Bloomingdale’s to play up dec pillows for holiday   

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 7/11/2008 12:27:00 PM

New York – Designer luxe brands and items for gift-giving and entertainment will highlight the Christmas offerings in home textiles and throughout the Bloomingdale’s home division this year.

A key player for holiday will be the new decorative pillow department that focuses on unique and fashion-forward pillows rather than basics, explained Joe Laneve, svp home for the store. The new department launches in the fall.

Bloomingdale’s in the ’90s and before was the headquarters for fashion-forward decorative pillows. “We’re now back in that business again,” Laneve told HTT. “We’ve shown pillows on our furniture floor, and these new styles are designed primarily for furniture, but will be shown on our home textiles floor.”

Part of the stimulus to revitalize the decorative pillow area is “because the sale of pillows on beds is enormous – it’s about 25% of the accessories we sell for bedding.”

As part of the “entertaining” approach to holiday, a revamped table linens section with an emphasis on placemats will be a focal point. “We’re going after mats – and very decorative mats -- in a big way,” Laneve emphasized.

A gift approach to luxury throws will be featured in boxed items of cashmere styles from Amicale, as well as a “wider range of cashmere throw items that are not boxed but still gifty.”

The Pure organic cotton collection from DKNY is another home textiles feature for holiday. The collection will be launched next month in the August circular “and I just love the color palette,” Laneve said.