Nourison Champions Wool, Adds Liz Claiborne

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 1/15/2007 12:00:00 AM

Saddle Brook, N.J. —

As the price of oil-derived synthetic fibers continues to add cost to rug production, Nourison is championing the resurgence of sensibly-priced wool and wool-and-silk area rugs and wall-to-wall carpets.

Uniquely situated to take advantage of wool, due to its infrastructure and experienced work force — the company spins and dyes its own yarns — Nourison has also invested in new offshore production capacity.

The new Nourison plant in Shangdong province, China has 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space, to handle both broadloom and area rugs, the company said. In addition, a new facility is under construction in Calhoun, Ga. to control U.S. warehousing and distribution for the division.

Founder and principal Alex Peykar told HTT, "This is going to give us a lot of ways we can grow." Peykar also pointed out that tufting — used in manufacturing wool rugs, while synthetic rugs typically are woven — can produce rugs up to eight times faster than weaving.

As the rug market season gets underway, Nourison is rolling out innovative fabrications and fresh designs, such as its updated Calvin Klein line and the debut of the Nourison 3000 series of New Zealand wool and wool-and-silk area rugs.

The company is showing new collections developed under its recently signed license with Liz Claiborne. Items will be available to consumers in mid-2007 at home furnishings specialty retailers and flooring stores including Carpet One Floor & Home, the exclusive retailer of Liz Claiborne Home carpet, hardwood and ceramic tile flooring.

The Shangdong plant will produce broadloom and area-from-broadloom-design wool tufted rugs featuring hand carving and a range of styles. "We are producing 20 new collections from our new branch," Peykar said, "with 12 to 20 colors for each." He noted that styles will include loop, cut and loop, random sheen, and Saxony finish, with additional elements to be added in future lines, such as high-low cut and loop, more hand carvings, and stripes.