Spectrum launches design collection

By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 10/8/2001 12:00:00 AM

New York — For Abby Gilmore, ceo of Covington Industries, the newly launched Spectrum Designer Gallery headed by Hoyne is the fruition of a long-time goal.

"We've been looking for a long time for a handle to market to the upper end [of the fabric business], and Marjorie had always touched that market, but she had been hampered" by the demands of the other parts of the business," she said.

Hoyne, retired as president of Spectrum Fabrics, now Spectrum Designer Gallery, launched the initial collection which includes designs by Jay Yang and Margarita Cushing as well as Covington Fabrics' design team of the D'Ascolis as well as Hoyne herself.

"We're also talking with other designers," as the Gallery expands from its traditional base to transitional and soon, contemporary," Hoyne explained.

For Gilmore, the launch collection, which offers a collection of velvets, "is just gorgeous and awesome in look. We're really designing for the high end of the market." Among the other fabric directions, Hoyne said prints on silk, velvet and brocade will be important statements. In the debut collection the wovens include an array of gold, silver, pale blue and champagne.