Feb 6, 2009

Home Textiles Market Week Draws New Buyers to NYC

White Plains, NY – Retailers from New York and surrounding states made a strong showing at the New York Home Textiles Market Week, January 23-29, 2009, with strong order-writing which, for many exhibiting companies, made up for any fall-off due to the struggling economy. The semi-annual market for mid-to-high-end home textiles featured some 500 suppliers across three New York City locations – the New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®) at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers, 230 Fifth Avenue, and 7 W New York.

“NYIGF’s At Home featuring Home Textiles division, which has the greatest concentration of better home textiles vendors, remained busy throughout the market,” said Penny Sikalis, GLM vice president. “Buyers responded most enthusiastically to new product introductions, and exhibitors reported a spirit of cautious optimism about business in 2009.”

“Our new ‘Kelly Wearstler’ line has been the best ‘at-market’ launch we’ve ever had,” said NYIGF exhibitor Aaron Stewart, Creative Director of Sferra. “Everyone from our New England client base is here, and traffic has been great. We’ve been pleasantly surprised.”

In the Donna Sharp showroom at 7 West, manager Leigh Malanga offered, “Hands down this was a very positive week. We had 50% more orders than this time last year. This show, in particular, offers more bang for the buck.”

Regional retail outlets were well-represented at the market, and both NYIGF exhibitors and showroom tenants noted an increase in new customers from the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, as well as from the west coast. “We’ve seen new customers from the New York metro area and from across the country,” reported NYIGF exhibitor Michael Pappas, CEO of Signoria di Firenze USA. “In this economy, we saw more and wrote more than we expected.”

“We were pleased with the results of our market week,” said Chris Collins, vice president and general manager of 7 W. “Many retailers chose to do their business here in New York rather than incurring the costs to travel to another market.”

230 Fifth Avenue’s David Ziegler, president of Belle Epoque/CGG Home Fashions, commented, “The show was surprisingly busier than expected with new accounts and existing accounts gratified to see luxury with aggressive price points.”

Jane Gural-Senders, Executive Director of 230 Fifth Avenue, added, “We were pleased to record decent buyer traffic, considering the current state of the economy. This facilitated the opportunity for our tenants to get more business.”

Presented semi-annually in New York City, Home Textiles Market Week presents some 500 better home textiles suppliers, and offers the newest bed and bath fashions, table linens, kitchen textiles, towels, decorative accessories, area rugs, window treatments and decorative fabrics.

The next edition of New York Home Textiles Market Week will take place August 14-20, 2009, at NYIGF, 230 Fifth Avenue and 7 West 34th Street. Additional information and registration is available online at www.nyhometextilesmarketweek.com.