Berkshire Partners with Liz Claiborne

By Michele SanFilippo -- Home Textiles Today, 5/2/2005 12:00:00 AM

New York — —

New York —American Pacific's Liz Claiborne Home has partnered with Berkshire Blanket, Inc. to add blankets and throws to its product lineup. The designer brand also entered the day bed and window shade categories at the recent New York Home Textiles Market.

The new blanket and throw collection from Berkshire Blanket, headquartered in Ware, Mass., will feature tailored cotton blankets woven with a braided effect for texture and softness, as well as reversible throws in linen, seersucker, modal and yarn-dyed silks. The product will be packaged in bags designed to resemble women's handbags and be available at big box specialty stores in July.

The new Liz Claiborne program by Berkshire “takes a very strong feminine perspective,” said Ellen McNulty, director of marketing for the blanket and throw producer. “It's in keeping with what the brand is, and in keeping with what the consumer is looking for.”

Berkshire's new Softest Sweater Weave throw in the Liz collection sports a cable-stitch sweater weave in soft tones fringed on four sides with a darker colored trim. “It brings decorative cotton back into throws and creates a designer basic,” said McNulty.

The Softest Sweater Weave blanket features a braided effect in eight colors, with the darker trim at the top. “It's a very soft cotton, and a beefier blanket that you expect to see at $39, $59 and $79 at retail,” she said.

Barbara Friedman, president of Liz Claiborne Licensing, commented, “The addition of blankets and throws to the Liz Claiborne Home collection is a natural extension, and one which will bring us even closer to fully satisfying the needs of our consumer's lifestyle.”

In other news, Liz Claiborne Home jumped into day bed fashions for the first time with three different patterns to be offered in five-piece sets for $139.99 that include a day bed cover, a bed skirt and three shams in contrasting fabrics.

“It's time for some color and fashion in the category, as opposed to just basic solids,” said Jennifer Isaac, director of merchandising, who sees the area reemerging along with bedspreads and cottage-style vintage florals.

The company also added three styles of $99 floral print bedspreads reversing to wallpaper stripes that feature light quilting and small ruffled edges.

Also new are six styles of $39.99 reversible shades in twills or cotton with a rod pocket construction. These relaxed-looking shades feature a simple twill tape toggle and come with a second rod at the bottom that can be removed for a more casual look. Packaging resembles a gift wrap over-the-shoulder pack that shows a photo of both shade patterns.