Cambridge Towel Stays Local, Goes Monochromatic

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/3/2011 2:00:00 AM

ONTARIO, CANADA - Cambridge Towel Co. Inc. focused on its color story for market, with shades of brown, pops of purple, black and blue as the fashion-forward trends. Monochromatic stripes and jacquards also got some play. "When a consumer looks at towels, it's all about color, color and color. Eighty to eighty-five percent of the market is solid color," noted Hugh Thompson, president of the Cambridge, Ontario-based company. "We're very adept at color and always work to create coordinates that work back to the solids."
     According to Thompson, the Canadian company has a distinct advantage as a local supplier. It purchases only about 15% of goods, and manufactures the rest. As a result, its carbon footprint is "greener." It also buys raw cotton rather than yarn, a fact that allowed the company to purchase cotton ahead and fare better than some competitors as the price of it rose.
     "While everyone was going offshore, we were strategic in keeping our company in North America," Thompson said. "It makes us more agile so that we can quickly respond to our customers, not to the supply chain." Thompson also noted that the company expects to announce a new partnership with an Indian mill soon.