WestPoint Goes Eco-Friendly, High Tech
By Michele SanFilippo -- Home Textiles Today, 10/17/2005
At the New York Market — The latest from WestPoint Home is renewable natural fibers and the evolution of Tech Touch technology in the pillow and bath accessory world.
Three natural fiber fills are being introduced for pillows, mattress pads, and down-alternative comforters and blankets: Tencel, silk and wool in a good, better, best strategy.
Other new fills or finishes in sleep pillows include: EcoSpun, a pale green fill made from recycled plastic bottles; Everloft, an alternative fill created from shredded poly bags that is dust-mite resistant; and Fresh Loft, a new antimicrobial finish.
The second generation of Tech Touch technology powered by T Ink or conductive ink made its debut at market with three miPillows that allow consumers to listen to music from their radio, mp3 or CD player or turn their lights/television on and off with a transmitter that fits into the pillow or is housed on a nightstand.
Two styles of bath accessories also feature conductive ink and voice activation: Celestial and Radio Days. The $29.99 Celestial shower curtain boasts planets that light up or a voice that tells about each planet when it is touched; the $19.99 accessories and bath mats also have space-themed sound effects.
In addition, the company is reintroducing its Grand Patrician-branded $19.99 Seduction towel in a two-ply 100 percent Egyptian cotton construction with an S-shaped dobby in a palette of 20 colors. Two $24.99 coordinate jacquards are also new in four colors each: Seduction Waves and Seduction Pleats. There is also coordinating bath accessories in walled glass and a sateen cotton weave shower curtain, both in a palette of six colors.
WestPoint Home also inked three new juvenile licenses — Princess Natasha, Sky Dancers and Dragonflyz — in addition to its new Harley-Davidson collection of two all-cotton embellished beds, two print beds, 24-inch vinyl pillows and 20-by-30-inch hand towels.
