Kaleen Debuts First Machine-Made Indoor Rugs, Grows Handmade Collections at July Markets

The machine-made Tiziano collection, featuring 14 designs, will again be on show later in July at Las Vegas Market. Kaleen is also beefing up its bread and butter handmade rug business with the addition of several innovative hand-tufted and hand-knotted collections for summer shoppers as well.

"Tiziano is our first delve into the indoor machine-made category, and the reason was strictly on a price point basis," Blake Dennard, Kaleen senior vice president told RugNews.com. Tiziano is machine woven in Egypt of polypropylene, and will retail at $159 in a 5x8.

"As aggressive as we are on the handmade side, we just won't force that handmade product into a $199 retail. We definitely could do it, but it would be an inferior product, and we don't want to introduce an inferior product. Tiziano enables us to get into a price category we weren't in before - it opens the door," Dennard explained, noting that the company is looking to expand its machine-made business over the next few months.

"A shift from handmade to machine-made rugs has been an issue for some suppliers, but with our own manufacturing in India, Kaleen is committed to the handmade rug business. We can bring a 5x8 handmade rug in wool to market that will retail for $299 to $399. We're still very much committed to that handmade side of the business and will continue to grow that.

But he points out that the company is now close to eight times larger than it was four years ago, achieving 20 to 30 percent increases each year. "When you get to that point, you have to look for areas to expand into, and we see this lower price category as a big market that we can grasp to continue those big growth rates."

While he says Tiziano's sophisticated look and lower price points will be a good step for Kaleen's brick and mortar furniture and rug dealers apart from its true handmade customers, Dennard is eyeing Internet retailers for major growth. "E-commerce is such a big category, and the lower price points have huge turn rates on e-comm sites. Machine made rugs are much more of a spur of the moment buy: consumers may be slow to pull the trigger on a $499 rug; but a lot more of those shoppers will buy that product at $159 for a 5x8."

Handmade Introductions

"We are still big, big believers in the handmade side of the business. At summer markets we are coming out with two brand-new handmade collections, Herrera and Paracas, and we're showing two space-dyed handmade lines we introduced at the last High Point Market, Chancellor and Marble, that have been further refined -- really nailed down now, and so well received," Dennard said.

The new handmade Paracas collection by Kaleen features a unique chunky braided look.

Offered in six designs, the Paracas collection is a chunky braided wool series, which Dennard says is completely unique. The handmade designs include argyles and other geometric motifs contrasting a fashion sweater cable knit-inspired weave. The MAP is $579 in 5x8.

Herrera Collection

Another hot-off-the-loom collection is Herrera, an extension to Kaleen's two hand-knotted collections called Restoration and Relic, which are currently in the company's running line. Herrera features a popular distressed vintage look in natural colors and is hand-knotted India. Offered in 12 designs, Herrera retails at $879 in 5.6 x 8.6.

Chancellor Collection

New designs in the hand-tufted wool Chancellor area rug collection by Kaleen will debut at the Atlanta summer markets. 

Kaleen's new Marble range, inspired by the organic designs of its namesake natural stone, is hand-tufted in India of 100 percent wool in blended space-dyed yarns. It carries a suggested retail of $499 in 5 x 7'9".

Kaleen can be found at AmericasMart showroom 1-3C-9 and Las Vegas showroom C-407.