Windham raises profile of decorative pillows

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 4/22/2002 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

At Windham Weavers' showroom this April market, decorative pillows were no longer stuck in a tight bundle far off in a corner.

The company is making decorative pillows not just a happenstance coordinate but a full-fledged category that comprises an even share of the entire product line, which to date includes table linens, kitchen textiles and accent rugs.

Windham Weavers first tested the decorative pillow category with some strictly seasonal offerings — about 60 to 70 pillows, all tapestry — for the mini-market event in February.

"Now we've got so much more, we added about another 80 of everyday-type looks," Lance Orlick, executive vp, told Home Textiles Today. "That's because decorative pillows are a natural extension of our core business. They make sense for us."

The expanded line continues to include tapestry as well as newly added constructions and designs like organza, cotton, chenille, printed cotton, dupioni yarn-made pillows and embellished looks.

All of Windham Weavers' decorative pillows are imported from India.

About 60 percent of the line coordinates directly with table linens and rugs; the rest is standalone.

"We pulled this all together in just six weeks," Howie Mallow, executive vp, said.

To help the company immerse itself deeper into the decorative pillow category, it recently named artist Travis Spencer to the newly created position of design director for pillows. Spencer was previously working with Windham Weavers on a freelance basis on designing product.

"Now we've got him with us on an exclusive basis," Orlick said.

Spencer, who currently resides in Charleston, SC, is relocating to New York to Windham Weavers' headquarters in the next month.