Atlanta Winter Rug Market - February 2009

By Brian Hamilton

This year, the Atlanta International Rug market was for the first time held in conjunction with the Home Furnishings and Gifts Show, which it has followed in past years. The idea behind the move is that many gift and home accessories retailers are interested in expanding into rugs, so organizers wanted to make visiting the AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta as convenient as possible, and hopefully increase attendance.

This year’s show—the largest dedicated rug market in the country—had plenty of product on display by all the usual players, and there was no indication that manufacturers were shying away from innovative design. Show organizer Chas Sydney said there were about the same number of exhibitors, less one or two that had gone out of business. About 60% of the exhibitors were rug importers, but all have an established presence in the U.S., with at least a domestic warehouse and sales staff, Sydney said. Several firms, like Caravan, Momeni, and Smyrna Trading, had all expanded their permanent showrooms in time for the market—a display of confidence in what is a down market for everything related to housing.

Sydney said that this year there was also a concerted effort to make AmericasMart University more useful for rug show attendees, with several seminars aimed at rug marketers, such as Increasing Sales by Understanding the Value of Designer Rugs, along with numerous general interest business topics, such as Training The Best Sales Team.

“We want to give buyers more than one reason to come to the market,” Sydney said.

Here is a brief look at the new offerings of some of the major players.

Shaw Living featured its re-entry into the wool rug business with its Arabesque collection, featuring 100% New Zealand wool in eight sizes up to 12’x15’, as well as some rounds. The colors and designs are inspired by those in hand knotted antique rugs. In addition, Shaw unveiled a heavy, high end wool collection, Structure, tufted of 100% New Zealand wool, which will retail for about $2,000 for a 5’x8’. The designs, inspired by nature and contemporary architecture, incorporate variable pile heights of shag, loop and cut, together in one rug to create some dramatic multi-dimensional looks.

Also new from Shaw is its line by Angela Adams, who has been designing broadloom and carpet tile for the Shaw Contract group. The nylon line features nautical and seascape inspired designs.

The coast is also a theme in the new Kathy Ireland nylon line, called Ohana Paradise. Designs are based on seascapes, beach stripes, shells, sailing, vegetation, and animal prints.

Also new are the value Centre Street collection, a 100% nylon textured line featuring circles, blocks, stripes and florals, and Inspired Design, an olefin value line featuring traditional, transitional and contemporary patterns in earthtones.

Karastan had a couple of items to plug other than its rugs. First, the company is high on its new spokesperson, the edgy folk singer Jewel, who Karastan refers to as its “statement maker.” She’s being featured in the firm’s consumer advertising and Karastan believes she’ll be effective across a broad audience.

Also, the firm is debuting a store racking system, which can display 60 rugs in a 20 square foot space. It was designed for retailers like furniture stores that may not have enough space for the more traditional racks. It also gives consumers the ability to take home a small rug sample.

Bel Canto is new in the Shapura collection. The classic look has contemporary features, such as a borderless design. The Wools of New Zealand brand also has a lighter palette.

Eastport is new in the Original Karastan Collection. It has the look of a random, hand knotted rug but is produced on a power loom. The design features palmettes and flowering vines, along with a new Prussian blue color. Scandia Shag, a twisted stripe polypropylene, is a new value price point offering.

Karastan has also come out with two new 10’ round rugs from its Sierra Mar Collection—Capri-Robin’s Egg and Sedona-Ivory/Henna.

828 International debuted a new Alpine collection of rugs constructed of yak fiber. The yak is a long haired bovine found at high altitudes in the Himalayas. The rugs, produced by a Tibetan firm, feature up to seven colors of fiber, all of them natural, ranging from a dark brown to an orange brown. The yak coats are harvested once a year, and the variation in color comes from the different parts of the yak.

After showcasing a new broadloom offering last July, Oriental Weavers has finally begun to ship the product. It has 23 polypropylene products for a total of 116 SKUs, with three price points, beginning at mid level, all aimed at mid to upper end retailers. The company is also rolling out a tilting display system to show the broadloom samples in a more consumer friendly way. A lot of the designs were adapted from women’s or interior fashions.

Infinity is a new nylon rug collection with a traditional motif and casual look, in greens, golds and reds. The designs have small borders, or no borders at all.

OW has two new wool offerings. Horizon is a new contemporary hand tufted wool collection. Bentley is another hand tufted rug with an antique look. It features terracotta and salmon, along with chocolate and hybrid blue. It has a larger border and traditional pattern.

The firm is also rolling out The Green Pad, a new rug pad with an organic polymer component that it considers to be more environmentally friendly.

Milliken introduced the Hillendale collection, a line of low profile nylon loop rugs at a $99 retail price point, a new category for the company. The firm’s Millitron dye injection system creates texture throughout the pattern. The modern and traditional designs were created for sunrooms, dens and indoor porches.

Nourison has given a stronger three dimensional look to its top of the line Nourison 3000 collection, which it introduced last year, by adding more silk to the wool. The result is an intricately hand carved look in aqua and beige.

Also new this year is the new 50 To Infinity program, in a brand new merchandising unit that features samples, along with room scenes. Nourison took some of its signature broadloom products and turned them into 50 stock rug sizes, all the way up to mansion size.

Nourison’s new hand embossed Manhattan collection, 100% New Zealand wool in eight colorways, features geometric and basketweave patterns. Perspectives is another new hand carved wool collection, with geometric patterns in bold colors.

The Calvin Klein collection, in addition to a new 22 square foot display system, has a new leather and cowhair look called Prairie. The strips look almost like narrow wood planks from a distance. The cowhair runs in different directions, to vary the texture.

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