Buyer's Choice

Anna's Linens

Coast Mesa, Calif.

Peggie Galvin, buyer, bath

“I don't know that I saw any new trends. There was still a lot of aqua and brown out there.

But I did see some wonderful product at Creative Bath. Their new furniture, it's quality but very well priced, and it has a nice look with the fabric lining.

Saturday Knight Ltd. had some very nice bath coordinates. They were very clean, fresh, sellable.

American Dawn (ADI) had some very innovative product in towels. They showed some new weaving techniques that were very interesting. They had a three-ply towel and also a new towel they call Sherpa, which looks like a Sherpa blanket — great texture.

Li & Fung had wonderful towels in their showroom. They did a good job.

Park B. Smith had some nice looks in shower curtains. Allure (Home Fashions) also had nice shower curtains. And Catalina was very innovative and had fashion-forward looks.”

Anna's Linens

Coast Mesa, Calif.

Kevin McClain, buyer, bedding and soft window

“The overwhelming trend at market was the continued push into multi-sets for luxury bedding. I saw 12- to as many as 24-piece sets of bedrooms-in-a-bag — everything from sheets to windows to decorative pillows.

We sell these types of sets now and are having a lot of success with them. Some of the best products we saw at market in this category were Arrow and Shavel.

In basic bedding, the launch of Cannon at Pacific Coast Feather looked very nice.

And Hollander looked very good with their new introductions in basic bedding.

In soft window, it was a good market, and I saw tremendous value. Lichtenberg, I felt, was the strongest in this category. TexStyle was another leader in this category.”

Bloomingdale's

New York

Joe Laneve, senior vice president

“I was extremely pleased with the collections at Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan, especially with the amount of new and exciting merchandise — more than in the last several markets — in their fashion offerings and breadth.

I also was pleased with Royal Sateen, Waterford, and Court of Versaille. They fit well into our needs with strong ammunition.”

Brylane Home

Jim Whitehead, vice president

“The market was good in terms of what we were looking for; it was largely self-directed. We found the suppliers to make the products we need.

Specifically, HFI was fabulous, some of their jacquards were just sensational. Welspun's use of different fibers to differentiate themselves was good and Elison was very good, very focused.”

Home Shopping Network

Saint Petersburg, Fla.

Alana Fetto, associate buyer, fashion textiles

“In bedding and decorative accessories, there was a movement toward larger set configurations (six to 12-piece sets) in rich jacquards and fun prints in fresh spring colors. The tweener and menswear programs are important for this spring, especially on our sister network, America Store, which will be airing some programs on these trends.

In bath, I think bamboo is going to continue to play a big role in towels and HSN has an advantage where it can tell the bamboo production and benefits story from start to finish. I'm also going to focus more on a complete bath story, like an Avanti look with attached hems, tassel fringe and decorative trims. Creative Bath had some great looks as well.

I'm excited about the category, because I think it's going to be a big growth area for us. We will be launching a whole new bath story for spring.”

JC Penney

Plano, Texas

Steve McKeever, senior buyer, bedding

“It was a real vibrant market, upbeat and stepping out design-wise. Important fabrics were velvets, faux micro-suedes, silks; reeds, coppers, mochas and browns were important colors.

Springs and WestPoint Home were right with their themes. Hollander was particularly strong in modernizing traditional product. ADF and Croscill looked good.”

JC Penney

Plano, Texas

Charlene Robnett, window coverings buyer

“Overall, U.S. suppliers came on strong with lots of affordable looks. Lace has been a challenge in updating, it needs freshening, and Lichtenberg did a good job with macramé and piece dyed. Ellery has lots of innovative ideas especially in reversible and blackouts. CHF's Peri windows using bamboo fibers were strong.”

Kohl's

Menomonee Falls, Wis.

Gary Nickolie, buyer, floor coverings

“Mohawk was very strong in terms of general color and design. They thought out their colors and designs very well and were very good about incorporating these ideas into their rugs. They also seem to be adding more imports to their rug line, which is good.

Natco looked good. They expanded into bedding with a lot of good niche items, and this helps to bring out some bedroom design elements into the rug category.

We don't sell a lot of bedroom-type rugs, per se, but new looks and design helps the business.

Nourison's new hooked and carved introductions were very strong. They also updated some design themes that have done well in the past, like coffee, fruits and vegetables, cocktails and Chile peppers. I liked the retro, 1950s coffee designs they showed this time.

Glenoit had very nice kitchen rugs — a micro-fiber border on a synthetic sisal. It looks contemporary and works well on wood and marble floors.

These rugs are larger in size and made with higher quality constructions.

Medici also had some great designs. They had a lot of spring and summer looks that were very well designed.

Trade Am had a very nice, new color direction. Their new designer, Hester, is very talented and she created a good design for the company this market.

Maples is our number one supplier. We looked at new solid color programs. They are the best at making the washable basic accent rug.”

Macy's Home

New York

Michael Binenstock, vice president, moderate bedding

“Revman looked terrific in all collections. Overall the market looked good — colorations were strong, values were sensational, but I'm concerned about the constantly lowering of retail price points.

Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren looked strong. Croscill was fantastic and Peking, Arrow and Raymond Waites were excellent.”

The Linen Source

Tampa, Fla.

Lisa Street, vice president of merchandising

“In fashion bedding, one of the things we noticed is that there are a lot more prints and brighter colors. We saw a lot of Jacobean prints, embroideries, tree-of-life prints, florals and batick/block prints. Veratex looked colorful with a wider variety of prints and coordinated bedding. Ralph Lauren's new Studio line for 2006 was more traditional and classic in palette and design. Custom Comfort had some interesting updated prints.

In sheeting, there were a lot of new finishes being shown such as bio polish, anti-piling and wrinkle free finishes, adding value to luxury sheeting with performance characteristics to give customers a better night's sleep.

In basics, price increases in the foam area created uncertainties in the category. There were a lot of unique designs in mattress pads and toppers. Perfect Fit and Hollander had some interesting ones to choose from.”