Celebrating 50 Years of Passion for Fabrics
May 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Home Fabrics. From humble beginnings, this family business has made a significant contribution to the Southern African interior décor industry and has helped shaped the look and feel of many homes, restaurants, hotels, schools, offices, and even public spaces.
It is an incredible milestone wouldn't be possible without the skills and talent of the entire Home Fabrics team, along with the steadfast support of its valued customers. Over the years, the company has weathered significant changes, but also developed long-standing relationships. Most importantly, Home Fabrics has a rich history of remarkable stories – from employees' career growth to being featured in various media – but the story of how the company came to be is among the most special.
In 1974, Selwyn Neiman was a successful furnishing fabric salesman in his family business. Happy in his position, Selwyn hoped to some day become the managing director of the business but he also pursued another of his passions: woodcarving. His woodcarving hobby led to a commission from a friend who was an architect and wanted a bespoke door for a project. This lead to an introduction to the client for that project, who turned out to be an entrepreneur with an interest in Selwyn's vision for a company that provided high quality furnishing fabrics to the local décor and interior design sectors. And this series of connections, as well as a couple of meetings, gave rise to the company that evolved into Home Fabrics.
Fabrics have always been a family affair for the Neimans. Selwyn's sons, Gary and Jason, grew up in the world of jacquard, cotton, velvet and more, understanding the industry from an early age. The brothers took their father's vision to a new level, establishing Bru Textiles in 1995 with its global headquarters in Belgium and selling tens of millions of metres of furnishing fabrics to over 100 countries.
The decorator's choice
One of Selwyn's great successes was Decorator's Choice. It was a project he developed with his team to create a collection of 100 SKUs from seven to 10 designs. The idea was to offer their customers and the industry a range of fabrics that was world-class. It became a stand-alone range of fabrics and Selwyn's joy is seeing some of those fabrics still in interiors today. That initial collection was eventually exported around the world and set a benchmark for innovation.
Since 2020, Marc Shotland has served as the managing director of Home Fabrics, bringing his wealth of experience in marketing as well as his deep knowledge of interiors and fabrics into the role. His belief in caring for the staff, customer service excellence, and building good relationships with customers and retail partners has helped Home Fabrics take its next steps forward in brand awareness and brand loyalty. In recent years, the company has grown and opened additional showrooms, while also partnering with well-known retail and furniture brands to make amazing products more accessible to the general public.
There is also an exciting focus for the future. Home Fabrics is a firm believer in the movement towards more eco-conscious products and sustainability. With a wide variety of OCS and GRS certified fabrics already on offer, the number of these internationally certified products created with sustainability and aesthetic beauty in mind will continue to grow. Home Fabrics is also set to lead the way in Southern Africa with the use of visualisation technology to bring digital fabrics to life for decor professionals.
“Energy is a vital ingredient. You have to be happy doing what you’re doing because then you have a successful company and it enables you to build success into the future.”
With boundless energy for sharing a passion for fabrics far and wide, Home Fabrics looks towards the next five decades with ambition, optimism, and determination to continue to uphold it's values for generations to come.
