By David Gill

Anna’s Linens is sending clear signals that it wants to be a bigger retail player in housewares and tabletop.

Back in December, the home specialty retailer brought on board Jeannie Wolf as senior buyer for hardlines. In this newly created position, Wolf is responsible for the buying of housewares and tabletop—categories she has had experience with as a buyer for Macy’s (where she spent 22 years) and as an account manager for Gibson Overseas.

By David Gill

The New York International Gift Fair and Gift & Home Textiles Market are launching the trade-show year in home textiles in this country, amid an atmosphere that can be characterized with an oft-heard phrase: cautious optimism.

By David Gill

A larger assortment in housewares and tabletop is in the offing for Anna’s Linens.

By Andrea Lillo

While the holiday season is in full swing, it’s been an extra busy quarter for Williams-Sonoma Inc., with the introduction of Williams-Sonoma’s own brand of cookware, kitchen tools and smart tools, and a new personalization brand called Mark and Graham.

All of this follows the debut of a new format for West Elm, called West Elm Market, in October.

JANUARY

Dow Launches Antimicrobial Technology for Textiles

By David Gill

For an industry that already features many highly recognizable licenses, the activity surrounding licenses at the New York Home Fashions Market in September was particularly robust.

A number of the textiles industry’s key licenses officially changed hands during the market. In what was the most high-profile example, the Lauren Ralph Lauren license in basic bedding moved from WestPoint Home to Hollander Home Fashions.

Christine Lemieux, founder and creative director of DwellStudio, has made Fortune magazine’s 2012 list of most powerful women entrepreneurs.

Lemieux is the only honoree from the home furnishings category. Fortune recognizes 10 female entrepreneurs each year “who are outstanding game changers, groundbreakers and innovators,” according to a DwellStudio statement.

Sleep Innovations’ Paula Deen collection of kitchen mats got a boost at last month’s New York Home Fashions Market.

New to the line are the Paula Deen Anti-Fatigue Pro Mat and kitchen mat covers designed specifically for the existing products in the collection. The Pro Mat is designed to provide the same level of support, and has a similar look and feel as mats found in professional kitchens.

At last month’s New York Home Fashions Market, AQ Textiles and Design Weave presented the first assortment of bedding under their license with lifestyle retailer Brookstone.

The retailer formed a license agreement with the two companies for the development of the Brookstone Sleep Smart bedding collection. The collection includes sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers, comforters, pillow shams and blankets. They are all made with Intellatex technology, which permanently infuses a negative ionic field which bonds to the molecular structure of the cotton in the bedding.

Starting next year, GLM plans to launch Sources, an exhibition connecting international and domestic manufacturers, artisans and producers of materials, home decor, accessories, gifts, private label apparel and handcrafts, with U.S.-based importers, wholesalers, volume buyers, product designers and U.S. retail chains. The semi-annual event will first take place as SourcesNY at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center Sept. 18-19, 2013; SourcesLA will launch in February 2014, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif.

By David Gill

For the past several years, homeowners have been treating their outdoor spaces as another part of their indoor spaces. As such, they are putting an ever-greater premium on fashion and style for the furnishings on their decks, patios, gazebos and pool sides. This has created a tremendous opportunity for vendors of outdoor furnishings—one that has proven profitable in the fast few years, and that should produce even more to their top and bottom lines in the years to come.

In what is a pivotal moment in the company’s history, Hollander Home Fashions will highlight both its assumption of the Ralph Lauren basic-bedding license and its new showroom at the New York Home Fashions Market this month.

The basic-bedding giant has become the licensee for Ralph Lauren for bed pillows, comforters and mattress pads, taking over that role from WestPoint Home. The line will take its place alongside Laura Ashley Home, Court of Versailles, Royal Velvet, Waverly, Obusforme and HoMedics in Hollander’s roster of licensed programs.

By David Gill

Even with the economy on its bumpy road, textiles vendors exhibiting at the New York International Gift Fair and the Gift & Home Textiles Market this month are looking forward to the concurrent shows.

As usual, the Gift Fair will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and at the Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94 in New York City. The Gift & Home Textiles Market will be at the 7 W New York and 230 Fifth Ave. showroom buildings.

By David Gill

The Home Textiles Sourcing Expo is slated for July 24-26 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

As it has for the past two years, the expo will be co-located with two other Messe Frankfurt-produced shows: Texworld USA, the apparel fabrics show; and the International Apparel Sourcing Show. As of mid-June, this year’s expo had signed on 151 exhibitors, up from 132 last year.

BodyRyzm LifeSciences

By David Gill

The alpaca—an animal that produces fleece like a sheep and is shaped like a giraffe—is drawing increasing attention from U.S. manufacturers of home textiles.

Some of these products are providing vendors with a new angle to “Made in America,” because the alpaca fiber used in their production comes from alpacas that are raised on these shores. A large percentage of the world’s alpacas are raised in Latin American countries, but some alpaca farms have emerged in the United States, on both the East Coast and in the Pacific Northwest.

By David Gill

Sensing that quilts are in the midst of a surge, bed-products vendors brought more of this product category to the table during the March New York Home Fashions Market.

The quilt is the ultimate nostalgia textile product. It evokes U.S. history from as far back as colonial times, when housewives made bed coverings by patching together pieces of odd fabric left over from the clothes they sewed together.

By David Gill

The executives at Softline Home Fashions have no problem accumulating frequent-flyer miles, especially early each year.

By David Gill

Change is in the air as the winter versions of the New York International Gift Fair and Gift & Home Textiles Market Week take place this month in New York City.

The winter Gift Fair will be the first for the new ownership of GLM, the show’s owner and manager. Last September, Providence Equity Partners completed its deal to acquire the trade-show company from Daily Mail and General Trust. Charles McCurdy, formerly CEO at trade-show producer Canon Communications, has stepped in to take the CEO role at GLM.

As usual, next year’s six-month trade show calendar starts with a bang with a plethora of January events. Trade shows from Hong Kong to High Point, N.C., beckon members of the home furnishings industry through June. Here’s a partial list of trade show happenings. See the full calendar of events at hfnmag.com.

By David Gill
T’is the season to cover the bed. As temperatures drop across the nation and the holidays approach, consumers are in the mindset to find that extra bed covering (or coverings) to make sleeping that much more comfortable.

“Business as usual” at the New York Home Fashions Market means lots of new products and designs—and the market week last month was no exception. Vendors raised the curtain on a variety of introductions in decorative bedding, basic bedding and accessories.
The decorative styles on display ran the gamut from traditional to contemporary. In basic bedding, the emphasis was on improving the quality of sleep through construction and with anti-allergen elements.—David Gill

Peking Handicraft

By David Gill

For Creative Bath, the Central Islip, N.Y.-based manufacturer, the past five years has seen what Chief Operation Officer Bob Weiss called an “explosion” in business—but not in bath products.

The 38-year-old company began producing housewares about eight years ago, and in the past five years, this category has mushroomed into its biggest growth area. Creative Bath’s offerings in housewares (labeled Creative Ware on the company’s website, creativebath.com) now encompass serveware, drinkware, tabletop and storage and organization products.

 By David Gill

A small warehouse in Gardena, Calif., was the birthplace of Softline Home Fashions, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in business last month.

Softline has evolved over the years from a small vendor of fabrics into a resource for both fabrics and finished home textiles. It will be showing the latest introductions to its line of window treatments and decorative pillows later this month at the New York Home Fashions Market, in its showroom at 230 Fifth Ave. in New York City.

Hollander Home Fashions will launch its new Live Comfortably brand of luxury basic bedding at the New York Home Fashions Market.

By David Gill

This month will bring a revamped home textiles department to Target stores across the nation.

The mass merchant is changing the look of its domestics sections, creating a presentation more focused on components rather than ensembles. Target announced its plans in August, on a conference call of top executives speaking to financial analysts who cover the company.

By David Gill

Both consumers and retailers have a wary eye on the economy and their circumstances—but the mood at this month’s New York International Gift Fair and Gift & Home Textiles Market Week is optimistic.

The Gift Fair will take place at its traditional locations—New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94. The Gift & Home Textiles Market Week will be located, as usual, at 7 W New York and 230 Fifth Ave. in New York City. Both markets are scheduled for Aug. 12-18.

By Allison Zisko

Ralph Lauren is on a roll.

As the spring show season begins, Ralph Lauren Home executives are confident they now have all the components needed for an integrated lifestyle presentation, with two distinct brands that do not overlap in price point or design yet share a common viewpoint.

By David Gill

Thanks to the lifting of the recession, the market for upper-end table linens is no longer starving.

The economic downturn brought a halt to spending on luxury table linens even by consumers in the higher-income demographic. Now, however, vendors say these shoppers are coming back to the table.

 By David Gill

Having displayed their wares for retailers at the September New York Home Fashions Market, home textiles manufacturers are now turning their attention to another class of trade—the hospitality industry.

Ellery Homestyles

A major trend in window treatments, as well as other home furnishings, is the use of fabrics that can go either indoors or outdoors. The company is addressing this with ParaSol, a collection of indoor/outdoor window panels and cushions. ParaSol is designed in fun and bold prints. It’s made with a multipurpose outdoor fabric that consists of durable, easy-care polyester, produced to meet the demands of outdoor living in terms of resisting the elements. elleryhomestyles.com

Louis Hornick & Co.

By David Gill

Texture has become a dominant factor in decorative pillows, as exemplified by the March New York Home Fashions Market.

This represents something of a sea change to the category. For many years, color was the key factor that drew consumers to the decorative-pillow sections at retailers. While color is still important, pillows that have a certain feel about them have begun to help drive business with many of the industry’s vendors.

Consumers’ increasing desire for organic products has opened the door wide for Lenzing, which markets Tencel fiber to the home-textiles and mattress markets.
This year, the company has introduced a promotion called The Botanic Bed, in which it has made available mattresses, sheeting, mattress pads, bed pillows and fills all made with Tencel fiber and its recently introduced Tencel powder. Nina Nadash, who heads merchandising for Lenzing’s home textiles Americas unit, said, “With this, the retailer can supply an entire bed ensemble from the outside to the inside.”

How do you celebrate your 180th birthday?

If you’re Woolrich, the venerable brand that traces its roots back to a 19th century woolen mill in the hills of Pennsylvania, you do it by doing what you do best: expanding the brand into more product categories and more channels of distribution.

Even though Woolrich is probably still best known for its signature casual outdoor apparel, it has built a sizeable home business over the years and in 2010, it has expanded that into new areas with more to come.

By David Gill

With the New York Home Fashions Market set to go, manufacturers of home textiles feel that they have some reason to be optimistic about business this year.

By Warren Shoulberg
Diane von Furstenberg is homeward bound.
The legendary fashion designer has signed up with Springs Global to do a new line of home-furnishings products, including, bedding, bath and tabletop, that will debut in spring 2011. The trade will get its first look at the products this spring.

By David Gill
The first quarter of each year is a busy time for many home-furnishings vendors—particularly for Blissliving Home, the bedding-products manufacturer based in Rockville, Md.
Blissliving’s early-year schedule has already included a stop at the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market, the New York International Gift Fair and the Las Vegas Market. The company displayed three new bed ensembles at all three of these shows, with designs ranging from neutral and quiet to brightly colored and dramatic.

By David Gill
Thread count appears to be losing popularity as a selling point for sheets.
Under the merchandising focus that has prevailed until recently, thread count gives consumers a clear and numerical indicator of what they are buying. The higher the count, the better the sheet, the logic goes.
But bedding-industry executives now say that the logic could be as twisted as the yarns that go into the making of some higher thread-count sheets.

By David Gill
The weather outside will soon be turning frightful, so department-store retailers J.C. Penney, Kohl’s and Macy’s are preparing their merchandise to provide shoppers with the optimal warmth for the tops of their beds.
Recently, HFN visited the J.C. Penney store in Rockaway, N.J., the Kohl’s location in Morris Plains, N.J., and the Macy’s in the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills, N.J., to tour their winter-bedding assortments.

By Andrea Lillo
Laura Ashley’s classic feminine touch is familiar to several generations of women, and this venerable brand continues to evolve to meet contemporary needs.
The home textiles category has had a close and cozy relationship with the brand for decades. Rich Roman, president and chief executive officer of Revman Intl., estimates more than half a billion dollars of Laura Ashley home textiles products have been sold over the nearly three decades the brand has been around.
That’s a lot of Laura.

By Warren Shoulberg
That one of the most progressive and innovative companies in the home textiles industry should not only be based in Seattle—far, far away from the Southeast—but also be known for some of the most mundane products the industry produces—utility bedding—is rather improbable.
Yet not much about Pacific Coast Feather follows any traditional story lines and this year, as it celebrates its 125th anniversary, the company finds itself moving into new territory, all the while sticking to a corporate culture and strategy virtually unique in the industry.

By David Gill
Organizers and exhibitors are upbeat about this month’s New York International Gift Fair and New York Home Textiles Market Week, in spite of the shaky economy.
The Gift Fair will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Pier 94, New York, from Saturday, Aug. 15, until Thursday, Aug. 20. The New York Home Textiles Market Week is slated for Friday, Aug. 14, through Thursday, Aug. 20, at 7 W New York and 230 Fifth Ave.

By David Gill
Like the mattress industry, manufacturers of bed pillows and mattress pads have found traction with consumers who want to sleep better.
Quality of sleep has persisted as a major issue with consumers for some time. A recent poll conducted on behalf of mattress manufacturer Tempur-Pedic found that nearly half of all Americans are dissatisfied with the quality of their sleep, and also discovered a widespread awareness of how lack of sleep threatens one’s health and ability to function.

By David Gill
Despite economic conditions that could hurt demand, home textiles manufacturers are working to push organic-cotton products into the mainstream.

By David Gill
The U.S. economy may be sliding, but vendors of luxury textiles are hoping that consumers still desire high-end linens for their home.

By David Gill
The latest chapter of the Croscill saga has begun—with its new owner, Patriarch Partners, looking ahead to revamping and re-establishing the company’s brand.
It’s also the first chapter in Croscill’s history that is taking place without the founding Kahn family. The Kahns sold Croscill to Patriarch Partners in November, ending 62 years of ownership.

HFN Staff Report
A pioneer in the fashion world, Ralph Lauren brought that same forward thinking to the home category, becoming the first designer to create a network of licenses with different companies—and making it work.
One of the most broad-based designer collections, as well as one of the longest running, the Ralph Lauren Home program showed the industry how it could be done, wrapping a number of product categories around a lifestyle and having it resonate with consumers.

There’s a lot more Ralph Lauren the person in Ralph Lauren the home collection than most people realize.
And the man charged with translating that vision into product is Stephen Earle, senior vice president of Home Collection design. Earle, who rejoined the company several years ago after a stint at Martha Stewart, said people would be surprised how involved Lauren is in the design process.

By Warren Shoulberg
“I have always aspired to create home collections that offer a breadth of possibilities.” Ralph Lauren
For a quarter of a century, the breadth of possibilities has produced the longest-running, no doubt most influential and arguably single-most iconic brand in the home furnishings industry: The Ralph Lauren Home Collection.

By David Gill
The new WestPoint Home will exert a greater focus on marketing, brands and innovation than is typical for a home-textiles vendor, according to the venerable supplier’s new leadership team.
In an interview with HFN prior to last week’s New York Home Fashions Market, John Piazza, president and chief executive officer, Paul Mischinski, executive vice president, and Alan Kennedy, senior vice president of sales, said WestPoint will focus on “being the guy that retailers come to for great brands and high-quality product,” as Piazza put it.

By Warren Shoulberg
NEW YORK–Twenty years ago this month, Rich Roman started a company called Revman Industries that for a lack of a better term, was the “anti-mill.”
It owned no manufacturing, instead using the then-nearly-unheard-of strategy of sourcing all its production out to third parties and limiting itself strictly to marketing and sales of its stable of high-profile designer brands.
The competition was not impressed.

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–Superior brand-building acumen is what sets Revman International apart from other suppliers, merchants told HFN.
Revman works closely with retailers to nail the essence of brands as diverse as Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Bahama and Marimekko.
The supplier is also adept at identifying emerging trends, targeting market niches and customizing exclusive programs, buyers said.
Revman was a pioneer in purely marketing—rather than manufacturing—a home brand.

By David Gill
NEW YORK–Revman has been a home-textiles standard setter in several respects—one of which is in its use of overseas manufacturers to produce its branded ensembles.
Not that the company was the first to adopt this model: Companies such as Brentwood, Hollander and others in basic bedding were sourcing either products or raw materials for finished goods from a variety of overseas locations.

By David Gill
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.–Nate Berkus, who came to prominence as an interior-design guru on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” is preparing to become a featured performer on HSN as well.
The television shopping channel will debut Berkus’ line of home decor and furniture on the premiere of “HSN Home Design Event Presented by Elle Decor.” This five-week series of one-hour episodes will run from Oct. 13 to Nov. 15, and will profile Berkus’ collection along with trends in home decor.

By Allison Zisko
Flat business in 2007 has forced the bath textiles industry to consider new ways of doing business.
The overall bath category—which includes bath towels, shower curtains, bath accessories and washable rugs—held steady at roughly $3.9 billion last year, according to HFN estimates, although some segments showed decline. The market shares of the retail channels remained stable.

By David Gill
LAS VEGAS–Despite the uncertainty over both the U.S. and world economies, exhibitors at the combined Global Home Textiles/Global Home Decor shows in Las Vegas last month said they think the time is now right for growth of their American business.
The lagging global economy, particularly here, has held back sales growth for them so far this year. Yet for some of the exhibitors, this very fact has created some opportunities in this country.

By Jessica Goldbogen Harlan
ATLANTA–Opulent top-of-bed collections, artisan techniques and sophisticated children’s bedding were common themes among the exhibitors at the second edition of the Atlanta International Fine Linen & Home Textiles Market at AmericasMart here earlier this month.

By Allison Zisko
NEW YORK–Could the humble apron be making a comeback?
Like those who are championing a return to “slow food,” some people see potential in aprons once again, and there were plenty of style options offered throughout this winter show season. They ranged from the traditional or the retro, like the flour sack versions from Mary Lake-Thompson, to the very current, more masculine Iron Chef assortment from Town & Country.

By David Gill
MASON, Ohio–Downlite executives said that the appointment of James Lape as chief executive officer of the company is a signal that the down products manufacturer is gearing itself for significant growth and new opportunities.