Domestics Week ranges from metallic looks to MP3s

DSN Retailing Today, April 19, 2004 by Mike Duff

NEW YORK -- During the recently concluded Domestics Week, colors reflected the pearlescent and metallic hues that were also evident among hard goods at the recently concluded Housewares Show, while suppliers consistently redesigned their showrooms to make them more retailer friendly. On the retailer side, a major award went to honor the work of an organization whose true reward is found in working to improve living conditions for United States service men and women.

At the Retailer of the Year Awards, sponsored by the Home Fashion Product Association and the New York Home Textiles Show, the Army Air Force Exchange Service was honored among retailers for International Service. In accepting the award, AAFES coo Marilyn Iverson saluted the organization's associates who have been serving troops on site in Afghanistan and Iraq since soon after soldiers entered those countries. "Our motto is, 'We go where the troops go,'" she said. Iverson also saluted her vendor partners for the support they've shown AAFES. "We could not have done it without the vendor community."

Also among winners announced at the March 28 event held at The Pierre hotel were Family Dollar for Neighborhood Discounter, JCPenney Direct for Consumer Direct, The Linen Store and Home Decor for Specialty Boutique, Tuesday Morning for Value Department Store and George Greenberg, president of Pioneer Linens for Lifetime Achievement.

Greenberg used his acceptance speech to harangue vendors for better prices so that he could boost margins at Pioneer Linens, this was met with laughter and applause of all those who have gotten to know him over the years.

WestPoint Stevens offered a reorganized showroom designed to display products in a more retailer-friendly manner and along the lines by which buyers shop them. Brands have been redeveloped to better serve the current trend in the business as well. For example, rather than positioning Utica as has been traditionally done, as an opening price point/discount store line, WestPoint has expanded the thread count range to make it more flexible. The line now includes 400-thread-count Pima cotton sheets as well as 600-count sateen bedding. In bath, WestPoint offered the Retro Rub, a textured towel developed with styling that recalled the late 1950s and early 1960s, an era that was celebrated in the design of bath accessories and even bedding in many of domestics showrooms among recent product launches.

Outside of its more traditional offerings, WestPoint Stevens debuted a product called the Whisper Pillow. Built into the down and down alternative product line, it is a speaker that can be hooked into a MP3 player or other suitable device to give consumers a personal soundtrack to dreamland. Price points are $69.99 for down and $39.99 for down alternative.

A major development at Springs was the debut of product under the licensed Crabtree & Evelyn brand. Crabtree & Evelyn is an example of one of the key trends in the market, developing lines based on a set of aesthetic principles already familiar to consumers, in this case from the brand's personal care products.

Also, Crabtree & Evelyn products came in three essential styleways that showed up frequently at market: traditional, in line with the brand identity; masculine, with the adoption of something like the metallic looks that have hit the home furnishings market; and contemporary, for consumers who want something a little more up to date.

"There are tremendous synergies between Crabtree & Evelyn and Wamsutta brands, and we are thrilled to capture these characteristics in a home collection that will emanate sophisticated luxury," Leslie Gillock, vp of brand management at Springs, said.

The collection includes comforters, sheets, quilts and, on the bath side, shower curtains, towels and accessories.

In terms of price tags, comforters and duvets in the collection came with price points retail at $399.99 for queen-sized and queen-sized duvets for between $199.99 and $179.99.

While those price points fall into the mass-market range, cost-consciousness remains such that some retailers continue to look at ways to take what's fashionable and make it work for less-affluent consumers. The price of duvet covers is of some consideration to price-conscious retailers and their suppliers, for example, so Hollander Home has introduced a new line for the more cost-oriented. A duvet cover with two shams in clear plastic packaging retails at a $14.99 price point.

Waverley continued to expand its American Residences program, adding The Williamsburg Collection in its recent introductions, a group of products inspired by the colonial village in Virginia. As was the case with other vendors, Waverley added a spa element with a tropical motif. Among the other participants in the trend, Springs Basic Bedding added an entire Spa Collection, including silk-cotton featherbeds, mattress pads, pillows and blankets as well as a polyester-filled throw and mattress pads.

Domestics vendors also are adding to their lineup of decorative pillows, as at Dan River, with various embellishments and fabrications designed to offer retailers a selection that they can use for conspicuous differentiation. The company is emphasizing that its product line is more than bed-in-the-bag, although that remains an important component.