Sferra fishes out Tommy Bahama

By Andrea Lillo -- Home Textiles Today, 3/25/2002 12:00:00 AM

CLIFFWOOD, NJ —

The island flavor of Tommy Bahama will pervade at Sferra Bros. this upcoming market, thanks to a new licensing agreement for bedding, bath, table, throws and decorative pillows.

Aimed at the upscale and casual luxury home market, the Tommy Bahama Fine Linen Collection will be colored in sun-drenched and ocean-washed hues in buttery soft fabrics and accented with island textures. At the textiles show next month, the collection will be staged in its own booth across from the Sferra booth at the Jacob Javits Center.

To start, the new collection will target the same high-quality specialty stores, better department stores and better home catalogs as Sferra's existing line does, said Paul Hooker, president. He added that price points have not been worked out yet, though they will be similar to the existing line.

In addition, Sferra used Tommy Bahama's ready-to-wear fall 2002 collection as inspiration for the home collection, as well as its various logos and island designs, he said.

The majority of the bedding ensembles are made in Italy and include sheer cotton voiles that have been printed or softly crimped, linen, and Italian-spun Egyptian cotton sheeting woven in romantic jacquards and herringbones with vintage inspired prints. The sheets will range from a 200-count percale to a 600-count jacquard. Accents include hand-stitched embroideries, whimsical crocheted hems, Hawaiian-inspired appliques and hand-printed borders.

Top-of-bed products include soft, quilted layers and embroidered sheer coverings, fresh cotton piques and stonewashed matelasse coverlets.

The bath products consist of cotton terry with sculpted palm jacquards and bamboo accents mixed with vintage-inspired print shower curtains and matching bath rugs. This part of the collection is woven and finished in Belgium and Portugal and features a solid color line with the Tommy Bahama logo and bamboo dobby.

For the table, the collection will feature hand thread-drawn linen with whimsical accents of island-embroidered textures and hand crocheted dangles of pineapples and palms. Place mats will include suede bamboo and rattan as well as hand embroidery. Napkins will also be hand embroidered. Hooker added for the most part the table collection will be embroidered by hand in workrooms worldwide.

The license extends Sferra into a new category as well, decorative pillows.