DWH offering 'elegance at a price'

By Michele SanFilippo -- Home Textiles Today, 9/19/2003 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

With a fresh lineup of six bed patterns, an embroidered sheet in three new colors, an additional Royalty Floral hue, yarn-dyed silk button quilts and baby alpaca/silk blend throws, there's no question that enduring design drives Royal Sateen Home by D.W. Holdings, Inc.

"I'm always in search of what's going to improve my collection from one market to the next, and that's newness and quality, not trends per se," said Marcia Brandwein, creative director. She added that everything is done with "elegance and beauty at price points people can afford" because each retailer has its own look appealing to its customers' tastes.

D.W. Holdings was formerly known as Design Works.

This market the company is introducing six new bed patterns: Charmeuse, Stitched Squares, Garden Floral, Embroidered Vine, Isabella and Madura. Charmeuse is a 100-percent silk wave charmeuse duvet that layers back to Royalty Rose sheeting and accessories, and features a crushed silk-like pillow and Euros in dark rose with tassel accents. Stitched Squares offers a more contemporary men's look in yarn-dyed Egyptian cotton sateen with a panel edged solid sheet, sheer metallic pillows and textured Euros. Garden Floral is a classic document floral botanical in sage, green and bronze colorways with a wallpaper coordinate stripe that features accents of silk, metallic fabric and pleated velvet. The overall sense is an "easy to live with color feeling," according to Brandwein.

Embroidered Vine has all over vine-like embroidery in sand and moss colorways with pleated organza shams and Euros. The coordinate sheet is in ivory with a moss inset. Isabella is a lovely line drawing taille floral in merlot with a camel background featuring a crackle texture. Madura has an overscale masculine tailored paisley pattern with subtle neutral coloration that features a coordinate reminiscent of iron fretwork. Its accessories include such materials as silk charmeuse, pleated tucked silk and microsuede pillows. There is also a 450-count coordinate for each printed bed in the collection and duvets will retail for $250 to $350.

The new embroidered Royalty Diamond sheet features a fashion look in its color assortment and embroidery. The sheet is a diamond jacquard with an intricate medallion in the center that comes in three new colors: slate, nutmeg and mahogany.

D.W. Holdings is also adding another color (linen) to its best-selling sheet program, Royalty Floral, a 410-count jacquard sheet with an embroidered hem now available in eight colors.

"Our basic [sheeting] collection is selling very well, so the intention is to build in more exciting different designs for top of bed to pull it all together for customers," Brand-wein added. "If solids are handled in a textured manner with luxury colors and accessories, the effect is quite beautiful. We try to have a palette that lets [you] layer back to any of the patterns for a multitude of fashion options. Each time you layer in another level of color, you bring in more dimension."

She emphasized that luxury bedding is a long-term investment, so everything needs to layer back to the solid-color sheets and coordinates.

"Our patterns also have to appeal to more conservative consumers who might not want to make a statement with their bedding."

There are also yarn-dyed silk button quilts and baby alpaca and silk blend throws, which launched in spring, to coordinate with each of the six new bedding ensembles D.W. Holdings, Inc. is unveiling. Throws will be available in two new colors, gold and linen; while quilts will come in four new colors: bronze, gold, merlot and olive.