United Weavers inks deal for print designs

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/14/2002 12:00:00 AM

Dalton, GA — Five-year-old area rug importer United Weavers has forged its first licensing deal, with London-based Woodward Grosvenor to produce a broad line of rugs featuring designs taken from prints dating from the 1700s through the early 1900s.

The collection is titled Minster and will be launched in July at the Atlanta International Area Rug Show.

"The collection is being built around archival designs that royalty commissioned to be made for their own rugs," Diane Carleo, director of marketing, told HTT. "There are 26,000 prints we can choose from in this archive, and we bought the rights to use any and all of them."

Minster is made of 1-million-point 100 percent olefin and, like all of United Weavers other rug collections, it will be made in Saudi Arabia. However, it will target a more upscale customer for the company, with a 6' x 9' slated to retail for $299.