Manufacturers roll out new designs at Showtime

By Staff -- Casual Living, 8/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Performance was a hot ticket at the Summer Showtime 2004 in High Point, N.C., last month, and buyers were rewarded with a bumper crop of fabrics and trims simultaneously tough and technical enough for outdoors and soft and beautiful enough for indoors.

The most refreshing trend was away from the traditional outdoor colors of dark green, brown and beige toward hot pinks, sunny yellows, oranges and cool aqua tones of blue, especially in combination with pale or citrus tones of light green.

DuraCord Textiles, in collaboration with The HammockSource, teamed with American Fibers and Yarns Company to develop a collection of outdoor performance fabrics. Marketed under the DuraCord brand, three collection were introduced — The Gardens, The Hideaway and Tropical Breeze — all made with Marquesa Cottonesque, a high performance yarn from AF&Y that combines the look and feel of cotton with easy-care properties including durability, stain resistance and cleanability. The three collections feature designer jacquards, stripes, textures and chambrays.

Sunbrella introduced fabrics in new color palettes and collections. Patterns in the Literally Sunbrella line are named after literary figures, such as Rousseau, a damask that combines boucle and chenille yarns in a traditional look. A Southwestern group of patterns features Steinbeck, a wide textured stripe, and Sheridan, a smaller coordinating stripe.

Sunbrella also debuted a rose family featuring pinks, roses and coral color palettes. The latest additions to the Joe Ruggiero Collection for Sunbrella focus on bright colors, including Fleur de Leaf, an informal floral, and Trax, a traditional herringbone.

"Everywhere you go there is demand for bright colors," Ruggiero said.

Other notable Showtime performance debuts were:

• American Trim Mfg. — offered 100% solution-dyed acrylic trims made with patented Tuf-Lock chenille converted in its own yarn plant, Advanced Yarn Technology, from Glen Raven's Sunbrella yarn.

• Altizer & Co. — showcased Inside Out collection of fabrics and coordinating trims, also produced of solution-dyed acrylic and featuring that fiber's tolerance for bleach.

• Portfolio Textiles, division of Kravet — showcased new Laura Ashley Performance Naturals line as well as its own new exclusive line of prints on Glen Raven's Sunbrella fabrics and Kravet Soleil for the design trade.

• Weave Corp. — launched Weatherwize, a well-designed and colored line of polyester performance fabrics with both indoor and outdoor applications.

—Susan Andrews, Furniture/Today, contributed to this story

American Trim Manufacturing's outdoor-worthy novelty trims are the perfect finishing touch for decorative pillows covered in Sunbury Textile Mills' Sunbrella chenille fabrics.