Natori Home Debuts Luxury Collection

By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 2/20/2006 12:00:00 AM

New York — —

New York — Calling the debut collection of Natori Home's bedding and accessories “upmarket” is a bit like calling the space shuttle an airplane.

With opening price points at $700 and extending to $2,700, it may safely be said the collection, with its luxurious embellishments, is geared to the upper end, understated consumer.

Indeed, the eight-bed collection, which was designed for luxury specialty stores, may outscale all but the very top end. It's meant to be sold both for one's own use and as gifts, explained James Booth, senior vp, Natori Home, who pointed out, “We're not selling sheets, but a bed ensemble.”

The decorative pillows and luxury throws can be used on the beds in many ways or as gift accessories, he added, noting, “Mrs. Natori's aesthetic does not embrace lots of pillows on beds.” Instead, simple pairs of bolsters are featured.

Silks in a variety of constructions, cashmere, bamboo and Pima cotton are used as base fabrics with a mélange of embellishments that include pearls, jade, coins, intricate quiltings, buttons and laser-cut wood.

For the bridal market, Natori Home features Double Happiness, a tailored bed with a quilt covered in silk front and back and filled with silk floss. It is the more tailored of the bridal duo that includes Wedding, a more feminine bed with an embroidered duvet cover, an intricate cuff on the sheet and cases and a throw with fringe enhanced with real pearls. The beds are $2,200 and $2,700 respectively.

Empress, the Carole Lombard-inspired glamour bed, features the Natori crest in several renditions: on the sheet, as jade tassels on the trim and as laser-cut buttons. The bed scarf is embroidered. In soft colors; retail is $2,700.

Within the collection, the opening price point bed at $700 is Penthouse, which offers Natori bamboo, a blend of 52% cotton/48% bamboo featuring a coverlet with intricate quilting and sheets of an overprinted jacquard.

“It is a dream come true to be able to successfully articulate the Natori lifestyle sensibility with this home textiles collection,” said Josie Natori, president of her namesake apparel company and Natori Home.