Bardwil Puts Recycling on the Table

At the New York Market — It takes 37 recycled plastic beverage bottles to make a single 60-inch-by-84-inch tablecloth in Bardwil's new Evolution table linen collection.

Each matching napkin is made from three such bottles.

As this collection's title suggests, Evolution has advanced Bardwil into the uncharted realm of sustainability. And everyone in this more than 100-year-old company is greener for it.

"It's the most exciting thing we've done in last 10 years in table linens," said Derek Pierce, coo, who is credited with securing an exclusive partnership with eco-textiles product manufacturer Libolon, a division of Taiwan-based textiles supplier Lei Pen. "We've never had the total company and total management behind one product to the extent that we all got behind this — from the sourcing to the marketing to the sales to the packaging teams, our entire management has been involved on this from day one."

And that was about six months ago, when Pierce "had the foresight to go after this and has gotten exclusivity [from Libolon] in table linens and shower curtains for Bardwil in the U.S.," said Nancy Kristoff, president of sales and marketing.

Aside from Bardwil foraying into its first eco-friendly product launch, Evolution also represents the company's first house-branded bath line, in the form of shower curtains.

Both the table linens line — tablecloths, napkins, placemats and runners — and the shower curtains are all made of this 100% recycled plastic bottle fiber. For this reason, these goods are very textured, "almost like a basketweave design," Pierce said. The construction also makes them water repellent — an advantage that helps against spills on table linens and water absorption by shower curtains.

Kristoff compared the line to the company's popular microfiber assortments. "When we first came out with our microfiber table linens, we couldn't achieve a texture like we have here," she said. And yet, she noted, Evolution "has properties like microfiber — it is completely spill proof. You can spill a cup of coffee on it and it just beads right up, and as a shower curtain you theoretically don't need a liner — water will completely repel off of it."

All items are machine washable; the line is available in 12 solid colors.

Like most eco-friendly home textiles, the price point is higher than that of average goods. In this case, a tablecloth is set to retail for $29.99, compared to Bardwil's microfiber counterpart, which sells for $24.99. But the product's many sustainable and easy-care attributes merit the few extra dollars, Kristoff said.