Windham readies new products and image

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/25/2003 12:00:00 AM

RIDGEFIELD, CT —

Accommodating rapid growth into new product categories and added overseas sourcing, Windham Weavers has moved its warehouse operations to a new facility in Charleston, SC, that is almost double the size of its original 60,000-square-foot warehouse in Chesapeake, VA.

The new facility is 110,000 square feet and is set up as the site where the 10-year-old company warehouses and distributes its line of table linens, decorative pillows, scatter rugs and window treatments.

"We're going vertical in all of our businesses, as we're seeing tremendous growth in all of our categories," Lance Orlick, executive vp, operations, said.

For the upcoming New York Home Textile market in September, the company will introduce its new logo and packaging that will better illustrate its new initiative to offer full coordination across all four product categories.

Introductions this fall include the addition of 15 looks in window treatments, 30 in decorative pillows and chair pads, 15 in rugs and 30 in table linens. The variety of constructions has grown to include tapestries, wovens, jacquards, damasks, heat transfers and prints. Also new will be the addition of two new licensed programs with artists Paul Brent and Linda Grayson.

Windham Weavers fastest growing channels today are mass merchants, specialty chains and department stores.

"We've really made inroads at specialty and mid-tier department stores," Orlick said. "They like the total coordination we offer them."

While table lines are the company's core business, especially in jacquard constructions from India, its retail partners have placed emphasis on Windham Weavers' coordinated offerings and have helped grow the company's private label and everyday business.

Also, it has been through new partnerships forged with Chinese manufacturers that the company is building up its assortment with new heat-transfer and damask looks and increasing its basic business to occupy 50 percent from just 20 percent of its assortment, with the other half made up by seasonal goods.