HFN The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network articles from April 2004

HFN The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network archives from April 2004

HOLY COW! LIFE AFTER RETAILING.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... FORMER RETAILING EXECUTIVES, a surprisingly large number of them, in fact, have turned to owning professional sports teams. Retired Wal-Mart boss David Glass owns the Kansas City Royals team, featuring All-Star Mike Sweeney. For more on who's...

DAN RIVER UP CREEK? TURN TO CHAPTER 11.
April 5, 2004... DANVILLE, Va.-Following last week's Chapter 11 filing by Dan River Inc., the home textiles industry is left speculating whether the mill will follow the fate of the much larger Pillowtex Corp., which liquidated, or be able to successfully...

BED BATH & WAY BEYOND: Q4 RESULTS OUTPACE RIVALS'.
April 5, 2004... UNION, N.J.-Bed Bath & Beyond continues to defy the odds and outperform its peers. The retailer's fourth-quarter earnings increased 37 percent, marking the company's 47th consecutive quarter of meeting or beating its operating plan. Net...

NEWS BRIEFS: RYMAN IN NEW POST AT J.R. UNITED...LAPINE LEAVES EXCEL GROUP POST...SLEEP INNOVATIONS SHUFFLES EXECS.
April 5, 2004... Ryman in New Post at J.R. United Steve Ryman, former senior vice president at Kmart who helped develop the Martha Stewart line, has joined J.R. United Industries in the newly created position of senior vice president and director of...

BUSH PLANS TO REBUILD ITSELF AS A PRIVATELY HELD COMPANY.
April 5, 2004... JAMESTOWN, N.Y.-Bush Industries plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a privately held company but without its founder and longtime chief executive officer. Last week, the major producer of ready-to-assemble furniture...

SECOND CHANCE FOR SERVICE MERCHANDISE: COMPANY RETURNS AS AN E-COMMERCE SITE.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... BOCA RATON, Fla.-Defunct catalog-showroom retailer Service Merchandise has returned for a second act as an e-tail site. Raymond Zimmerman, son of Service Merchandise founders Harry and Mary Zimmerman, has launched Servicemerchandise.com....

HOME FASHION EXECUTIVES HONORED AT ANNUAL FIT EVENT.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Home fashion industry executives gathered last week to award the most innovative students of the Home Products Development Department of the Fashion Institute of Technology at the eighth annual Scholarship Awards Breakfast. ...

J.C. PENNEY BLOWS OUT HOME AT NEW STORE IN NEW YORK.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-J.C. Penney unveiled its new Queens Center store in Elmhurst, N.Y., which is expected to be its largest-volume unit, featuring one of the biggest home assortments in the entire chain. The three-level, 200,000-square-foot store,...

TRADE SHOW CALENDAR.(Calendar)
April 5, 2004... april 14-19 Salone del Mobile Milan Fairgrounds Milan, Italy cosmit.it 15-17 International Window Coverings Expo Baltimore Convention Center Baltimore expoquestions.com 17-21 NACDS Annual Meeting ...

HOT UNDER THE COLOR.(Red is hot for housewares.)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Color, that hot topic du jour, is coming into its own across all classifications of merchandise this season, and the recent New York home textiles market bore that out. In the bedroom, brights have taken center stage, in particular all shades...

A LEAP TO THE PROS; A GROWING NUMBER OF RETAIL CHIEFTAINS ARE TRADING IN THEIR SPREADSHEETS FOR SCORECARDS IN A BID TO BE WINNERS IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-As co-founder of Home Depot, Arthur Blank created and nurtured one of the greatest retail success stories of the last 30 years. When he retired from the big orange in 2001, no one would have blamed him if he took a well-deserved rest....

SINS OF A DOWNLOADER.
April 5, 2004... Don't tell anybody, but I know this guy who, over the past couple of years, has downloaded thousands of songs from Web sites such as Limewire and Audio Galaxy. Name a song and he's got it. From novelty tunes such as "Hello Muddah, Hello...

BOOKMARKED.(public American home textile companies all failing or in bankruptcy)
April 5, 2004... And then there were...well, then there were none. None, as in no publicly traded, American-based supplier of home textiles products not in bankruptcy, or worse, out of business. With the Chapter 11 filing of Dan River last week, there...

AWARD-WINNING PERFORMERS; THE INDUSTRY HONORS ITS TOP RETAILERS OF THE YEAR DURING MARKET WEEK.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-"Spring is in the air," said Frank Foley, president of the Home Fashion Products Association, as he welcomed honorees and guests to an upbeat Retailer of the Year Awards ceremony last week at The Pierre hotel here. The awards,...

BRANDS WERE THE COVER STORY AT THE SPRING NEW YORK MARKET.(Big names in household linens are back with strength)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-It was all about brands in home textiles at last week's spring market here. Group 3 Design kicked it off with a brand presentation on the return of Royal Velvet, Rose Tree presented the bedding collection of designer Oscar de la...

EWHT'S POWER BREAKFAST.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-The Executive Women in Home Textiles organization invited a distinguished panel to grace its regular textiles market breakfast meeting last week to speak on a timely topic: "Delighting Your Customer: Challenges and Rewards of Going...

THE BEST IN SHOW.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
April 5, 2004... Best New Product award winners at George Little Management's New York Home Textiles Show are, from left: Michael Bauer of Curt Bauer GmbH, Jeff Rush and Hiroshi Matsumiya of Mogu America, Taizo Kawakita of Shichifuku Towel Co., Daisy Hill's...

RETAILERS AND VENDORS AT MARKET DIVIDED OVER QUOTAS ISSUE.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-The quota situation was on the minds of retailers at the textiles market here last week, even if it was not causing them to stock up on goods in anticipation of shortages in the fourth quarter. At the end of the market week,...

A WARM WELCOME FROM ELLERY.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Ellery Homestyles LLC had drinks, food and chopsticks for guests who came to view its product introductions and expanded showroom at 295 Fifth Ave. during the market. For those who like watching home design shows, Ellery had a roomful...

HOMESTEAD'S BRAND OF HOSPITALITY.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-A party was in order to celebrate the coming out of Homestead, a supplier mostly of private labels that is now going high profile and introducing a bunch of branded product designs. Guests came to greet Homestead executives and view...

MATOUK MARKS ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-The Matouk family welcomed guests who came to wish them well on their company's 75th anniversary at Au Bar here. A move to a larger showroom at 11 E. 26th St. also heralded the anniversary of the maker of fine linens.

A NEW BYZANTINE ERA; ODEGARD'S LATEST COLLECTION IS INSPIRED BY THE ART OF THE PERIOD.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Odegard Inc.'s latest release, the Byzantine Collection, was designed in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's spring exhibition: "Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557)." Designer Stephanie Odegard was approached by...

KARASTAN HELPS RETAILERS AID CONSUMERS `FROM THE FLOOR UP'.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Karastan has an antidote for retailers with the "Dwindling Margins, What Have You Done For Me Lately, Mr. Vendor Blues." It's a traveling consumer education road show called "Decorating From the Floor Up," and retailers who have...

MOHAWK WELCOMES WAITES; REWARDS ITS SALESPEOPLE.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Mohawk welcomed designer Raymond Waites to its New York showroom at 295 Fifth Ave. with a cocktail reception in his honor during market week. Waites' displays in the showroom included wares from his full bed and bath collection,...

EMMA GARDNER DESIGN WIDENS DISTRIBUTION RANGE.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... LITCHFIELD, Conn.-Emma Gardner Design has expanded its distribution network with the addition of new showroom partners in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The company has also partnered with two online home furnishings marketers. The new...

NEWS BRIEFS.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... FOR MARKET WEEK, KAS went contemporary with its Signature area rug line and introduced natural fibers into a few new scatter groups... SATURDAY KNIGHT added to its rug collection, launched last October, with silk/cotton blend chenilles and...

GLENOIT UNVEILS NEW BATH RUG PROGRAM.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-It's bath time for Glenoit, a division of Ex-Cell Home Fashions. The new bath rug program, constructed of combed and ring-spun 100 percent cotton yarn, "will be manufactured in India to the highest overseas quality standard," said...

FEIZY'S FORAY BACK TO THE SHOW.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Feizy Rugs returned to the New York Home Textiles Show after an absence of several years, said Ray Hashemi, vice president of sales, Division 2. Hashemi said the "bath [category] is really growing" for Feizy now, "so it was a good time to come...

SHAW BRINGS ITS BRANDS TOGETHER UNDER ONE ROOF.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Shaw Living unveiled its new New York home at the textiles market, bringing all of its brands -- Shaw Rugs, Georgia Tufters and Bretlin -- together in one showroom. Jeff Meadows, division vice president, said the move sends the...

FEELING THE HEAT; MANUFACTURERS AT THE ISPA EXPO WERE SHOPPING FOR FLAME-RESISTANT PRODUCTS TO MEET THE CALIFORNIA DEADLINE.
April 5, 2004... INDIANAPOLIS-Flame-retardant products occupied much more exhibit floor space at this year's ISPA Expo 2004, a supplier trade show sponsored by the International Sleep Products Association. Jan. 1, 2005, is the date California enacts its new...

NEWS BRIEFS.
April 5, 2004... JEFF CHILD of R.C. Willey Home Furnishings and Cherie Rose of The Rose Collection have been named Retailers of the Year by the National Home Furnishings Association. Child, president of Salt Lake City-based R.C. Willey, was chosen from among...

FUTON MAKERS BRING PRODUCTS CLOSER TO BEDDING AT EXPO.
April 5, 2004... PHILADELPHIA-Futon manufacturers continued to closely link their products to more traditional bedding during this year's 2004 Futon and Specialty Sleep Expo. This ongoing marriage may be the solution some independent bedding shops need in...

NEWS BRIEFS.
April 5, 2004... HOLLY ANDREWS has left the lighting buyer post at Bed Bath & Beyond to take the rug buying position there. No successor has yet been named... TARGET STORES has moved Teresa Morgan from buyer of cosmetics to lighting buyer, succeeding Sean...

BERNARD PECASO TO INTRODUCE KIOSK FOR CRYSTAL CHANDELIERS.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... HIGH POINT, N.C.-Bernard Pecaso Lighting will unveil a kiosk program to enable furniture dealers to get into the wide-margin crystal chandelier category at the International Home Furnishing Market here this month. Pecaso, headquartered in...

ARTSELECT BRINGING WALL DECOR TO HIGH POINT THROUGH WHOLESALE DIVISION, WORLD ART WORKS.
April 5, 2004... FAIRFIELD, Iowa-ArtSelect Inc., an art e-tailer and technology provider to retailers, is launching a wholesale wall decor division, World Art Works. World Art Works, previewed to buyers at the New York Gift Show, will launch a full...

HOBBY LOBBY'S NEW SHELF IMAGE.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Hobby Lobby, the 320-store chain, is no longer just a crafts retailer. It has become a destination for decorative lamps, home accessories and furniture. In mid-March, its High Point, N.C., store displayed two full aisles of illuminated lamps in...

SYRATECH'S HOT TOPIC; THE COMPANY'S LATEST BRAND OF PRODUCTS MAKES DECORATING EASIER FOR CONSUMERS.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-Ever watch one of those home decorating programs and wish you could instantly replicate the look at home? Syratech Corp. is betting that consumers who feel this same need will love Topic, its new brand that offers multipurpose...

NEW ARC CEO REVAMPS STAFF AS PART OF FOCUS ON BRANDS.
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-It will still be several months before Susan Saideman irons out the identities of all five of Arc International's brands. But in tweaking parts of the company's internal structure, and with the introduction of Studio Nova's Truck...

NEWS BRIEFS.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... ANCHOR HOCKING PRESIDENT David Reed said he is pleased with Anchor's new ownership. "It will be good for employees and the companies. It's very positive for everybody. Customers will love it because we are truly investing in the business." As...

CADDIES' CONVENIENCE SPARKS DINNERWARE TREND.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-One growing dinnerware trend is the caddy. It taps into the current popularity of mixed materials -- the materials being ceramic or porcelain plates stacked on a metal frame -- and, like its longtime caddy counterpart in flatware, it...

RESULTS FALL IN '03 FOR PORTMEIRION.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... STOKE-ON-TRENT, England-The impact of the Iraq war and the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic last summer took its toll on Portmeirion's profits in 2003. For the year ended Dec. 31, worldwide sales dropped 7.2 percent, and sales in...

STYLE TAKES THE AISLES AT THE HOUSEWARES SHOW.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-Retailers who made room in their fall programs for a few last-minute tabletop additions must have been pleased with the breadth and depth of the offerings at the International Home & Housewares Show here last month. There was very...

WEDGWOOD WOOS BRIDES-TO-BE WITH VERA AND THE DUCHESS.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... WALL, N.J.-Wedgwood made a successful swing through the South earlier this month with a star-powered entourage that drew huge crowds at a handful of Federated stores. Vera Wang and Lord Wedgwood made an appearance at a bridal event at...

NO FLASH IN THE PAN; CELEBRITY COOKWARE IS HERE TO STAY, ACCORDING TO RETAILERS SHOPPING THE HOUSEWARES SHOW.
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-For the most part, retailers are supporting the cookware makers who continued to bolster their brands with big names at the recent International Home & Housewares Show here. From All-Clad's Emerilware to T-Fal's Jamie Oliver...

G&S GOES THE UPSCALE ROUTE WITH BAKEWARE, KITCHEN TOOLS.(G&S Metal Products )(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-G&S Metal Products is moving beyond lower and moderate price points with several new lines of bakeware and kitchen tools shown here at the International Home & Housewares Show. The introductions mark an expansion for the company,...

WORLD KITCHEN TEAMS UP WITH FOOD NETWORK ON PROMOTIONAL DVD.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... RESTON, Va.-World Kitchen is gearing up for the outdoor entertaining season by teaming up with The Food Network to promote seven of its brands. In the promotion, Food Network chefs explore backyard cookouts in a DVD that highlights World...

MEYER HONES BRAND FOCUS BY ADDING CUTLERY TO ANOLON.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-Meyer Corp. has added cutlery to its Anolon line, building on a name that it has positioned as a gourmet housewares brand. The cutlery program made its debut at the International Home & Housewares Show, and according to Norman...

DELONGHI SHOWS ITS METAL IN STAINLESS, ALUMINUM LINE.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-DeLonghi shows its fascination with simple, clean looks in a new collection of stainless-steel and aluminum kitchen appliances unveiled at the International Home & Housewares Show. The aluminum half of the collection includes a...

ROWENTA APPLIANCE COLLECTION TO LAUNCH ON THE EVE OF ICFF.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-The emphasis will be on contemporary design when Rowenta unveils a new collection of kitchen appliances in May. With the design elite in town for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the collection designed by Jasper...

GILLETTE ACQUIRING REMBRANDT; MAKES STAFF MOVES.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... BOSTON-The Gillette Co. signed an agreement to acquire the Rembrandt brand of at-home and professional teeth-whitening products from privately held Den-Mat Corp. of Santa Maria, Calif. The transaction, expected to be completed in the second...

VENDORS TRY TO MAKE DURABLES ADORABLE.
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-At the least, give 'em points for style. Vendors at the International Home & Housewares Show here made good on their claim that they finally get it: Even in the utilitarian durables categories, aesthetics sell. Attention to...

POLDER RE-ENTERS BATH SCALES WITH ITS OWN BRAND.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-Polder re-entered the bath scale business at the International Home & Housewares Show with its own branded line of scales. The company had been in the scale business for years, first distributing Seiko and then Soehnle branded...

OXO PUTS STYLE IN THE TRASH, ADDS PLASTIC, STAINLESS CANS.
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-OXO Good Grips entered the trash can segment with stainless-steel and plastic models at the International Home & Housewares Show here last month. Alex Lee, president, said the expansion is part of OXO's overall strategy to enhance...

A SHARP TURN; THE ELECTRONICS GIANT IS ENTERING WHITE GOODS IN NORTH AMERICA VIA A RANGE-MICROWAVE COMBO UNVEILED AT KBIS.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... CHICAGO-Sharp Electronics Corp. got into major appliances in North America by introducing a range with a microwave drawer at the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show here over the weekend. The Insight Range series combines a glass surface, a...

HOW THE BIG 3 STACK UP IN THE COMPACT STEREO DEPARTMENT.
April 5, 2004... PHILADELPHIA-A walking tour of the compact stereo sections of the "Big Three" retailers' electronics departments seems to indicate that only one of them feels the need to treat this product subsegment with much respect. The retailers --...

DVD PLAYER FUELS THE FLAME IN LENNOX ELECTRIC FIREPLACE.
April 5, 2004... ANAHEIM, Calif.-DVD players are seemingly everywhere these days: minivans and airplanes, for instance. At the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Expo here, a DVD player cropped up in, of all places, a fireplace. The Reflections High-Definition Fire...

BEST BUY VS. CIRCUIT CITY.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... ON THE COVER Best Buy: Bose 3-2-1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound System with DVD player, $899.99 Circuit City: Kodak 5.0 Megapixel digital camera, with free 128MB memory, $299.99 ACCESSORIES Best Buy: Acoustic Research 900MHz...

YEN FOR PRICEY PRODUCTS DRIVING HOME GOODS SPENDING.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-As consumers continue to open doors to new homes in record numbers, researchers and analysts agree that sales of furniture and home equipment needed to fill these houses will continue to outpace other segments. From 2002 to 2003,...

RETAILERS' RESULTS COME ON STRONG IN Q4.
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK-New merchandise assortments, extra focus on customer needs, added investments in business growth and innovative retail concepts were among the strategies cited by leading home furnishings and electronics retailers for a solid...

OVER THE RAINBOW.(House & Garden's celebration of outstanding design at the Rainbow Room in New York)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... The most stunning room in New York, the Rainbow Room, was the setting for House & Garden's celebration of outstanding design. The room was filled not only with all the stellar nominees and winners from the magazine's Best on the Best 2004...

SHOWERED IN FLOWERS.
April 12, 2004... IF IT'S APRIL, IT'S SHOWER TIME, and you know what April showers bring. Only this year you don't have to wait till May for the flowers. They're all over the place this spring, and not just in Macy's Herald Square. See Trends, page 10.

25 NEW TARGETS AIM FOR SHOPPER BULL'S-EYE.
April 12, 2004... FARMINGDALE, N.Y.-The future is now for Target. Its new P 2004 prototype store here reflects evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes designed to boost store traffic and render more shopper-friendly merchandise adjacencies. The...

LI & FUNG: BRANDING ITSELF AS A NEW FORCE IN HOME.
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-For Li & Fung, Royal Velvet is just the beginning. The $5.5 billion global sourcing giant that landed the bed and bath license this year has set out to amass a stable of powerhouse brands as part of a bold bid to grow its home...

MEASUREMENT SPECIALTIES TO PAY $7.5M TO SETTLE CLASS-ACTION SUIT.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... FAIRFIELD, N.J.-Measurement Specialties Inc. reached an agreement to settle its class-action securities litigation. MSI, which designs and makes sensors, including scales, will pay $7.5 million to settle the case. Arthur Andersen, the...

NEWS BRIEFS: TWO MORE WEST ELM STORES TO OPEN...NIBLOCK NAMED CEO-ELECT AT LOWE'S...DUPONT, KOCH AGREE TO EARLY CLOSING.
April 12, 2004... Two More West Elm Stores to Open Williams-Sonoma's West Elm brand will roll out at least two more stores by the end of the year. The company has chosen sites in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood and Corte Madera, Calif. ...

HFN'S COMP SALES INDEX UP FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH.
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-The first month of spring turns consumers' fancy to thoughts of shopping, if March's same-store sales are an indication. For the fifth month in a row, same-store sales at leading retailers tracked by HFN rose compared with the...

COWIE FINDS PLACE AT THE TABLE WITH J.C. PENNEY.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... PLANO, Texas-J.C. Penney, which partnered last fall with home entertaining/wedding planning extraordinaire Colin Cowie to spice up its bridal business, will launch a tabletop line dubbed the Colin Cowie for J.C. Penney Home Collection this...

ANTI-DUMPING GROUP SEEKING A 50-DAY DELAY ON DUTIES.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... HIGH POINT, N.C.-Supporters of anti-dumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture imports from China have requested a 50-day delay that's expected to put off the possibility of preliminary duties until June 17. The delay was requested by the...

SAKS COUNTING ON EXCLUSIVE MIX, NEW MANAGEMENT TO DRIVE SALES.
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-In a bid to boost operating margins, Saks Inc. will leverage the regional flavor of its 242-unit Department Store Group with unique products and shop concepts, and stoke the upscale appeal of its 63-unit Saks Fifth Avenue chain with a...

RETAIL HIRES RISE IN MARCH, BUT SO DOES JOBLESS RATE.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-Retail establishments hired about 47,000 more people in March, but the retail-wholesale unemployment rate still rose during the month as the portion of people looking for work increased. Among the 47,000 jobs filled, 13,000 were in...

BLOOMINGDALE'S OPENS FIRST FURNITURE STORE.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... GARDEN CITY, N.Y.-Bloomingdale's opened its first full-fledged furniture gallery here earlier this month in a newly renovated space at the Roosevelt Field Mall, featuring the most expansive furniture assortment of any of its stores. "The...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
April 12, 2004... CORRECTION In a luggage feature in the Feb. 17 issue of HFN, the senior vice president of Badanco should have been identified as Steve Bromberg. Also, Bromberg's quote should have read: "We are creating products that combine fashion and...

GLASSWARE INNOVATOR CLAUS RIEDEL DIES.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-Claus Josef Riedel, creator of "wine-specific" glassware, died last month in Italy. Riedel, who was born in Poland in 1925, was president of the family firm Riedel Crystal from 1957 to 1994, when he was succeeded by his son,...

NORMAN GOLDMAN, FORMER STROUDS VP, DEAD AT 53.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 12, 2004... LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.-Norman Louis Goldman, a former executive at Strouds, died of colon cancer March 4. He was 53. Goldman was well known in the home textiles industry. In 1978, he and his cousin, Lynn Levin, founded Linens Plus in...

DESIGNER PUTS A LOT OF LOVE INTO HOME CLEANING.
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-Accessories designer Beverly Feldman is out to make something as mundane as housecleaning not just fun, but glamorous. Feldman, who is based between New York and Alicante, Spain, has launched a line of household utensils that...

TRADE SHOW CALENDAR.(Calendar)
April 12, 2004... april 14-19 Salone del Mobile Milan Fairgrounds Milan, Italy cosmit.it 15-17 International Window Coverings Expo Baltimore Convention Center Baltimore expoquestions.com 17-21 NACDS Annual Meeting ...

FLORAL AND HARDY.
April 12, 2004... April's showers have brought a deluge of spring flowers -- on merchandise, that is. Happy, bright and cheerful fleurs are cropping up on everything from textiles to tabletop in a riot of colors. Scenes from the 30th Annual Macy's Flower Show...

BEST BUY GETS BETTER.
April 12, 2004... Fast-talking, beat-any-price consumer electronics retailers learned long ago how to subsist on endless discounting, eroded margins and slick tactics to avoid side-by-side consumer comparisons. Manufacturers, more concerned with market share,...

PERIL FROM APPAREL.
April 12, 2004... If the home furnishings business thought it had it bad when the apparel business stunk, just wait until it sees how it likes things now that the apparel business is doing just fine. The home industry ain't seen nothing yet. Talk about...

MAKING A DIFFERENCE; SOME VENDORS AT THE NEW YORK HOME TEXTILES MARKET SHOWED PRODUCTS THAT WERE, WELL, EXTRAORDINARY.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-Unusual materials were incorporated into everyday items to make last month's home textiles market interesting. Dante Living, a supplier to high-end specialty stores, showed some glitter with Swarovski crystal accents on its...

WINDOW EXPO NO-SHOWS HAVE VENDORS REASSESSING ITS VALUE.
April 12, 2004... BALTIMORE-What if you threw a party and none of the really popular kids showed up? Exhibitors and attendees at the International Window Coverings Expo here may be about to find out. Most of the big players in hard window -- Hunter...

TALKING TURKEY.(CNR launched Turkish Hometex New York )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... CNR launched Turkish Hometex New York last month to coincide with home textiles market week. Although there were certainly a lot of Turkish towels, more than 60 exhibitors also showed curtain and furnishings fabrics, bed linens, pillows,...

DISPLAY'S THE THING.
April 12, 2004... NEW YORK-A good product is only as good as it looks on retail shelves. Presentation is everything. Below are packaging and fixture statements found at last month's home textiles market here that got their points across.

CARPENTER CONDUCTS PILLOW POLL, LAUNCHES FIRST CONSUMER ADS.
April 12, 2004... RICHMOND, Va.-Carpenter Co. launched its first consumer advertising campaign, coinciding with its first consumer poll, during last month's home textiles market in New York. The poll, commissioned by Carpenter and conducted by Roper, gauged...