Chris Stone 'widens' fabric program

Company names new marketing director

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 1/7/2002 12:00:00 AM

HIGH POINT, NC —

HIGH POINT, NC Chris Stone & Associates is launching a new wide-width fabric program designed for the top of the bed and decorative pillow home furnishings businesses.

The company will offer print downs on commodity cloths such as 180-count sheetings of cotton and cotton/polyester blends as well as proprietary fabrics including textures. The fabrics will be offered in widths from 72-inch to 108-inch, all in the mid-price range, said Mark Aizawa, president. In addition, the company is "taking an aggressive look at off-shore sources for greige goods," Aizawa emphasized.

The firm previously had a licensing agreement to handle print downs for the home textiles world, but decided to reown this portion of the business, Aizawa said.

Both the 54-inch line, which now includes printed silk dupioni and printed linens as well as the company's basic cottons and cotton/rayon blends, and the wide-width program will tap into the company's 25-year-old contemporary and floral design archives.

In a related move Andrea Bernstein has joined the company as director of marketing, a new position, reporting to Aizawa. Bernstein, now based in Florida, most recently was creative director of Perry Ellis men's loungewear, and earlier had been with World Wide Mfg., a Florida bed/bath home fashions company. Bernstein "will be involved in the initial push for the wide-width division and will target other markets and product development," Aizawa said. She will relocate to the company's headquarters in Los Angeles in the spring.