Bath intros cover all the bases for buyers

Staff Report -- Home Textiles Today, 10/29/2001 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

There seemed to be something for everyone in the bath category at market, and because of that some of the biggest players in bath got a nice pat on the back from buyers for their "outstanding" and "terrific" wares.

To name a few: Croscill was a popular choice for its generous bath accessories collection under the Portmeirion license. Avanti got points for its new embellished towels donning licensed artwork by folk artist Warren Kimble. Fieldcrest's "spicy" colorways made their towels palatable to retailers. Mohawk's 3000 soft denier bath rug was a comfort. And Veratex "made strides" with its expanded line of bath goods.

Lisa Kesterke buyer, textiles Gottschalks

"Croscill had wonderful bath products. They did a beautiful job with the Portmeirion collection."

Allen Josephson buyer House2Home

"There were nice accessories at India Ink and Creative Bath — as always. For novelty, there was the line at Barth & Dreyfus. Vohann had nice things in shower curtains."

Alan Laytner co-owner Laytner's Linen & Home

"Cobra had some great towels — Rae Blum at Cobra has a creative eye and great style. We already run their solid-color woven two-stripe towel, and that is doing well, so we'll probably pick up their new three-stripe towel."

Charles Boyter buyer, bath towels, rugs and accessories, area rugs and basic bedding Luxury Linens

"In towels, I liked the new micro-cotton towels I saw at West Point Stevens, but I have to wait and see how the market reacts to it. Their colors were also nice. Fieldcrest had some nice introductions in spicy colors like Asian reds and soft golds and soft spice colors. I really like that 3000 denier bath rug by Mohawk."

Ivan Kelley buyer, bath products Rich's/Lazarus/Goldsmith's

"I thought Avanti looked very good. Their Warren Kimble stuff turned out terrific. One of the other things that was absolutely terrific was Croscill's Portmeirion bath accessories collection. They did a terrific job interpreting the design to the product and held true to Portmeirion's high quality."