By John Bailey
ATLANTA—Expansion and economy were big buzzwords at the summer Atlanta International Area Rug Market as exhibitors tweaked and expanded lines that did well earlier in the year and introduced their concepts for the new ones.

The masculine gender was one of those newer topics of conversation at AmericasMart, and Karastan has some of its own ideas about what men want.

“Karastan is taking aim at men’s comfort zone,” said Anne Carley, director of rug marketing. “Men are wanting a bigger say in what rooms look like. They’re taking over rooms and designing them, and it’s not just the audio-visual rooms and it’s not just the married men.”

The company is shooting toward the natural colors, washed muted earth tones and including new collection-specific colors like Bluestone.

“We want to not only have an appeal but actually market toward them,” Carley said.

Milliken is keeping up the “old college try” with the success it has had with the NCAA-licensed collection. “We’ve expanded our licensed rugs to include more NCAA schools,” said Frank Zito, national sales manager. “We’re also moving into NBA and NHL rugs.”

Always the fashonistas, Amichi isn’t afraid to stay the course in feminine markets and introduced its Antiquities collection for the market.

“It is inspired by the 1930s, the age of shabby-chic,” said Eva Di Adamo, executive vice president of merchandising and design. “It’s very feminine with the greens, lilacs and mauves.”

She said Amichi continues to be at the cutting edge of color and design with its Antiquities collection blending traditional Tibetan woven patterns and taking it to a different level with a striking color palette.

For those who need a middle ground Karastan also introduced its Toscano line from the Ashara collection in January. The line blends a feminine touch with masculine appeal that won’t break up a marriage. The design has a washed antique look with accents of saddle brown and cherry red, turquoise and beeswax.

“It’s a soft classic—easy to live with,” Carley said. “We like to call it cradle-to-cradle,” said Judd Whitfield, area rug specialist. “The entire rug is made of type 6 nylon and can be completely recycled.”

The Museum of New Mexico collection is made of Shaw’s EverTouch nylon and is the only “post-consumer fiber” that can be recycled “into a dyeable carpet of area rug fiber,” he noted. The collection uses an earth tone palette with shades of red, coral, gold, light beige and blue to recreate a Western feel. “The strong geometric patterns call to life images of rock paintings, sand art and the noble hand weaving tradition of the Western Plains Indians.”

The Concepts collection, made from olefin, from Shaw covers a wide range of styles that are all long lasting, easy to clean and affordable. “Our new introduction of Concepts will fit price points and remain affordable,” Whitfield said. “It mixes a little bit of everything like all our lines do.”

Concepts features everything from traditional patterns to a modern feel with paisleys and contemporary abstract patterns. Shaw even included its take on animal prints with the Giraffe and Wild Savanna lines.

Whitfield said sales are going in spurts with less retailers wanting to warehouse products and then ordering large quantities at need. “Either it’s busy or slow, but it seems to even out.”

The market itself had less manufacturers and retailers in attendance than previous years, but Chas Sydney, senior vice president of area rugs, AmericasMart said that was to be expected. “The markets are a reflection of what’s going on in the real world. We have around 120 rug companies at this market, and the important names are all here…but we wish we had more.”

Sydney said the industry is getting to the end of the proverbial tunnel and that the Winter ’09 market will be brighter and bigger. “With several new major showrooms, we’re expanding for January. We’re also looking to have many new companies.”

Some of the seminars offered at the AmericasMart University tackled the issue of doing business in the current economy with “Partnerships for Profit: Thriving in a Tough Economy,” which concentrated on cementing relationships between dealers and designers and also developing long-term client relationships.

Organic appeal has lasting power this season with earth tones holding sway. The majority of manufacturers are continuing with lines that have a broad appeal aimed at capturing a wider market.

While most stayed to provide the consumer with the comforting tones of Mother Nature, others stepped out this market with bolder sharper contrasting colors.

Balta U.S. introduced two collections specifically for the American consumer. The Belgian company has been in the rug business for 50 years said Dimitri Verhoye, vice president of sales and marketing, and Balta has split its marketing teams between the U.S. and Europe. The two collections are both based on an eight-point color wheel dominated by ivory, black, reds and some greens.

Vibe is all about bold statements with brushstrokes, prints and stark contrasts—making it distinctly modern with no compromise. Verhoye said what sets Balta apart is the consistent use of full zones of color. “We’re not afraid of doing that.”

The Collage Collection, while on the same color palette, has a distinctly American feel, he noted, and fills the void left in the company’s repertoire by the distinctly modern Vibe. The traditional floral patterns reminisce of grandma’s kitchen and drop stitching is used to create a textured feel for many of the area rugs.

But Verhoye said that’s not all Balta is bringing to the table. It also introduced a luxury shag of dense plush pile and a design shag in a plush pile with bold patterned designs.

Also expanding its collections to reach a larger customer base, Karastan is preparing dealers to meet the needs of a style-driven market. The English Manor collection is expanding with Canton Gate, to be released later this year, which is the mill’s answer to the rising popularity of Chinese influenced pieces in design.

The blending of traditional and modern continued at this market, and Nourison expanded its Nourison 2000 collection along those lines. The signature collection of New Zealand wool and hand-crafted silk is “decorative opulent” and it has taken traditional Persian patterns and added soft mint greens, browns and taupe to make the colors and contrasting patterns more vibrant and eye-catching. “This is a conversation piece,” Rosenblum said. “The contrast catches your eye and people ask about it.”

The collection also features over scaled borders with floral motifs and comes in up to 15 sizes depending on the design.

Nourison is also expanding the Liz Claiborne Modern Elegance collection, which was introduced in January in black and white. “It was so well received, we decided to do a black field with gold and cappuccino latte,” she said. Another edition is to the Liz Claiborne Landscape Stripes collection. The gradation of color pattern is a spin-off of an earlier design but this time in blues, greens and reds. “We’re going after mainstay florals with this fresh color pattern.”

Nourison’s Jaipur Collection was also expanded in rusts and golds with a persimmon apricot. “It’s a beefy product of New Zealand wool with our herbal wash on it over a scaled pattern,” Rosenblum noted. “The rug is made to fit budgets. Price points right now are extremely important.”

Again the economy rears its ugly head.