Waverly 'Lightens Up' for Market

At The New York Market —Waverly is putting a more contemporary spin on its classic look. The colors are brighter. The feeling is more retro/vintage than traditional. And the overall mood is more casual.

“Everything is lightening up,” said Dale Williams, president and general manager of the Waverly Lifestyle Group.

Noting that the home textiles market has been heavily attuned toward wovens in recent years, he pointed to the contemporary casual trend in apparel as leading the way forward.

“Where this industry would have been undergoing an 18-month transition to the trend, we're now seeing it happen almost simultaneously,” he said.

One of Waverly's translations of the trend resulted in Marina Del Rey, a bedding set influenced by the vintage cabana lifestyle of southern California. The top of the comforter features a horizontal stripe in bright green, yellow, red and blue that reverses to a retro floral print of palm fronds, banana leaves and oversize peonies at bud and in bloom.

The bed skirt and Euro shams are a solid white matelasse. The reversible standard shams feature the stripe motif on one side and the palm on the other, with a bright green welt trim and button closure.

Waverly also has come to market with more tailored, less fussy window treatments. Grommets, box pleats, casual swags, toga valances and panels hung on metal rings update the line.

The company also is introducing shades for the first time.

The cloth Roman Shades collection comes in three shapes: soft, swag and tailored. Waverly will also sell the extruded aluminum hardware to fit them. The cloth shade panels Velcro on and off so that consumers can switch out designs seasonally. The shades retail for $60 to $90.

“Shades have not been a retail-friendly product,” Williams said. “The story here is that we're going to deliver a custom look in a retail-friendly manner.”

Another new initiative is a free-standing, dec pillow collection targeting the gift market. The hand-made pillows are more richly embellished than those Waverly supplies to the price-sensitive, mass-distribution channels. They include patchworks, chenilles, beading, braids, fringes and gimps. Waverly is displaying them at the boutique-oriented Jacob Javits Center as well as in its showroom on Madison Avenue.

Retail prices ranges from $50 to $100, with coordinating throws set to retail from $100 to $120.

“We think this is very competitive with some of the product out there on the gift and decorative market, where you see similar product at $200 and up.”