main emphasis, sourcing unique items for the showroom was a huge passion. This is the very eclectic look the showroom in 2014 with a mix of products from North Carolina, China, Thailand, Bali.

The textiles and colors of haute couture fashion helped form our buying vision.

My 2015 office was littered with fabric samples from an Indian resource which did not exhibit at any of the major shows. We first met them at a hotel during Heimtextil.

Kathy Greaser assists with a line showing at our Denver Design District showroom.

“Yes,…I’ve always been in love with fabrics!”

The “Gentry Collection” included our most exciting fabrics and was my pride and joy.

2015 fabric samples on the floor of our “museum” in our Denver warehouse. We made selections this way by “living” with the patterns for days.

“Color blankets” from an Indian mill for final selection. Many were produced from our ideas.

Fall 2015 fabrics from both imported and domestic companies awaiting final selection.

We were all totally jived when new sample books were received! We couldn’t wait to get them into the hands of our designer clients and window covering pros!

A 2016 photo montage of our Denver Design District Wesco Fabrics’ showroom.

2016 photo montage of our “Fancy” (shades, cornices, custom bedding, valances, and pillows) and our “Custom Drapery” workrooms in our Denver headquarters. We manufactured custom window coverings and bedding to clients in all 50 states and even a few foreign countries.

I loved watching interior designers and their clients working in our showroom! You can just see Marla in red at the top in the showroom kitchen she designed to serve customers daily snacks and beverages plus lunches for seminars, as well as hors’oeuvres and cocktails for parties.

I truly miss all the connection with our clients in both the showroom and the warehouse! I can be a “chatterbox” I’m told. To be perfectly honest I haven’t replaced this type of interpersonal connection at this point in my life, but c’est la vie.

Work in late 2016 in our “museum” with some new samples for a future line was never ordered as we sold the company in January 2017.

Thank you for being on this journey of remembrance with me. Many of you were integral to our story and progress through the years. Many thanks to you all!

Next week I’ll post on the “Emotional Cleanout” with lessons for family businesses and… some of our drama, good and bad.

Photos: Dick Gentry. Not to be used without permission.