ATLANTA -- Amer Rugs kicks off the winter market season celebrating a record breaking 2016 with a Bollywood-inspired party on Thursday, Jan. 12 from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.at its AmericasMart showroom, 1-5D-2.
The rug maker is also introducing 13 new collections, as well as hundreds of one-of-a-kind hand-knotteds, which will be displayed at a separate new showroom (1-5-D-1).
"We're bullish about 2017, and we wanted our Atlanta party to reflect that optimism," said Joe Barkley, vice president sales and marketing, Amer Rugs. "What better way to get people's attention than to go back to our company's roots with a Bollywood party. India's film industry produces musicals with happy singing and dancing and vibrant colors, all of which reflect the optimism of our company. The theme is 'Be Inspired', and we'll have hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, and Bollywood style entertainment."
Amer Rugs enters several new area rug categories and debuts fresh collections in its hand-tufted assortment, including Bloom (BLO-20).
FIRST MACHINE-MADES
Amer enters the machine-made rug category with two collections, Cambridge and Windsor. "This is a new construction for Amer -- the first machine-mades we have ever created. It's also a brand new price category for us," said Barkley. Both collections are made in Turkey of polyester. Cambridge, which features subtle abstract patterns, retails from $199 for 5x8. Windsor offers soft, muted traditional designs, and carries a $249 to $299 5x8 retail.
"We've entered the category because our customers are asking for more and more diversity from Amer. We are expanding our assortment to provide the products that satisfy the needs of our current customers, but at the same time, machine-made rugs provide an opportunity for Amer to join a larger pool of customers," Barkley explained.
Amer, which expands into new territory in 2017, introduces the hand-tufted Vector collection.
TIBETANS AND PRINTED JUTE
Amer will also make news this market with the Himalayan collection, its first Tibetan rug series. Hand knotted in Tibet, the line retails in the $2,500-range for a 6x9, Barkley said. Another first is a printed jute flatweave collection called Atlas, which retails in the $199 - $249 range.
NEW HAND TUFTEDS
Amer Rugs offers winter market buyers several new hand-tufted collections, among them Vector, Bloom and Valencia. Ahead of 2017's trend curve to innovative geometric motifs, the Vector collection is crafted in a hand-tufted loop with blended New Zealand wool, and makes a fashion statement with an artful combination of angles to create depth and dimension.
Valencia by Amer Rugs reworks classic Spanish motifs with fresh colors.
Bloom collection rugs are hand-tufted of hard twist wool, reworking classic floral designs in a palette of lively modern colors. Also toying with familiar scrolling florals found in Spanish tile works, Valencia is hand-tufted of blended New Zealand wool and art silk.
COMMITMENT TO HAND-KNOTS
Although Barkley reports that today 60 percent of Amer's product line is not hand-knotted, the company is steadfast in its commitment to the category. In fact, at this winter's markets, Amer will introduce Opera, the most expensive product the company has ever made, with a retail of $6,999 in 6x9. The wool and silk 12/12 Opera features traditional designs recolored for the American market.
"Our heritage is high-end hand knots. People still think of us as high quality hand knots, and we are committed to it. We will never move away from what made us successful, and we continue to put a lot of time and energy into hand knots," Barkley explained.
Among the new hand-tufted collections by Amer is Valencia.
He points out that Amer's president, Tanuj Gupta made the decision to expand into other categories four years ago, not just because retailers were asking for Amer styling, color and quality in a broadened range of price points, but to maintain the company's growth trajectory.
"If you only swim in that small pool you are not going to grow. We had such a remarkable growth in the past four years, and especially in 2016, we knew that to have that same growth we had to continue to expand with different colors and price points. Tanuj started slowly pursuing hand tufted products four years ago with three collections: good, better, best. We kept building, diversifying in fibers, at the same time building our manufacturing base because we wanted to manufacturer our hand-tufteds ourselves."
The new hand-woven Loft range by Amer Rugs features simple tribal-inflected geometric designs.
Barkley said that although the hand-knotted field is shrinking, Amer's sales in that segment of its business have actually grown. "We are fortunate because we are a wholly owned manufacturer, one of a very few weavers remaining in India that produce high quality hand-knotted goods. Our growth in hand-knotteds reflects the growth of our business overall."
HANDMADE AND SHAG INTROS
Amer's new Loft collection of hand-woven dhurries features simple tribal-inspired geometric forms in fresh colors including blue, light gray, yellow and pink. Loft rugs are made of blended New Zealand wool. In addition to the hand-loomed Birkdale collection, the company will unveil several new shag qualities.
"Our success in shags has been significant, since we introduced Elements four years ago, and then added two new collections last year, Peacock and Illustrations, that surpassed our expectations. Based on the market's reaction we felt we needed to broaden that category even more," Barkley explained. New this market are Metro a dense, heavy shag and Bryant, a low profile patterned shag collection.
Amer Rugs introduces the Bloom collection for Winter markets.