HFPA clarifies position on Market

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/16/2007 12:19:00 PM

New York -- The Home Fashion Products Association (HFPA) said it “would like to prevent any confusion” between George Little Management’s recent trademarking of “New York Home Textiles Market Week,” which is integrated with the New York International Gift Fair and related showroom participants, and HFPA’s New York Home Fashions Market, which focuses on home textiles directed at volume retailers.

HFPA said its decision to change the dates of its semi-annual New York Market came “in response to requests from its members and their customers.”

HFPA added, “The overwhelming response was that, although there should still be two major markets a year, the dates needed to move forward to accommodate the increased time period necessary to develop and then produce products to meet retail launch requirements.”

The colloquial expression “Market Week” – a showroom-based event targeting volume retailers – was dropped by the Home Fashions Products Association (HFPA) earlier this year in favor of New York Home Fashions Market.

Earlier this week, George Little Management, the organizer of the Javits Center-based New York International Gift Fair/New York Home Textiles Show announced that it had teamed up with two showroom buildings – 230 Fifth Avenue and 7 W 34th St. -- to brand its semi-annual events The New York Home Textiles Market Week. Gift-oriented showrooms that open during the week refer to it as New York Gift Week.

Home textiles suppliers that target both volume and independent specialty retailers traditionally open their showrooms for both the GLM event and the HPFA market.

The next edition of the HFPA New York Home Fashions Market will run Monday, Aug. 6 through Friday, Aug. 10. (For information, contact Carolynn Jennings, HFPA executive director, at (212) 297-2122, cjennings@kellencompany.com.)

The New York Home Textiles Market Week will open Thursday, Aug. 9 at 7 W; Saturday, Aug. 9 at 230 Fifth Avenue; and Sunday, Aug. 12 at the Jacob Javits Center. The New York International Gift Fair at Javits opens on Saturday, Aug. 11. The event ends Thursday, Aug. 16 in all three venues.