Christy USA returns to market with towel mix

By Andrea Lillo -- Home Textiles Today, 4/8/2002 12:00:00 AM

GORDONSVILLE, VA —

After an absence of seven years, Christy USA is coming back to market, bringing its line of luxury bath towels, beach towels and robes to the Flatotel, on 52nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in New York.

"We felt that this opportunity was worthwhile," said Oliver Newman, president, Christy USA, the U.S. division of Christy.

The Manchester, England-based bath towel maker will show its Embrace with Silk line, which blends 48 percent cotton, 22 percent silk and 30 percent micro modal into one towel. It's the first towel to have silk woven in the pile, Newman said, and has a patent pending on it.

Though select department and specialty retailers have already rolled out the new towel lines in their stores, Christy is opening up distribution to others as well, he said. "The towel has an incredible handle."

The colors available include a palette of Natural Stone, Royal Gold, Tranquil Green, Natural White and Heavenly Blue as well as an Asian palette of Firecracker, Festival Plum and China Blue. Like the majority of its towel line, Embrace with Silk is made in the United Kingdom, and a 30" x 54" bath towel will retail on sale for $29.99.

Other Christy products to be shown include beach towels and embellished towels. The generously sized beach towels, consisting of seven designs, are produced in Turkey and have velour on one side and terry on the other.

The embellished towel line, colored in either white or parchment, includes Raphael, which has direct embroidery on organza, and Rochelle, which has Austrian lace trim.

Christy will also show the latest color additions in its solid-color towel lines: Renaissance, with its palette of 18 colors, and Arcadian.