Newport/Layton turns 50 with style

PORTLAND, ORE. — Marking its 50th anniversary as a family-owned and operated decorative pillow and top-of-bed supplier, Newport/Layton Home Fashions is commemorating the date with the birth of its window treatments offerings and the expansion of its bath line.

"Our customers are looking for more skus to coordinate, and these are great areas to expand into," said Larry Layton, CEO.

Through steadily increased importing activity, the company — established as a cut-and-sew business — has managed to expand its product offerings to include free-standing window treatments, shower curtains and bath accessories.

"Importing has opened our eyes," said Corey Faul, president. "We still cut and sew a portion of our pillows and bedding. But through our imports, we've been able to make contacts and found opportunities to build our business with window and bath. We found an opportunity to layer and grow our business."

Drawing from both China and India, Newport/Layton is launching about 100 skus of free-standing window treatments that fall into about 40 designs in multiple colorways, 36 shower curtains (both free standing and coordinates to bedding collections) and 12 bath accessories collections (also free standing and coordinates to bedding collections).

The company had previously offered window panels as coordinates to some bedding collections to customers. But at this year's New York Home Textiles Market, the difference is that the company is offering panels that stand alone. This new collection includes silk, jacquard, sheer, embroidered, velvet and other styles in basic and high-end looks. Retail price points are set to hit between $19.99 and $99.99.

Last market, the company showed about a dozen shower curtain designs that coordinated to bedding collections as tests. The result is an expansion of styles, some that coordinate to bedding and others that stand alone. Fabrications are similar to the new window treatments.

For the first time, the company is debuting free-standing bath accessories. The plan is to also offer products that tie back to bedding collections based on customer requests.

Constructions include metal, ceramic and resin. Products include lotion pumps, soap dishes, tissue box holders, toothbrush holders, tumbles and wastebaskets. Retail price points are set between $14.99 and $49.99.

The company was started in 1954 by Irvin Layton, Larry's father, as Layton Home Fashions. "He always had vision of making all sorts of textiles," Layton said.

Establishing the company base here, where headquarters remain today, he focused his decorative pillows and bedspreads to service West Coast-based customers.

Until the late 1980s, the company was generating between $3 million and $5 million in sales annually. Looking to expand its customer base more nationally and create more fashion looks, the company created its Newport division — with its base at its New York City showroom at 295 Fifth Ave. — in 1990.

Today, the company grosses more than $30 million in annual sales, as reported last year. Its product roster includes decorative pillows, top-of-bed goods, table linens, chair pads, window treatments and bath products.