Reid Witlin, Facebook Empowers Designers, Fans Name Turkish Bath Collection

NORTHRIDGE, California – Reid Witlin Ltd, a hospitality textile supplier of upholstery, drapery and bedding has brought social media closer to the textile industry by using its own Facebook page to facilitate a contest for the name of its recently launched spring 2011 Turkish Bath Collection of ten U.S. sheers woven in Turkey. Chop Sticks, Angel Wings and Bubble Bath are some of the names submitted by fans that were chosen for the products in the collection. 

“We’ll continue to use Facebook as a method for reaching design clients because of the immediacy in getting responses and the interaction that designers have with each other when they find something of ours that they like,” said Scott Yasgoor, president, in an exclusive interview with F&FI. “In essence, it was highly successful for us because it accomplished the goal of getting designers and potential clients to go online and see our products in advance, which created a lot of positive buzz for us.”

The Turkish Bath collection of graphic patterns and textures in natural hues consists of approximately 38 sku’s, each of which is 118” wide so that it meets the standards for use in hospitality and aboard cruise ships. It is exclusive to Reid Witlin in the U.S. and is priced at approximately $28.95 per yard.

“I haven’t heard of other companies in the industry that have been using Facebook or social media for a pattern naming contest and I don’t know of any company in general that involves its clients in such a way that they are naming the products, so in that sense I think it empowers our clients,” said Yasgoor. “When we go to trade shows, we’ll send out some ‘Tweets’ on Twitter and I think it’s important in this present instantaneous world to have people know what you’re doing and clients appreciate that ability to be kept up to speed.”

Read the entire story in our spring issue here