Leisure in Linen: Westgate Dec Pillows

At the New York Market — Linen and twill are among the new fabrics giving Westgate's decorative pillow business a little "rest and relaxation" this market.

"We are more casual and more solid-colored driven than ever before," explained Amy Bell, vp.

Relying on more textured looks, added surface interest and more tonal themes — and giving less attention to trims — some of Westgate's new assortments are skewed heavily to silk, taffeta, suede "and linen and twill, if you can believe it," Bell said. "This is new for us, because we've always tended to focus more on upholstery-type fabrics."

Consumers are responding to this more casual take on design, she said.

"People are spending more time at home, and a lot of these customers are young, hipper, more contemporary customers," she said. "We are just answering to that trend."

The new casual styles fall in line with Westgate's average dec pillow prices of $9.99 to $29.99.

The launch of a table linens and matching chair pad line is also in response to this emerging stay-at-home trend, said Neil Zuber, evp. Coordinate collections of placemats, runners and chair pads, as well as a separate grouping of stand-alone chair pads, are together giving Westgate consumers more nesting options.

In other news, Westgate's dec pillow division recently inked a licensing deal with Curtis Publishing, the exclusive licensor for The Saturday Evening Post. The company is showing 10 tapestry looks — including some Norman Rockwell covers — this market. More are soon to come; there are more than 8,000 images from which to choose from the archive, the company said.

Westgate's product offerings under this license include decorative pillows, throws, placemats and pet beds. Retail price points are set at $3.99 for placemats, $14.99 for decorative pillows, $29.99 for pet beds and $39.99 for throws.