Windham Weavers, Gear forge licensing partnership

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 1/25/2002 12:00:00 AM

New York — Looking to increase its breadth of licensed product offerings and grow its fledgling decorative pillow business, Windham Weavers has partnered with Gear Holdings Inc. to produce a coordinating collection of table linens, scatter rugs, coir mats and decorative pillows.

The product launch is scheduled for early February during the annual winter mini-market here.

The Gear product constructions vary for each category — tablecloths, place mats, napkins and runners will be made of 100 percent cotton, rugs will be made of 100 percent cotton tapestry, and decorative pillows will be made of a poly-cotton blend tapestry. Price points are set at $19.99 to $24.99 for tablecloths, $1.99 to $5.99 for place mats, $12.99 to $14.99 for rugs, and $9.99 to $19.99 for decorative pillows. The line targets specialty and department stores.

The licensing partnership with Gear is the third for Windham Weavers, which also has licensing deals with Pfaltzgraff for rugs and with Americana and folk artist Laurie Korsgaben for table linens, rugs and decorative pillows.

In other news, Windham recently appointed Travis Spencer to the newly created position of design director for decorative pillows.

Spencer formerly worked as an independent artist and owner of his own licensed property.

In his new post, Spencer reports directly to Lance Orlick, executive vp, and Richard Russo, president.