The Thread

March 11, 2010 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The New York Home Fashions Market winds down today, with a few suppliers reporting an appointment or two tomorrow.

A few bullet points from my notebook:

 “Positive.” The word of the week. Nearly every supplier I spoke with had a healthy slate of appointments. Not one complained of an account failing to show. With retail inventories running low and many 4Q retail financials exceeding expectations, there is open-to-buy again. Manufacturers, forced to tighten up in the face of rock-bottom demand last year, are also lean on inventory, with fewer close-outs available then usual.

Pricing. Cotton prices in January were up 34% compared to a year ago, and with farmers growing less cotton, they’re likely to remain high going foward. This isn’t a blip, say cotton buyers, it’s a reset. Down and feather prices are up 100% or more compa...Read More

Industries: Brands & Marketing, Product News

March 9, 2010 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The time: Six months ago, during the September market in New York.

The characters: Your extremely sporatic blogger, a colleague and our 23-year-old, male photographer.

The setting: Hitting the sidewalk following a showroom walk-through, one of many.

DIALOGUE:

Photog: It's weird.

Extremely sporatic blogger (ESB): What?

Photog: It's, people keep showing you this stuff that's supposed to be for 'young' customers.

ESB: Yeah?

Photog: I don't see anything anybody I know would buy.

ESB: Nothing?

Photog: No.

FLASH FORWARD
Monday night, March 8, 2010. Same characters, same situation. A week (and weekend) of preview appointments have now passed by.

Photog: Remember what we were talking about last market?...Read More
Industries: Product News

January 5, 2010 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Opening day of Heimtextil 2010 is just a week away. There are expected to be fewer exhibitors. Buyers? That depends up who you're looking for.

The size of individual U.S. buying groups has declined as major accounts - retailers and suppliers - secured alliances post-2005. For many exhibitors, the show has more to do these days with find extra-U.S. markets to tap. Indian home textiles giant Welspun will be back this year for the first time since 2004, but with an eye to expanding its European market.

A few outward-looking U.S. companies will be there, too. Maybe too few.

There was a movement afoot in early 2009 as several U.S. companies sought for a way to pool their resources and reach out to international markets. In the end, not enough were willing to committ financially to the effort.

It's hard to knock a business in a bruta...Read More

May 13, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Financial news reports on Wednesday were dominated by the U.S. Commerce Department’s morning announcement that retail sales fell back a bit -- 0.4% -- last month.

The National Retail Federation --which extracts sales of autos, gas and restaurants from the equation and adjusts for the shift of Easter from March last year to April this year -- also put the drop-off of ‘pure’ retail sales at 0.4%.

The Dow fell, the Nasdaq fell, the S&P fell. According to CNBC: “Wall Street's rally got a dose of reality Wednesday when retail...Read More
Industries: Financial

May 7, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Sears/Kmart was the major sponsor of opening night for the 5th annual Design on a Dime benefit this evening in Manhattan. The charity benefiting is Housing Works, which provides services to homeless and low-income New Yorkers with HIV and AIDS.

Big turnout. Nicely done event. Check out the photo gallery.

The bait for this correspondent: an early look at fall 2010 home lines for Country Living (making its debut at both nameplates later this year), Jaclyn Smith, Ty Pennington and Cannon. Good, strong color across the board. Fresh prints. Don’t know how heavy on solid color these lines will put out when it’s time to hit the floor, but it certainly wasn’t the focus toni...Read More
Industries: Brands & Marketing, Product News