Waverly delivers decs, wades into window

-- Home Textiles Today, 10/10/2004 9:02:00 AM

FROM THE NEW YORK MARKET — Waverly has some new tricks up its sleeve, including a free-standing collection of decorative pillows for the gift market and its inaugural line of window shades.

The cloth Roman Shades collection comes in three shapes: soft, swag and tailored. Waverly will also sell the extruded aluminum hardware to fit them. The cloth shade panels Velcro on and off, so that consumers can switch out designs seasonally. The shades retail for $60 to $90.

"Shades have not been a retail-friendly product," said Dale Williams, president and general manager of Waverly Lifestyles Group. "The story here is that we're going to deliver a custom look in a retail-friendly manner."

Waverly also is introducing more tailored, less fussy window treatments. Grommets, box pleats, casual swags, toga valances and panels hung on metal rings update the line.

The free-standing dec pillow collection is being marketed under the Waverly Custom Gallery brand, which currently exists under license to outside vendors in table linens, paper products and tableware.

The hand-made pillows are more richly embellished than those Waverly supplies to the price-sensitive, mass-distribution channels. They include patchworks, chenilles, beading, braids, fringes and gimps. Waverly is displaying them at the boutique-oriented Jacob Javits Center as well as in its showroom on Madison Avenue.

Retail prices ranges from $50 to $100, with coordinating throws set to retail from $100 to $120.

"We think this is very competitive with some of the product out there on the gift and decorative market, where you see similar product at $200 and up," Williams said.