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BED FASHIONS BRAND VCNY ENTERS THE RUG CATEGORY TARGETING MILLENNIALS
Owner Toby Cohen steps out of a New York market week meeting to pose for a photo with VCNY's e-commerce category director Fergul Kuzucuoglu in front of the company's new 40-design rug collection.
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NEW YORK -- Rebranded VCNY in late 2015, the bed fashions company formerly known as Victoria Classics launched its first full rug collection at the March 2016 New York Home Fashions Market, with 40 designs, all machine made in Turkey of heat-set polypropylene.
Soft-previewed at the fall 2015 NY market at the same time as the company formally launched its first licensed Jane Seymour bed fashion ensembles, the rug program is the result of nearly two years of market research and product development, according to Fergul Kuzucuoglu, VCNY's e-commerce category director.
Kuzucuoglu, who joined VCNY in 2014 after working in China, has significant retail experience with large European chains. She was responsible for purchasing, merchandising and product development for home furnishings and textiles for NEXT UK for 10 years, and held a similar position with JYSK in Denmark, part of JYSK Group, which has 2,300 stores in 41 countries.
"Victoria Classics had been producing since 1985, and was very successful in bedding and comforter sets. They hired me to look into ways to expand into other related categories," Kuzucuoglu told RugNews.com "We found three areas with potential: area rugs, throw blankets and white goods. We decided that area rugs would be one of the easiest and best ways to use our bedding designs to create a lifestyle look, and the buyers love it.
"We've had a really good response from everyone -- Walmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Wayfair -- because they say there is a creative design gap in the market for contemporary designs for the young generation. That's one of the reasons we changed our name to VCNY -- to appeal to this young millennial consumer.
A display at the New York Home Fashions Market shows the Ava rug with coordinates in bed fashions, pillows, poufs and more in the same lifestyle and palette.
"Area rugs make the perfect complement for the bedroom and at the same time the living room," Kuzucuoglu continued. "We decided to make it simple. We are using only heat set polypropylene, machine made. And we decided on one quality in three different weights (good, better, best), with retail price points from $99 to $129," she said.
VCNY's 40 new designs are created according to lifestyle -- transitional, traditional and contemporary -- and by color, including a true red base, a neutral palette with grays, and blues, both trending. Launched in 5x7s exclusively, the rugs can be produced in any size.
The company is offering three-piece sets with 5x7, 20x20 and 20x32 to be sold on the internet, mostly in modern designs. "All the online companies love it, because they can promote our product with our bedding. Everything from the bedding to the rugs is in the same color palette and lifestyle -- they can tell the whole story," Kuzucuoglu said.
At market, the company also showed some beds displayed with higher end rugs, which are machine tufted of microfiber in China in a three-dimensional high and low pile.
A young, contemporary abstracted rug design targets Millennials in price point and design, which complements bed fashions and coordinates in the VCNY collection.
Actress Jane Seymour, a licensing partner of VCNY, graciously poses for RugNews.com, following a presentation of her bed fashions collection, which was expanded at market to include bath products and window treatments as well as bedding.