Traditional with a twist
Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, January 5, 2003
Fabrics with gentle aged looks and finishes are important this season for the comfort they offer to frazzled consumers, who can let themselves drift backward in time as they surround themselves with upholstery that reminds them of grandma's.
Michael Day, vice president of Textile Fabric Associates, said the season's introductions are "traditional with a twist" and "comfortable and luxurious without being stuffy."
Showtime shoppers will find quilted fabrics, boucle yarns, cottony-soft washed finishes and old-fashioned prints to help them translate that comfort into upholstery for the coming season. Soft yarns like chenille, soft fabrics like velvet and soft constructions like microdenier suede are among the favorite vehicles for that comfort.
New texture, luster variations
"Chenille continues to reign supreme for our customers," said Laura Allred, senior designer at Chambers Fabrics. The mixing of chenille with other novelty yarns creates texture and luster variations, which Allred says adds value and gives customers more options.
"To this end, we have added several colors of a new bright boucle yarn and are introducing it in both contemporary and traditional styles this season," she said.
At Richloom's Berkshire Weaving division, chenille is an important element in what Glenda Soloniuk, vice president of merchandising, called a "tri-dimensional feel and look that we create with various combinations of textures and yarns and matelasse weaves. Comfy and cozy are the keys, and anything with pouf and softness is important this season."
That layered effect also is significant in Blumenthal's new line. "Our bright, lustrous warps contrast with soft chenille and spun rayon to give a sophisticated layered look," said Susan DeLong, design director.
Carpostan Inds. also is combining luster and novelty yarns to create new textural weaves. Paul King, director of design, said the mill also used high-and-low weave effects to bring a stenciled look to a new jacquard pattern debuting here this week.
Innovative blending of fibers and yarns is punching up velvets and other pile fabrics as well.
"Slubs, boucle-type yarns, rayons and wool have been used in combination to create a different look and feel in our velvets," said Ellen Waldrup, design director at Culp Inc.
At Joan Velvets, the line has been expanded with additional mélange and ratinne yarns in the velvet constructions, according to Robb Tomlin, vice president of merchandising and sales.
High-performance covers gaining
Consumers' understanding and demand for high-performance fabrics will continue to grow as makers of clothing use more and more such fabrics in apparel, including microfibers and stain protection.
Craftex Mills is among the fabric sources with new polyester microfiber suede product here. "Zensuede," said Denise Gutierrez, director of merchandising, "is a microdenier piece-dyed product with a smooth peachskin hand in a heavier weight than traditional microsuede products."
Craftex is offering Zensuede as a solid and as a jacquard with distressed antique qualities, she said.
Makers of slipcovered sofas and chairs can find a new microfiber suede especially suitable for those applications at SRA Fabrics, which is debuting Rajah Suede, a polyester bodycloth in solid colors.
Technology in synthetic fibers is increasing the range of fabrics that look like silk but perform like the polyester they really are. At Mar-Que Trading, for example, introductions include Castille and Catalan, high-end polyester fabrics that look like silk but have an easily washable performance story. Loomcraft Tessuti also is debuting a silk-like fabric called Taffeta. Sheri McAdams, director of design and merchandising, said the super-fine polyester article is available in more than two dozen colors and comes in plain and jacquard constructions.
The interest in more and brighter colors continues this season in both fabric and leather, and mills, converters and tanneries are showing beautiful blues and oranges, as well as fresh greens and strong red shades. Contemporary upholstery producers, especially, will find plenty of robust colors around the market.
Manufacturers also have a wide range of choices for the comfy, cozy looks, ranging from pale antique shades to what Berkshire Weaving's Soloniuk describes as a "vintage palette focusing on new jewel tones. Ten years ago it would have been burgundy, forest green and navy. Now the colors are more like deep, rich, plummy aubergines, for example."
Finishes for the season's vintage looks range from faintly dry, washed-and-worn effects to an old-but-still-elegant effect achieved through the use of delicate touches of sheen.
-
Showtime Introductions
Jan 5, 2003 -
Product introductions at Decosit, TIP
Sep 12, 2004
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
