Cecile's Creel
Cecile B. Corral has been a product editor with Home Textiles Today since late 2000. She covers the area and accent rug, kitchen textiles, table linens, beach towels, decorative bath and decorative pillow categories, as well as some retail subjects.
Weaver's celebrates 150 years of community retailing
This week I learned about the 150th birthday of a small, single-unit department store — Weaver’s — tucked in the community of Lawrence, Kansas. I had a feeling, as I made my initial phone call, that reaching Weaver’s top executives would be far easier than reaching some assistant buyers at big box stores. I was right. Joe Flannery, president, took the time — "As much as you need," he said —... Read More
Comments (0)Halloween, help us!
Halloween. It’s always been a favorite holiday of mine. And now that I have young children, I enjoy it more than ever. My five-year-old daughter has a noir sense of humor, and to her gory is not good but great. Today is September 28 and my front yard looks haunted. There is very large glow-in-the-dark skeleton hanging on a palm tree beside an enormous web with a giant tarantula crawling on it, and... Read More
Comments (1)Martha Hacked?!
Martha Hacked?! For a brief moment today, somewhere between 3:28 and 3:41 p.m., Martha Stewart was "linked" with Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and the Indianapolis Colts football team. For those 13 or so minutes, a link to a live webcast showcasing Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s presentation at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia XVI Conference sent me - several times, I will add — directly to a blog run... Read More
Comments (0)Making Cents of Scatter Rugs
In researching a recent article about scatter rugs (it appears in HTT’s Sept. 17 issue), I heard a lot about price deflation. Nearly every supplier I spoke with pointed out how retail prices for these small-scale goods haven’t changed in several years — despite the constant hikes in costs for raw materials, shipping, etc. They say most retailers and consumers aren’t ready to pay more, even for mor... Read More
Comments (1)The true believer
My much-younger and very idealistic brother, who is a junior at the University of Florida, is on a personal crusade to buy and use only "Made in the USA" clothing. He believes that it is bad business for all involved to do otherwise. By buying products made in third-world countries, we encourage American companies to shut down their US operations and thus eradicate jobs here and we also encourage... Read More
Comments (0)Green...or Garbage Part 2
Green…or Garbage - Part 2 More on my eco thoughts…I just returned home from almost a week in New York City for market and was glad to see some major players taking a more serious approach toward environmental friendliness. To name a couple: Bacova Guild Ltd.’s showroom displays a collage of framed photographs that demonstrate how this area/accent rug, bath rug and bath accessories supplier has fo... Read More
Comments (0)"Green" - or garbage?
People appear to be latching on to any small aspect to be able to call a product "green" — whether if it is because the product can be recycled or it comes in packaging that claims to be eco-friendly because it can be reused for another purpose or because it is bio-degradable. Let’s get real. In most cases, even the most natural, least wasteful home textiles products can be blemished by other eco... Read More
Comments (4)Markets compete for buyer attendance
First, suppliers complained about the changed New York market dates, saying Febraury is too cold, August is too hot. It didn’t take them long to find another issue to whine about — overlapping markets in the winter and summer seasons. No one can really blame some buyers for opting out of attending every single market, especially in the summer when they might prefer to take time off to be with th... Read More
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