Bart Hill, Mohawk Home SVP, discusses Karastan's updated rug strategy. Pictured right is Karastan's Nisha
design from the new hand-knotted Sundar collection debuting at High Point. 

CALHOUN, Ga. -- Mohawk Home is giving its Karastan Rugs brand a major overhaul with plans to showcase its updated strategy at fall High Point Market vis a vis a major launch of new products reflecting the updated direction.

The company has spent the past several years reassessing its area rug business and moving that segment to a sourcing model where much of its decorative flooring product is imported from various overseas facilities in major rug centers such as Egypt, India and Turkey. (The company announced earlier this year that it halted its domestic area rug production.)

"This is a refresh, a complete overhaul of the brand. It's Karastan Rugs 2.0," Bart Hill, senior vice president Mohawk Home, tells RugNews.com in an exclusive interview. "What we will launch at fall High Point Market will refresh about 35 to 40 percent of our brand and while we still have machine-made synthetics, we are really refocusing the Karastan Rugs brand on some of the premium constructions with this relaunch."

"Karastan is a legacy brand that Mohawk is proud to have as part of our portfolio. It has a 100-year history and has been in the premium side of the market since then. The rug market in total is mostly unbranded and Karastan is one of the last manufactured brands still out there. It stands for quality, and it has stood for traditional styling forever, but we have tried to venture further into contemporary designs over the years. Now we are focusing on higher quality luxury fibers and some higher end products. The rug market in general is really bifurcated and there is a real void at the higher end of the market for a luxury brand like Karastan and there is a customer out there for that."

MAJOR HPMKT LAUNCH REDEFINES KARASTAN BRAND


Karastan will introduce its new Sundar collection of pure wool hand-knotted designs at fall HPMKT. Shown, Nisha in navy

Karastan, which accounts for approximately 10 percent of the Mohawk Home division's entire revenues, plans to spotlight its fall introductions on higher-end area rugs, namely wool products and handmade rugs. It is expected to present between 70-90 new styles across 15 new collections, most at the higher end of the market with targeted trending looks.

"Fashion has always been synonymous with the Karastan brand whether it be contemporary or traditional, and over the years we have brought to market products in a variety of styles and price points,” Hill explained.

"Part of our new launch in High Point is to focus on a better/best product portfolio, with a heavy focus on the best side," Hill detailed. "Our new direction is more luxury fibers, including some higher-end products. That's going to really represent what we want from the Karastan Rugs brand."


Karastan's recently introduced Forsyth Park collection, machine-tufted with a polyester/wool blend, represents
the company's new ethos. Shown, Cloverdale

The company will roll out plenty of all-wool hand-knotted rugs in designer-driven patterns, which include some traditional styles, and some chunky wool constructions with subtle traditional patterns, as well as subtle contemporary looks focusing on textures with high-low patterns or chunky fat wools. Karastan is also taking designs from its broadloom division and translating the looks and textures for area rugs.

"We are also coming out with a brand-new line of products for the outdoor patio space, which is such a good category these days, with new higher end looks," Hill said.

Karastan's fall introductions will feature broad appeal across a selection of weaves, styles and textures. In terms of pricing the new Karastan collections will range from $1,500 to $5,000 in 9x12 at retail.

"Our new assortment will offer a lot of handmade, including some higher end robo-tufted wool looks," he said. "It runs the gamut from textures, solids, multi-color, some high-end designs, stylized designs, and some new categories in the hand-knots. There will be some that really scream traditional Karastan, and that's what we wanted, to really go back to our roots to some extent."

Still, Hill notes that, ""We are keeping a lot of the basic products that are working for the Karastan brand, such as Spice Market and some of the machine-made synthetics."


Karastan's new Surrey Hills lineup, machine-woven of a poly/viscose blend, offers trending traditional designs in neutral
palettes. Shown, Sunningdale in acacia

CAPTURING THE DESIGNER TRADE


A favorite with Karastan clients is Haberdasher, a hand-tufted range offering an understated cross-hatch motif.

Karastan's decision to target the designer sector reflects a desire to capture more of the affluent consumer market.

"We have not had a huge focus on designers; our business has been mostly retailer or dealer based," Hill explained. "We will now have more products that designers will be proud to put in their homes and sell. That is the first step: to get products right and to get the product base we need to enter that channel. The second step is to make designers aware that we are here and then we can begin to sell into that channel.”

Hill notes that Karastan already has relationships with several heavy weights in the architectural market, selling to them through its commercial division and it will leverage those relationships to introduce them to its new area rug assortment.

"Karastan is a 100-year-old brand, and we are committed to it. It is a keystone pillar of our entire residential division, which we view as our premium brand, and we are investing heavily in it."


Karastan's hand-knotted Mystique collection offers popular Oushak-inspired patterns with playful accent colors. Shown
in soft gray colorway.