New York – Jay Yang has signed a long-term licensing contract to produce extensive and exclusive fabric collections for the Spectrum division of Covington Industries Inc. The licensed collection is said to employ new manufacturing techniques used to make woven and printed jacquards with linen and cotton basecloths.

''You can't really tell the prints from the wovens in this collection, said Marjorie Hoyne, President of Spectrum. ''Jay Yang's collection for Spectrum features high-end looks at middle to upper price points. There are two collections: one titled Great Voyage comprised of six screenprints and the other titled The United Kingdom comprised of six jacquards. The fabrics are treated with Scotchgard®. The United Kingdom collection features two yarn-dyed geometrics, three jacquards with chenille yarn accents and one piece-dyed floral jacquard.

With 70 skus, the collection includes wovens, prints and textures and will be completely designed in the Jay Yang studio in New York, Yang said.

The collection made its debut at Showtime in High Point, N.C., earlier this month and it will be shown to the international market over the next few months.

Yang, a Taiwan-born de-signer, had not created a major collection for a major converter for several years. ''I'm glad to get reacquainted with my customers through my collection for Spectrum,'' Yang said.

His most recent work has been in connection with his company Hines & Company, an upper end resource with showrooms in New York and Washington D.C.

Yang describes his new collections for Spectrum as natural, with an uncontrived an ease of harmony, colors, patterns.

Textures have been developed to coordinate within the same interior. ''Each design is intended to be used together in many ways,'' said Hoyne.

Yang and Hoyne have known each other for twenty years, Yang said.

''I first met Jay when I purchased his designs while at United Merchants. I recognized him then as a great talent and have respected his work ever since. He is a true American success story. He has a natural instinct for color, texture and design; an extraordinary merchandising sense of what the market wants,'' said Hoyne.

''Marjorie Hoyne was very enthusiastic about this collection. She used to buy my designs when I first started in this business as a freelance artist,'' he said.

While he is known for big floral designs, Yang said he has built on his signature flowers with other looks in this collection. The ''Yang signature stands for a certain aesthetic, same as a musician's tune or an artists' handwriting,'' he said. ''I have established a handwriting for well-drawn flowers which has now been expanded to other traditional designs.''

''Spectrum does a lot of high end collections for the volume market. For two years running now, Spectrum Fabrics were chosen for the 'First Ladies' Luncheon' at the White House given by members of the American Congress for the wives of Senators and members of the House,'' she said.

Yang expects that Spectrum will give him a more popular priced market for his designs. ''Through Spectrum, I can bring high end designs to a broader market,'' he said.