New Orleans – In the wake of its decision to give up the commodity business, Blumenthal has sold up every loom it owns with higher value products. Now, it is rolling out new programs.

Blumenthal will launch a new jobber program next March with 20,000 books for domestic jobbers with product in the $3-$5.50 price range.

''We expect to concentrate on 15 to 20 major jobbers in the U.S. for this program,'' said executive vice president Sid Steiner. This is the first time Blumenthal has produced a book for the jobber trade. ''There's a three-year payback on a program like this. We expect to see international jobbers interested in this program eventually.''

In addition, Blumenthal has innovated a pigment printing process on a soft hand upholstery line that will not crack due to a ''unique'' substrate. ''We think this will bring back prints and follow the trend for soft hand,'' said Steiner. ''Everything we now do will also be coordinated.'' At Heimtextil, Blumenthal is also offering a heat transfer printed jacquard program.

Blumenthal is launching Solutia's Wear Dated® Program with a minimum warranty of two years and up to five years in some cases. The company plans to re-engineer its lines to pass the Martindale test for export. Steiner said that Wear Dated is making a push into the U.K. and that Blumenthal is part of it.

Although upholstery is only 20 percent of Blumenthal's $140 million business, Steiner said that it's the company's fastest growing source of income. The upholstery products range from $3 to $8. High end Damask ticking is offered at $6 while a lower end line of printed ticking is available for as little as $1.14 a yard.

''Our customers told us that they wanted texture and soft hand,'' Steiner said. ''We now have new mechanical equipment in place to accomplish this.''

Blumenthal is feeling some competitive heat from lower priced upholstery products from India and China, but he's not convinced that the competition will present a long-term threat. ''The mills from these areas do not offer our quality and once the customer realizes this, they will stick with our product,'' he said.

In mattress ticking, however, the Belgians present a what Blumenthal considers a more formidable challenge. ''Internationally, the Belgians are very tough competitors,'' he said. ''Belgians sell damask ticking cheaper than we do everywhere but in the U.S.''

He said that the mattress ticking business is challenging enough even without competition. ''You'd be amazed at the time and effort we put into mattress ticking. The consumer firsts looks at the stiffness of the mattress and then decides what ticking they like at the point of sale. Most women make the choice. In two years time, our product is night and day compared to what it was originally. The biggest shift was in the price point. Originally, it was $2.25-$2.50 and now we've traded up.''

Blumenthal counts about 500 customers in the U.S. for its ticking and another 400 for upholstery. Glabman-Himes Company, Winston-Salem, N.C., does all of the upholstery styling for Blumenthal.

While Blumenthal works primarily in polyester warps, it is also looking at cotton and rayon in order to produce a totally soft hand ticking and upholstery line.

The converter trade is growing rapidly for Blumen-thal with about 15 accounts, especially in the top of bed jacquard arena. John Parris heads converter division sales based in the Northeast.

Loel Hofmann heads up the export business. He works with Jennifer Humphrey in the Pacific Rim and Jamil Urroz in Latin America. ''We started to sell the Middle East through Beydoun in New York. Our strongest area has been Latin America, but it will take time for it to recover economically.''

Blumenthal is developing its upholstery lines in the hope of passing the Martindale for export to Europe. ''The U.K. and Scandinavia have higher specifications than the rest of Europe. There is no standard yet,'' said Steiner. Blumenthal's agent in the U.K. is David L. David and Clifton H. Joseph is in Australia.