Hicksville, N.Y.—Add Liz Claiborne to the rapidly growing list of nationally known designers and home fashion experts entering the floor covering industry. Liz Claiborne, Inc. (LCI) announced it will be coming out with a total floor covering product assortment, including carpet, rugs, vinyl, wood, laminate and ceramic, under the fashion designer’s name. Unlike other noted personalities who have partnered with a particular manufacturer as a means to get into the industry, Claiborne, whose company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:LIZ), has signed an agreement with Carpet One to help it produce and distribute the collection. Under the agreement, Liz Claiborne Flooring will be sold exclusively through Carpet One stores in North America starting in early 2003.

In addition, Carpet One officials will be working “hand-in-hand” with Liz Claiborne executives on product styling and sourcing, and merchandising and marketing. Barbara Friedman, president of Liz Claiborne Licensing, said entering the floor covering industry is the next step in the company’s strategy to extend the designer’s name from apparel and accessories to home furnishings. “We’re looking to build the home from the bottom-up because the brand translates very well from apparel to the home. An important element of our growth strategy is to license our brands to outside sources who bring specialized skills to categories where we do not have a core competency. It gives us the opportunity to extend the Liz Claiborne presence in the market while allowing us to focus on what we do best.”

Howard Brodsky, co-chairman and co-CEO of Carpet One and its parent company CCA Global Partners, told FCNews during an exclusive interview that adding the Liz Claiborne name to its members’ portfolio of offerings will not only help drive traffic into Carpet One stores, it will create more sales. “Our goal is to give our members products which have built-in consumer confidence, and goods bearing the Liz Claiborne name certainly meet that objective. “She carries a 98% brand re cognition among consumers we’ve identified as our core shoppers,” he explained, “That’s because Liz Claiborne understands the female shopper in terms of what she wants and desires and the consumer obviously relates.” Brodsky was not just singing high praises because of the new partnership, fact is, the Liz Claiborne name appears on an extensive range of fashion apparel and accessories for not only women, but men, teens, children and infants, as well as fragrances for women and men. The 26 brands in her portfolio are sold through more than 26,000 points of sale worldwide.

Though a number of the Liz Claiborne items are sold directly to the public through her outlet stores, LCI and Carpet One stressed the flooring line will only be available at specialty floor covering stores. And, in this case, only at Carpet One locations. With both sides having inked the deal at press time, officials said it was too early to say exactly what kind and how many products will be offered. In fact, with the help of Carpet One, they were still in negotiations with various hard and soft surface mills to see who will do the manufacturing. Friedman did note that ceramic products will be sourced from a mixture of places including having tile imported from Italy and Spain. As with the mills, specific sources had yet to be determined. Since the Liz Claiborne name is a powerful marketing tool, Carpet One and LCI officials are collaborating on a merchandising system to showcase each flooring product. Friedman said the units will have the Liz Claiborne aesthetic, that is the same look and feel as other LCI merchandising, especially its apparel and accessories. Brodsky added, while the displays will tie in with Carpet One’s exclusive Selectafloor selling system, they will be their own unique set up. “But, they will work well within the framework of each of our members’ stores, no matter their size.”

One aspect of the merchandising system that is known will be a special color-matching program to allow customers to bring in fabric, paint and other samples and have them coordinated with Liz Claiborne Flooring. To support the collection, LCI and Carpet One will do national marketing through consumer magazines and television commercials. Marketing will be done both individually and on a collaborative basis. Brodsky noted this deal is only with Carpet One, CCA’s other buying group divisions, such as Flooring America, International Design Guild, FloorExpo, Stone Mountain/ GCO, are not included in the deal. “Each is an independent business unit responsible for its own marketing and merchandising.”