Brumlow Home returns to bath rugs

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 3/9/2009 10:46:00 AM

At the New York Market -- Domestic accent rug manufacturer Brumlow Home is returning to the bath rug category after being away for the past five years.

Mitchell Brumlow, owner of this family-owned-and-operated manufacturer based in Calhoun, Ga., told HTT he originally sold his bath rug division in 2003 to Mohawk because he anticipated a void in availability of fiber as well as pricing pressures for the product.

“I thought the fiber source was going away, with the larger mills extruding their own fibers more and more, and putting pressure on pricing,” he said. “But Invista has stayed so relevant and so innovative that the larger mills haven’t been able to keep up with the technology. So we’ve decided to come back using Invista.”

Invista’s Comforel brand is the anchor of Brumlow Home’s new solid and solid-textured bath rug program. It comes in 14 constructions and a variety of weights and price points, from a 16-ounce at a $9.99 opening price point product to a 60-ounce plush pile for $34.99.

There are also varieties that combine the Invista Comforel fiber with cotton for a different look and feel as well as some “true” level cut and loop styles “with no buried loops,” Brumlow said.

“With this bath program we are trying to make the statement that we can do everything,” Brumlow explained. “We are totally vertical and we make everything on site in one facility.”

Like most of Brumlow’s accent rug offerings, its bath rugs are all latex backed.

Other new developments for market include: the expansion of the Transitions collection of level cut and loop Invista Supriva-branded nylon with new patterns; the addition of 50 new printed patterns and two new bases added to the injection-dyed printed rug collection; and the doubling of the ColorTech-branded collection of polypropylene-and-nylon accent rugs.

In other news, Tammie Brumlow has been promoted. She now helps coordinate efforts between the company’s designs staff with the marketing and sales team. She reports to Mitchell Brumlow.