Natco/Central Oriental

-- Home Textiles Today, 2/26/2001 12:00:00 AM

West Warwick, RI

Natco, 84 years old, added imported rugs to its assortment only a decade ago to include more fashion-forward area rugs.

"We wanted to expand into it, diversify our product categories because imports is a growing category in the industry," said Michael Litner, president. "For area rugs, we prefer importing because it's more flexible with colors, designs and different qualities and it's more cost effective."

Natco still operates a large part of its business from Dalton, GA, producing "thousands of skus," Litner said, of tufted broadloom area rugs in its 400,000-square-foot facility where 250 people are employed.