Steven Feldman

Susie Axelrad, the merchandising maven for Lewis Carpet One in Northbrook, Ill., asked what I had thought of the recent Karastan conclave on its final night.

“They just do everything right,” I said. And that was before Patti LaBelle took the stage.

So it goes with the industry’s most recognized brand. Everything about Karastan conveys upscale from product styling and design to service and that extends to every last detail. When you walk away from a Karastan event you know you’ve experienced something special. I guess the word I’m looking for is memorable.

It begins with product. Fashion for the floor is more accurate. The introductions ranged from high-quality wool broadloom to wool/silk-blended rugs to a brand new hardwood flooring line that epitomizes fashion. Styling? Every retailer was giving Karastan its props, especially for its new American Treasures collection that extends the brand from traditional to transitional and maybe even contemporary.

Product presentation? Karastan has no equal in this department. Vignettes show new product in perspective with merchandisers displaying entire lines strategically sprinkled about. Simply put, the company shows product the way it was meant to be shown: as fashion.

Speaking of fashion, there’s the event itself. There’s no one better than Marl Veeder, event planner extraordinaire and half of the Veeder-Perman team, at putting on the glitz. Veeder, whose resume includes the Grammys and Academy Awards, spent the better part of a year conceptualizing an event that would daze and amaze many of the finest retailers in the country. The opening night dinner was interspersed with Karastan-themed entertainment inspired by the Broadway hit “The Drowsy Chaperone.” As an added bonus, Veeder imported a star of that show. The grand finale included the back curtain of the stage giving way to the vignette-laden Karastan showroom.

It also becomes insanely obvious that no detail is too small for Karastan. Whether it’s something as simple as a breakfast buffet that includes smoked salmon and made-to-order omelets, or the installation of two big-screen televisions outside the showroom in recognition of the fact that many of its dealers had high interest in the Ohio State-Michigan clash, Karastan always seems to be thinking.

Karastan has always been synonymous with fashion. It’s also first-class all the way.