1888 Mills touts USA-made towels
HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/18/2011 9:10:36 AM
At the New York Market - As the last domestic manufacturer of towels left in the United States, 1888 Mills said it has the advantage over many of its competitors amid the current cotton price crisis.
"Our ‘Made in the USA' message has height and awareness with retailers," Fulton Allen, president, told HTT.
With that in mind, the company came to market emphasizing its USA-made products, which currently make up about 10% of the company's total category offering.
The strategy is working, Allen noted.
"We're getting a lot of interest from retailers for our Made in USA goods because we're the only ones left, really," he said.
Also a point of distinction for market, he continued, is 1888's licensed collections with Clorox for anti-bacterial and anti-microbial kitchen textiles and its newest line with Coca-Cola for recycled fiber made goods.
"Our brands are also our focus," he said.
It's only 10% because they started as Eastern Imports, manufacturing textiles for the healthcare market in Pakistan and Bangladesh. They only acquired a US production base much later. Of course the pattern has been for a foreign manufacturer to acquire a US mill, only to shut them down once they expand import sales, but 1888 Mills has kept their US operations for nearly a quarter century now.
Andrew Charles - 2011-11-18 09:06:03 ESTThat is great that there is at least one USA textile manufacturer left. I might still be able to buy some!
Now, if it is so important to the 1888 Mills Group to be boldly offering US made items, why is it only at 10% of what they sell? I'll be far more impressed with this commitment if the number goes higher!
I had bought very high quality US made towels about 15 years ago that were labeled "Stevens-Made in USA". Yes, you read that right, I had towels that lasted that long after repeated hard use! Now that I need more towels, I began searching for them again to no avail. I was shocked to hear of Fieldcrest-Canon's demise. (Read the wikipedia page to learn more) Had I known that they would be going out of business, I would have bought a lot more of them while I still had a chance to do so!
I highly doubt that I'll be happy with Imported towels as I had used some while visiting relatives. The quality felt and looked fantastic, but couldn't dry myself as well as my own towels normally do, even after several attempts.
Please do NOT share, sell, loan, or give my email address to anyone!
Tom - 2011-04-22 14:19:53 EDT
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1888 Mills Touts USA-Made Towels
May 5, 2011
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