Aussino Teams with HGTV Designer

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/19/2006 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Summer Baltzer, one of the designers on HGTV's “Design on a Dime” show, has signed a master home license with Aussino USA for a line that will debut following the August textiles market.

The five-year agreement will include an initial offering of bed and bath textiles, bath ceramics and signature loungewear. Summer Baltzer Home for Aussino will be a lifestyle brand targeting a fashion-conscious, mid-tier marketplace with moderate price points, said Steve Lewis, president of Aussino.

The initial line will consist of eight bedding designs in four collections. Lewis said they will be introduced post-market because “we want to be sure we get it right the first time.” The company expects to offer other products branded by the designer, such as kitchen textiles, dinnerware, cookware and furniture in the U.S. and globally.

“Summer is very involved,” Lewis said in an interview. “She is actually doing the designing” in collaboration with Aussino's in-house design and development teams. “With her status in the celebrity market along with her ambition and her hype, that alone will help us bring the product to market.”

The effort marks Aussino's entry into the designer branding marketplace.

Baltzer, who mixes traditional design with modern elements, has built a following with the HGTV show over the past five years, and has also built a successful private client design business over the past 10 years.

Baltzer told HTT, “I've already reached a broad audience. They already know me and they're looking forward to something like this. I've already reached that target audience and now I'm just giving them something they're either expecting or asking for.”

Baltzer said that Aussino's designers are helping her through a learning curve of manufacturing and production in order to bring her designs to market at a “decent” price point for the consumer.