Atlanta—It was all about choices at the summer edition of the Atlanta International Area Rug Market. Co-sponsored by the Oriental Rug Retailers of America (ORRA) at Atlanta’s AmericasMart, the annual show offered retailers not only a wide diversity of colors and patterns, but a variety of price ranges as well. “From the attendee’s standpoint there were a tremendous amount of new introductions,” said Chas Sydney, senior vice president of Americas-Mart’s Area Rug Center. “We also saw a lot of lower priced point products.” He added that over the past few years, the rug business has become “spectacular. We think the market was slightly better than last summer and it seems like people were very optimistic about the future. They showed a little more confidence in our economy as it’s starting to rebound.”

Capel, as always, was among the exhibitors offering a variety of new products at the market. “We’re introducing a lot more of our hand-tufted products,” said Cameron Capel, national account manager who’s grandfather started the business in 1917. “We launched our Martha’s Vineyard collection about a year-and-a-half ago and we’ve added approximately 20 new designs to the collection that feature great bold colors and great designs.” Also on display was the company’s Woven Spirits collection of Navajo Indian rugs. “This is a great program we started six months ago ( FCNews, Jan. 20/27), where part of the purchase of these rugs go to the Navajo Foundation to help the Navajo people,” Capel explained. “It’s been exciting.” While the company started with braided rugs, she said, it has expanded to include woven rugs, loop hooked rugs, hand-tufted rugs, hand knotted rugs and more. “We are also offering quite a bit of soft cotton chenilles and reversible cotton blends in all price ranges at this market. We produce a wide range of sizes from mountain colors to bright reds and soft greens.”

If the tropical shirts didn’t draw the buyer’s attention to the 828 International Trading Co.’s showroom, then the brightly colored Cabana Joe rug collection certainly did. “Probably the biggest thing for us in this market is our Cabana Joe collection,” said Mike Ishkanian, Chicago representative for the company. The tropical and nautical printed woolen rugs are crafted in soft, cut-and-loop textures. “828 probably has one of the most varied lines in the rug industry,” he added, “not only in the types of products we have, but in our pricing, too.” Some of the prominent displays in the company’s showroom included the Himalayan Collection, an Indo-Tibetan hand-knotted, 100% wool collection; the Midtown Collection, which consists of plush hand-knotted wool rugs, and the Accents Collection, one of the largest collections of hand-hooked, 100% cotton rugs on the market, 828 stated. Accents offers an array of brightly colored, themed rugs in many sizes.

A host of other manufacturers made an impact at this year’s show, including Karastan. The Mohawk division focused on its new Resort collection. The five-patterned offering has been placed in the mill’s Studio by Karastan line. “The collection has yielded an extraordinary range of additions evocative of the easygoing yet elegant lifestyle of the tropics and exotic resorts,” said Anne Carley, marketing director. While the rug in the Resort collection come in traditional sizes, including runners, Karastan also used the market to show customers it is in tune with consumer trends and demands with Rounds and Mansion Size rugs. Rounds takes a number of the mill’s most popular products such as #717 from the Original Karastan Collection, two styles from English Manor and one from the New Classics Collection, and translated them into round rugs. “These are increasingly in demand,” Carley explained, “arising from the groundswell for casual decorating as well as a growing need for rugs to fit today’s harder to fit dining spaces and grand entry areas.”

Finally, the Mansion collection features six styles from the New Classics Collection that are proportioned at approximately 9X13-ft. Stanton Rug Co. announced it will offer for the first time stock rugs crafted from its popular broadloom and runner coordinate collections. “Our coordinate collections have been very successful,” said Mike Shupp, Stanton’s national rug sales manager, “and we wanted to offer our dealers an even greater versatility, meeting the needs for any style. The stocked rugs give consumers an immediate visual with instant ship potential as well as a more cost effective option to having a custom rug fabrication.” In addition to the stock rug program, Stanton unveiled five rugs made from 100% New Zealand Wool. Four of the products—Anastasia, Cathrine, Olivia and Charles—are part of the Royal Sovereign Collection, while the fifth rug, Topkapi, is part of The Savoy Collection. While New Zealand Wool played a big part at the Summer Market, traditional carpet fiber makers continued to make an impact in the rug arena.

Both Solutia and DuPont teamed with companies to present collections bearing their respective yarns. “The Stainmaster Rug Collection continues to see excellent growth in the area rug segment,” said Ana Torrence, DuPont’s business manager for the Rug Collection. Companies such as Capel and SoHo displayed products that are part of the DuPont Stainmaster Rug Collection. Both took advantage of the fiber supplier’s soft Tactesse fiber in their new lines. SoHo introduced Overture, part of the new multi-color Stainmaster Signature rug program, while Capel showed off the Casual Home Collection. Finally, Milliken took advantage of Solutia’s Dura-Soft Wear-Dated yarns in creating its Potpourri collection of Soft Loop rugs—Peony, Rico, Sassy, Ren-frew, Au Courant, Terrance, Courtyard and Chatham.