Melrose Home's place to spread out

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/18/2003 12:00:00 AM

LOS ANGELES —

Melrose Home has expanded its headquarters showroom here to accommodate the broader range of product offerings the company has taken on.

The 5,000-square-foot space — more than three times the size of Melrose's original 1,500-square-foot lodgings showcases table linens, dec pillows, throws, furniture covers and bedding.

The apparel-oriented fabric company began producing finished home textiles about 20 months ago, tapping its sourcing offices in China, Europe, Taiwan, Korea and Turkey.

"We're picking up a lot of steam," president John Emrani told HTT. "We're getting more focused in certain looks and areas — more fashion, a lot of old-world looks, traditional looks. We're niching in."

Although the product emphasis is currently built around dec pillows, furniture covers and table linens, Melrose in September will expand upon the soft introduction to bedding it unveiled during the New York Home Textiles Market this past March.

"We're showing jacs, a lot of chenilles, a lot of prints — in both bedding and pillows," Emrani said. "We're actually merchandising our bedding to use a lot of the stand-alone pillows."

The company continues to target specialty stores, some department stores and some discounters. The slow retail environment of the past several months has given Melrose time to build a base and test programs, Emrani said.

"We're trying to bring the fashion look at a competitive price," he said. "If you can be a player in the hard times, when the market turns around you'll reap benefits."