At the recent New York Home Fashions Week, newly licensed brands were in abundance:

• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will break from its channel-exclusive strategy for home textiles in the spring when it launches four collections inspired by Stewart’s homes. CHF Industries is the first licensee, readying window treatments (drapes)that will be available to multiple retailers. The new line will carry the “From Martha’s Home to Yours” tag line.
• Iconix’s Waverly brand is launching a new Waverly Home DTR at Christmas Tree Shops in the spring with bedding, outdoor rugs, decorative pillows and other products. In some cases existing Waverly licensees who already sell home textiles through the chain will become DTR suppliers for the Home collections, says Iconix’s Nikki Haas. These include Nourison (outdoor rugs) and Ellery Homestyles (bedding).  New Licensee Welspun also showed a Waverly bath line including towels and rugs. While Waverly has 18-20 licensees, more than half of the brand’s revenue comes from fabric licenses, says Haas. These include a DTR at Walmart and agreement with licensee P/K Lifestyles, which supplies Joann Fabrics and Crafts with an exclusive Waverly fabric line. Waverly also leased its first showroom in the Textiles Building in New York, having shared space with licensee Nourison at the show in the spring. “This will give us a better display for showing retailers the breadth of the product line,” says Haas.

• Bardwil renamed itself Bardwil Home as it continued to expand outside its base in table linens with decorative pillows, beach towels and throws, says SVP Sales and Merchandising Reed Raggio. It added new licenses for the Mr. Swim swimwear brand (beach towels) and Houston fashion illustrator Rongrong DeVoe (beach towels, printed throws, decorative pillows). It also extended its licenses with Bouffant and Broken Hearts to include decorative pillows, throws, indoor/outdoor table linens and kitchen textiles and tripled the number of beach towel styles to a dozen. Bardwil also has broadened its pact with dinnerware supplier Lenox to include bath accessories (tooth brush holders, soap dispensers) to complement the shower curtains already sold under the brand. Bardwil also is supplying the towels for the Stay by Stacy Garcia brand that is being sold through QVC.
• Levinsohn will launch its New York Botanical Garden bedding (comforters, duvets, quilts) at Bed Bath & Beyond in February, starting with decorative pillows and melamine dinnerware – the latter marking the company’s entry into a new category. Levinsohn also has agreement under which it licenses the Wamsutta brand from IP owner Bed Bath and Beyond and supplies the retailer with bedding.
• Town and Country Living extends its Ralph Lauren license for table linens and kitchen textiles to include the Lauren’s Chaps brand, which will launch early next year. Meanwhile, Town and Country also is readying table linens for the Collier Campbell textile brand. The new licenses are among the first signed since H.I.G. Capital acquired a majority stake in the company earlier this year. Town and Country has since acquired Amalgamated Textiles and Home Dynamix. Home Dynamix gives Town and Country access to varied roster of licenses including Nicole Miller, Eric Carle, Elle Magazine, Christian Soriano for rugs, bedding and decorative pillows. Town and Country will seek to add licenses to Amalgamated Textiles core business of non-licensed curtains and draperies says Town and Country’s Judi Alexander.
• New Sega Home Textiles introduced new Joneswork bedding (four comforter sets with duvet covers, blankets and sheets) under a licensing agreement with design Jason Jones. It also showed a new collection of decorative pillows under designer Sara Berenson’s Sara B. brand, also extending the license into bath rugs and shower curtains. “We are doing our own brands and private labels, but we had to have some potential national brands to be legitimate in the eyes of retailers,” says Vincent DeRosa.
• London Luxury will launch Ben Sherman-licensed products starting with throws at the fashion brand’s stores this month before widening distribution to other retailers in November, says Luxury London’s Amanda Keller. The line also includes robes, towels and pillows.
• Revman, best known for its Vera Wang-, Ellen DeGeneres- and Nautica-licensed bedding, moves into a not-for-profit brand for the first time. The company previewed Ivory Ella bedding, a brand backed by the Save the Elephant organization. The Ivory Ella label, named after an elephant in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya, donates 10 percent of its sales to Save the Elephant.
• Baltic Linen Co., which last year unveiled Lionel Richie-licensed bedding, signs a deal for bedding with interior designer David Bromstad, who hosts several HGTV shows including “My Lottery Dream Home.”

Contacts:

Bardwil Home, Reed Raggio, SVP Sales and Merchandising, 646-366-6833, raggior@bardwil.com

CHF Industries, Joan Karron, EVP, 212-951-7800

Iconix/Waverly, Nikki Haas, Senior Dir. Home, 212-819-2336, nhaas@iconixbrand.com

Jewel Branding & Licensing, Ilana Wilensky, Pres., 404-698-3350, ilana@jewelbranding.com

Levinsohn Textile Co., Adam Levinsohn, Pres., 212-685-1440 x306, alevinsohn@levinsohn.com

London Luxury, Amanda Keller, VP Brand Strategy, 914-636-2100 x525, akeller@londonlux.com

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Stella Circarone, VP Marketing, 212-827-8000

New Sega Home Textiles, Vincent DeRosa, VP Sales and Marketing, 212-545-0906, Vincent.derosa@newsegahome.com

Revman, April Bracco, Licensing Mgr., abracco@revman.com

Town and Country Living, Judi Alexander, 646-898-0731, jalexander@tncliving.com