SENFA, a technical textiles division of the Chargeurs Group, based in Alsace, France, is set to further expand its operations. Through its Decoprint brand of specially coated fabrics suitable for solvent, UV and latex print technologies, manufactured in the eastern France, the company offers textiles for inkjet and transfer printing.

“We will be concentrating on developing the North American market with the creation a US-based sales position from January 2017 and we will be employing a Spanish speaker to cover Central and South America. This follows the development of new channels in 2016 when we appointed distributors in India, Australia, and South Africa. This geographic expansion will continue into 2017,” commented Blaise Humphries, Decoprint's business unit manager.

“New markets and new applications are the backbone of SENFA's growth strategy. A renewed focus on interior decor and wall covering products should help our double-digit annual growth figures continue for the foreseeable future.”

Visual display applications

Despite a very turbulent period in the second half of the 20th century, with globalisation and competition from overseas creating serious challenged for the European textile industry, SENFA has been continuously developing its product range. In 2001, the company invested in a new purpose-built 3.2metre coating line to diversify its core product offerings to encompass wider widths for the large format print sector.

In 2004, SENFA formalised its entry into the wide-format space by creating the Decoprint division to focus on the manufacture and coating of textiles specifically for the large format digital print market. The core product line was diversified to incorporate other functions such as fire resistance, light diffusion, block-out and more, and over the years, SENFA developed a full range of printable Decoprint textiles for visual display applications.

“The initial adoption of textiles for visual display was slow but gradually the advantages of printing onto textiles made more and more sense to the marketplace: Textiles are free of PVC and are therefore much less damaging for the environment than vinyls or banners; they are lighter in weight, so cheaper to transport and easier to install; and finally – perhaps most importantly – they simply look better than many prints produced on other types of media,” commented Blaise Humphries.

Product range

Several years later, the company introduced its flagship product Decoprint Pearl, a premium fabric for backlit applications installed in lightboxes in retail outlets, shopping malls and airports. “The smooth finish, the excellent white point and of course all the necessary fire certification renders it the number one choice for many international brands,” says the company.

Apart from Decoprint Pearl, the company has many new Decoprint products in the pipeline which it plans to bring to the wider market. Boosted by the success of the Decoprint product range, SENFA opened an EUR 8 million, five-metre wide coating line in 2015 to meet the needs of its customers and the company is now focusing its efforts on new international markets.

Based Sélestat, south of Strasbourg, and within a three-hour drive from Lake Como in Northern Italy, the historical centre of textile activity, the company’s headquarters are also close to Switzerland and Germany, which the company believes makes SENFA ideally located for European distribution and growth.

SENFA

The Chargeurs Group is a leading manufacturing and services group with leading positions in four segments: Protective Films, Interlining for garments, and Wool, as well as Technical Textiles.  With more than 1500 employees worldwide, Chargeurs Group is listed on the French Stock Exchange and has operations in 32 countries spanning all five continents.

Based in Alsace, France, SENFA is the technical textiles division of the Chargeurs Group and had an annual turnover of EUR 25m in 2015. From its manufacturing plant in eastern France, SENFA distributes its range of Decoprint solutions which includes a wide range of specially coated fabrics made from synthetic and natural fibres for inkjet and transfer printing.

www.decoprint.eu