Home Textiles Today - All Blogs

Leadership

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:24:47 GMT

Say what you want about the bad old mill days in the home textiles business - and they sure had their bad parts - but there were also some good things about the way the industry functioned...

Goodbye to all that

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:56:15 GMT

Last week, Ross Stores and TJX Companies released their final monthly sales reports - following a steady procession of other retailers that over the past several months have also concluded there's...

Home (Very) Goods

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:20:27 GMT

They opened a new Home Goods store down the road from me last week.You'd think it was the second coming of Sam Walton, R.H. Macy and Sol Price rolled into one.The store was jammed on opening...

The World Beyond

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:17:25 GMT

The U.S. market and the manufacturers that serve it - not the mention the trade journalists who cover it - are so bound up in the dominance of big box retailers that we often have only a hazy...

Ron Johnson Wasn't Wrong...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:27:20 GMT

But that doesn't mean he was right, either.Say whatever you want about Johnson's failed attempt to reinvent JC Penney. And it doesn't matter whether you thought he was a brilliant visionary or an...

Transformation Part Deux

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:22:58 GMT

There's the $100 million in Martha Stewart merchandise JCPenney reportedly has riding on the water or parked in warehouses in hopes of a favorable ruling in the Macy's lawsuit. There's the $1.6...

Transformation Part Deux

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:22:58 GMT

There's the $100 million in Martha Stewart merchandise JCPenney reportedly has riding on the water or parked in warehouses in hopes of a favorable ruling in the Macy's lawsuit. There's the $1.6...

Feeling the Pressure

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:17:57 GMT

It's not often retail issues go viral on the Internet, but last week a photo posted on Reddit by an Australian consumer went flying around the web, generating a lot of discussion about showrooming...

Can the Internet Save the Home Textiles Industry?

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:01:02 GMT

At first it was just a random comment or two, and then the topic started to show up more frequently and by the end of the week, it was the single most mentioned theme of all the conversations I...

Make New Friends But Keep the Old

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:03:23 GMT

One of the most remarkable aspects of the last New York Home Fashions Market was the pronounced pivot away from the Boomer customer toward the Millennials. I wonder if this week we might see some...

New Blood, Old Sweat & the Usual Tears

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:00:39 GMT

So, assuming you've made it through another season (and sadly, some of our friends have not), you're back in beautiful downtown textilesland for New York market week. As usual, there is the look...

Martha, Macy's and the Plano Truth

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:47:52 GMT

Say this about our lovely Miss Martha: She is always predictable.Her testimony last week in the trial trying to figure out the rights to her brand between Macy's and JCPenney was classic Martha:...

Fresh Air

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:45:46 GMT

Everybody expected JCPenney's fourth-quarter and fiscal year numbers to stink, and they did. Nonetheless, an interesting tidbit emerged from ceo Ron Johnson's Feb. 27 webcast following the release...

There’s Something About Martha

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:57:29 GMT

As opening arguments began last week in Macy's lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and JCPenney, associates in JCP stores were already setting up portions of the new home department...

Mirror, Mirror…

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:51:22 GMT

If you've been following the recent news coming out of Bangladesh about deplorable working conditions in textiles factories and the fires that have caused hundreds of deaths there, you no doubt...

The Retail Cliff

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:02:33 GMT

Add JCP (the retailer formerly known as J.C. Penney, aka The Penney Company) to the ever-growing list of entities teetering on the cliff.No, the company is not going bankrupt, much less out of...

Renaissance?

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:55:58 GMT

Despite the impact of JCPenney's overhaul, despite the sluggish pace of economic expansion and despite the slow recovery of the job market, a few signs point to the possibility of a fairly decent...

Heimtextale

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:31:30 GMT

So, after yet another rock'em-sock'em week in beautiful downtown Heimtextil earlier this month, the logical question is exactly what is the story with the global home textiles market?Let's face...

Heimtextil in Hindsight

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:20:45 GMT

Holiday 2012 sales may have fallen a bit short of expectations (up 3.0% versus an expected gain of 4.1%), but at the Heimtextil international home textiles show in early January, most suppliers I...

Ghosts of Christmas Ads Past

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:04:57 GMT

Assuming we're still within the statue of limitations, it's a fascinating exercise to see how some of the retailers in the business handled their holiday advertising and marketing. The campaigns...

That's how it's Done

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:01:52 GMT

Late in the afternoon on opening day of Heimtextil last week, the gentleman to my right and I were ambling through Hall 11 when we heard a thumping bass and noticed a throng of people pressing...

Diving into 2013

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:17:06 GMT

Now the busy season begins - the trade shows, the spring retail resets, the year-end financial results.The coming four months offer a number of events that bear watching.1. The debt ceiling fight...

What a Difference a Year Makes

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:16:17 GMT

If it's January, it must be Heimtextil, the traditional start of the new textiles year and the moment when everyone in the industry takes stock of business - theirs, their competitors and the...

Triskaidekaphobia

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:21:43 GMT

Fear of the number 13 is a fairly common malady and that's likely to surface with more frequency next year.But as they say, the only thing you have to fear is fear itself ... unless you happen to...

The Hasbro Model

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:20:35 GMT

There were a number of interesting presentations during Lenzing's celebration of the 20th anniversary of its Tencel fiber earlier this month in New Orleans. As far as consumers were concerned -...

Presents of Mine

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:23:16 GMT

My, how time flies when you're in the textiles business. Faster than you can say, "Well, you doesn't have to call me Mr. Johnson," it's the most wonderful time of the year again, when our thoughts...

Whoda Thunk?

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:19:33 GMT

Apparently, old habits die hard. It was not much of a surprise that Amazon topped the list of consumers' favorite retail brands on a recent ranking by New Media Metrics, which tracks the emotional...

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:25:55 GMT

Tis the season. No, not the one you're thinking about.‘Tis the season to face the fact that the opening volley of winter trade shows is mere weeks away.In case you haven't seen the many emails...

Merry M-Mas

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:18:13 GMT

In the military, there's a saying that generals are always getting ready to fight the last war. It's the same thing in retailing. As we clear the dust - not to mention the smoke and mirrors - from...

A Tweak? Or a Twist?

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:01:21 GMT

Let me start with this: I am rooting for Ron Johnson and the JCPenney/JCP ceo's strategy.I hope he does transform the company. I hope he does create a breathtaking, 21st century format for...

Trade-offs

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:48:30 GMT

The delicate balance that has been the Asian sourcing model for most American companies in the home textiles business is about to change...again.And this one is a biggie.There are of course some...

50 Shades of Black

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:53:25 GMT

So much has happened over the past few weeks: A presidential election, a monster storm in the Northeast, the World Series, a man named Angus being elected to the United States Senate.So, of...

Give a Hoot

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:35:11 GMT

Hurricane Sandy may have disappeared from news in most of the country, but it is still very much a factor in the lives of tens of thousands of people still without power as I write this nine days...

Changing Times

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:28:53 GMT

After previewing the New York Home Fashions Market week last month, one of the big take-aways was the market pivot to the Millennial generation. We've since seen more evidence of the trend. ...

Quotations from the Chairmen

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:27:33 GMT

So, if you're a student of world history you'll know this statement I heard recently on a news report about China. It referred to the late Chairman Mao and one of the key tactics he used to take...

Material Matters

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:54:15 GMT

Home furnishings suppliers have come a long way since they first engaged in outsourcing. And while there is an earnest effort underway to bring some of manufacturing back into America, one of the...

High Point Glitters, Glistens and Glows

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:37:11 GMT

As soon as the doors opened to Market showrooms here Saturday, it was abundantly clear that suppliers of all stripes - whether of home textiles, furniture, accessories or lifestyle collections -...

Q4

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:12:32 GMT

So, it's the start of the fourth quarter, do you know where your customers are? For that matter, do you know where your margins are, where your products are and where your competitors are, not to...

Déjà Vu

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:09:44 GMT

In remarks at the Fashion Group International luncheon last week, JCPenney ceo Ron Johnson seemed to confirm what we were hearing during last month's New York Home Fashions Market: some of the...

A Turning Point

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:04:35 GMT

For my money, the New York Home Fashions Market earlier this month was one of the most interesting - and pivotal - in years. You could say spring market of 2000 was the last in which the big...

The I-Went-to-New-York-Market-and-All-I-Got-Was-A-T-shirt-Column

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:01:12 GMT

Well, we all seem to have made it through another New York market week, but I'm quite sure what souvenir T-shirt you came back with varied wildly depending on your products, your customer base...

Look Beyond the Show to Find a Show

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:47:15 GMT

What is so extraordinary about Maison & Objet here in Paris is that it serves as a magnet for a number of other events related directly to M&O, yet different in context and consequence. Most...

Home Textiles Trends from Maison & Objet

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 13:01:27 GMT

Just when I thought I had observed somewhat slower traffic at this season's show, I found myself engulfed by a titanic wave of bodies at the local RER train headed for the Maison & Objet...

Two Who Set the Tone

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 22:03:21 GMT

Retailers, I'm going to let you in on something. Nearly every new brand you see this week - and you will be seeing a lot of them - has been designed to win over one of two accounts: Bed Bath &...

Unchained

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 22:00:22 GMT

The classic supply chain of the global home textiles industry is crumbling right before our eyes...and that's not necessarily a bad thing.Having just returned from the Intertextile Shanghai show...

The Vintage Inspiration

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 19:25:35 GMT

The colors, graphical allusions to the past and techniques, such as embroidery, patchwork, tucking , shirring pleating and overstitching are present in many a collection of household linens at...

Luxury's Surprise Showing

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:39:20 GMT

Since I have had the luxury (no pun intended) of being in Paris a few days before the start of Maison & Objet tomorrow, let me get you into the mood of the city that never disappoints.My...

Warming up to Maison & Object

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:43:38 GMT

Arrived in Paris on a crisp day, a good 10-15 degrees cooler than when I left home and the shocking recognition that fall is in the air as trees here are already turning. In preparation for Maison...

A Middling Muddle

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:59:30 GMT

A question: How is home doing at retail these days?Answer: That depends on the retailer.During the years of the housing bubble, home textiles - and home furnishings generally - were hot pretty...

Boxed In, Boxed Out

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:57:38 GMT

After the rise of the national discounter, which signaled the demise of most regional mass merchants, and before the onset of e-commerce changed all the rules of retailing, the most important...