NY Market Bounces (Half-Way) Back

For the first time in a very long time, big pencil retailers turned out in person for home textiles market. And for the first time since fall 2019, a good number of showrooms opened their doors for face[1]to-face appointments.

Although more suppliers rolled out the welcome mat for spring market than had done so during the tentative fall 2021 market, most expected a heavy schedule of virtual appointments. Several con[1]fessed they’d had no intention of freshening up their spaces. Others had not planned to come into the city at all. But around March 7, retailers started ringing them up for in-person visits, so vendors sprang into action.

When all was said and done, all but four major retailers sent at least a few buyers to the New York Home Fashions Market, even if they didn’t bring the full battalion.

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The spring New York Home Fashions Markets arrived at an apt moment. After nearly 18 months of scrambling to find enough inventory to slap onto shelves and feed the explosion of e-commerce orders, suppliers and retailers are in a position to consider what suits consumers’ needs and wants as the country transitions from pandemic to endemic mode. Focus is shifting from “What can you deliver right now?” to “What white spaces do we need to address?”

New products have always been the bread and butter of market week, but this time around suppliers were pushing NEWNESS – with an exclamation point.

Buyers weren’t the only ones pounding the pavement. Several companies that are currently without showroom space were making the rounds to check out real estate along 5th Avenue. Some were showing in temp spaces; others came in to just get a sense of the market.

While it would be foolhardy to bet that fall market will mark a complete return to the pre-pandemic order, there was a sense last month that home textiles market is moving toward a new normal.