Bardwil cooks up kitchen line

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 9/24/2001 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Bardwil Linens, traditionally a table linen manufacturer since the company launched three generations ago, will for the first time enter the kitchen textiles category with several introductions at the upcoming New York Home Textiles market in October.

"Due to the success of the Royal Velvet and Fieldcrest brand names at retail in tablecloths, it makes sense to expand the product line to include kitchen textiles," said Nancy Kristoff, president of sales and marketing.

For the launch, Bardwil will introduce three branded collections: Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest and the Bardwil private label brand called Lifestyles.

Each of the collections is imported from Latvia and is composed of solid-color kitchen towels, potholders, oven mitts and dishcloths in 13 color basic and fashion color palettes. Towels for both Royal Velvet and Fieldcrest are oversized and of high density 100 percent cotton. Towel constructions will include terry, dobby and jacquard in solid color and coordinating plaids. All the components are 100 percent cotton and easy-care machine washable. All of the collections will begin shipping this fall.

"The scope of these kitchen programs is very extensive," said George Bardwil, ceo and owner. "We have aimed at giving the retailers a superior product with highly recognizable brand identity."

Price points will range between $2.99 and $7.99. For the time being, each piece will be sold separately. "But we plan to expand into multiple-piece packages in the near future," Kristoff said.

Bardwil's kitchen textiles collections will target mid-tier, specialty and department stores, the same retailers with which Bardwil currently partners.

Currently none of the kitchen textiles coordinate directly with any of Bardwil's table linens, but the goal is to soon create a line that coordinates with the seasonal print jacquard tablecloth collections.

"We have put all our resources behind these programs both from a design and service point of view in order to fully and properly execute these programs," Kristoff added.