Garland and Log Cabin Team Up on Rugs

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 7/3/2006 12:00:00 AM

Dalton, Ga. — —

Dalton, Ga. — For the first time together, sister companies Garland Carpet & Rug and Log Cabin will showcase their wares in New York at a permanent showroom during the home textiles market in August.

Steve Snyder, vp for both companies, told HTT that the 1,000-square-foot space in suite 514 of 261 Fifth Avenue will be evenly split between Garland's tufted area rugs and Log Cabin's tufted bath rugs to display all the new product introductions.

Garland was primarily a remnant rug supplier, creating large area rugs made of carpet, until the past few years when it added tufted fashion area rugs to its assortment.

“Over last few years we've been trying to move Garland into a running line of first quality tufted continuity programs, and that has turned out to be very successful for us,” Snyder said.

Log Cabin was a more than 60-year-old, privately held company when Garland's owners purchased it, adding bath rugs to its assortment and expanding its tufting capabilities.

“Log Cabin had a pretty big name in the '70s and '80s but it slowly started to decline,” Snyder explained. Log Cabin has historically manufactured mainly nylon and cotton latex back bath rugs, which were sold mostly to wholesalers and smaller level retailers, he said.

“We bought it because it gave us a chance to get into a new avenue with bath rugs and gave us the full manufacturing capabilities of tufting for bath as well as the possibility for Garland area rugs,” Snyder continued.

With the addition of Log Cabin, the company is equipped with a full coating facility for adding latex rubber on rugs, as well as a full dye house, “so we have complete manufacturing capabilities for bath rugs, from tufting to dyeing. And for Garland, we have tufting capability here as well as some coating, which allow us to do it ourselves rather than outsource it.”

Currently, Garland serves major mass retailers and Log Cabin's customers include smaller chains. But at the New York Home Textiles Market, both will be pursuing larger and higher-end channels with an expanded assortment of more fashion products.