Foreign relationships

Under the influence of Emmanuel Steverlynck, G. Lietaer and H.B. Hess, privileged relationships were built up with textile manufacturers around the world. To this end, the company founded national agencies in the most important countries to explore the local textile regions. The sales directors set out with their technical and commercial baggage - like true globetrotters - ready to go ‘head to head’ against the fierce competitors. As traveling by plane was not yet common practice, the remote customers were still visited by car. On several occasions, Emmanuel traveled through the Turkish mountains to sell weaving machines, sometimes even without a driver. Thanks to these efforts, he met Mr. Dereoglou, who would later play an important role as a local agent. In that period, Mensucat Central, the leading textile company of Fuad Bezmen in the Turkish capital, became one of the most important Turkish customers. In Germany, which was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, a significant market became available. Westphalia (the textile region of choice) suffered large shortages of new looms. Meanwhile, in England, where the textile machinery was largely outdated, the county of Lancashire proved to be an especially important sales area. The new President looms were sold there with the help of Mr. Maynard. And while Italy possessed its own loom manufacturers, thanks to the efforts of Franco Rizzi and Emilio Zuppinger, over 10,000 President looms were sold there. Large textile companies, including Bassetti and Standardtella, preferred the Ieper looms. They are resonant names, forever in the memory of the sales representatives. There were also many weaving mills in northern France, and Michel Derville was entrusted with the task of launching ‘Picañol France’ in Tourcoing. At the time, Diedrichs and S.A.C.M. were the major competitors in France. In addition to the textile area in the Vosges, the area of operation of Christian Chevalier, mainly the region of Lyon, was known for weaving silk.