About Arkwright

Arkwright Home has come a long way since setting up shop in New York City in the 1990s. They made their name by providing discounted home textiles to local retailers. Today, their multinational team works with global retailers and online marketplaces to develop programs for every customer’s customer. From new automotive Messy Mechanic and TowelZilla offerings to their wildly popular Sloppy Chef range of kitchen towels, they design textile programs for the modern family on the go. Five strategies catapulted Arkwright to the forefront of retail buyers’ radar in 2020.

Opportunity Purchases

From the beginning, Arkwright cultivated relationships with global mills to purchase distressed home textile inventory. When mills experience order cancelations and overruns, they carry inventory made to a particular specification that may not work for the next customer. Arkwright provides a solution that helps the mill rout of an untenable situation while giving customers a better quality product for a discounted price.

Arkwright bundles and similar products (e.g., by weight or pattern) to create new assorted product lines (e.g., Towel Assortments). They rebrand products, so customers benefit from a wider assortment variety under a unifying brand.

An excellent example of opportunity-buying in practice is Arkwright’s first Sloppy Chef Kitchen Towel line. Customers receive a case of 48 featuring six to eight patterns presented with an attractive bellyband and j-hook. -an instant engaging POP display for all sizes of retailer.

Sloppy Chef has since become so popular that first-quality kitchen textile lines continue to be developed. Featuring Herringbone Tea Towels, Cheesecloth and Antimicrobial Treated Kitchen Towels, the line has premium and economy options in stock today, with more lines in development.

Enhanced Home Textile Programs

While Arkwright was founded on opportunity, they grew on new product development. Arkwright works with customers to develop first-run home textiles across all production aspects: colors, patterns, weight, case pack, packaging, and price-points.

As consumers are trend-focused, a healthy new product pipeline is essential to satisfying demand. To address this, Arkwright assembled an R&D team featuring executives from leading mills, rug manufacturers, branding agencies, and e-commerce. Each new product undergoes a viability study to ensure each facet of the textile exceeds customer and consumer expectations.

New products are also developed following e-commerce compliance guidelines. Polybags with openings larger than five inches contain suffocation warnings. SKUs include an easily-accessible barcode. Packages are sealed and compact with master cartons that contain a single SKU or controlled assortment.

The most recent addition to several beach towel lines is the Aston & Arden Resort Towel. At 35″ x 70″ this 30Double 25lb beach and pool towel is the most luxurious towel to be developed by Arkwright.

Zooming the New Normal

A practice born from necessity will become commonplace for many brands in our space. With showrooms in New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia and a healthy show schedule and active salesforce, Arkwright met with customers regularly to sample the ever-evolving product lines.

They still do, albeit virtually. With three new multimedia presentation booths, the team meets with customers around the globe 24/7. While in-person communication is essential and will resume post-COVID, Zoom meetings allow customers worldwide to interact with the team ad-hoc rather than waiting for market weeks and shows.

Build Your Own Quote

Arkwright’s new website allows buyers to build a quote 24/7. Investments in technology and personnel keep the catalog and website up-to-date with all products in stock. If it is on the website, you can buy it. While Arkwright was planning the interactive inventory tool before March 2020, the pandemic accelerated the need for buyers to access Arkwright lines without meeting in person. Now, many buyers regularly use the tool to reorder staple products while discovering what’s new for the season.

Refreshing the Brand

Arkwright launched a new identity and website to better reflect its evolution from opportunity textile experts to a leading provider of branded textile programs for retail chains and e-commerce marketplaces. The new corporate brand identity includes a new name and logo, a modern, retail-friendly interpretation of its original double-bar logo.

An updated corporate website was introduced at www.arkwrighthome.com to reflect the new brand identity and showcase the company’s offerings. Buyers may browse by category or space and build a quote to start the conversation.

“We’ve grown a lot over the past couple of years. Never before has Arkwright offered so many high-quality, value-priced textiles for every room in the home. To celebrate and help buyers navigate our offerings more cleanly, we’ve transformed our look and website.” said Andrew Moore, Arkwright’s Head of Marketing.

Arkwright thrived during a time of stress. As an essential company (importing microfiber cleaning supplies and PEE), Arkwright stayed open. Many new retailers discovered what their customer base always knew. Arkwright has quality inventory at the right price. Get in touch with Arkwright today to learn more: (732) 246-1506 or info@arkrightllc.com