WestPoint Home Announces Joint Venture With Indus Dyeing for Towel Production in Pakistan

WestPoint Home today announced a joint venture with Indus Dyeing & Manufacturing Co., Limited for production of towels in Pakistan. The joint venture, to be known as Indus Home Limited, will acquire and expand an existing modern Indus facility outside Lahore, Pakistan.

The resulting Indus Home complex in Pakistan will be a vertical towel production facility, including yarn preparation, weaving, finishing and fabrication. The facility is already supplying product to WestPoint Home and will ramp up production over the next several months.


"This joint venture is a vital step in restoring WestPoint Home as the
industry's low-cost vendor and advancing the Company in the global market," said WPH Chief Executive Officer Joseph Pennacchio. "We have made this commitment after an extensive analysis of a wide range of opportunities. This joint venture will further strengthen our ability to compete with all domestic and international producers, while enhancing our long-established leadership in customer service and product quality.

Click Here for the Full Release

Wash Bedding properly

As winter melts into spring, lighter linens and cotton sheets will replace down-filled comforters and fuzzy flannels. But bedding can be an expensive investment. Before packing up the warm winter bedding, make sure to launder properly. The following guidelines from the Coin Laundry Association will help extend their life:

# Be kind to your bedding. Wash and dry in large-capacity machines. Most household washers can hold between 10- to 12-pounds of laundry. This is not large enough for a queen-size comforter. Commercial-grade washers can handle up to 75 pounds of wash and are best for cleaning bedding. Using larger machines will extend the life of your comforter and your home washer and dryer.

# Wash colored bedding in a mild detergent. Whites should be followed up with an oxygenated-bleach. Avoid chlorine bleaches, which leave a residue that is hard to clean and can cause discoloration over time.

# When drying your bedding, use a fabric-softening sheet as opposed to a liquid softener. Fabrics, such as down, have a tendency to absorb the liquid unevenly.

# Contrary to popular opinion, you can wash down-filled bedding. Be sure to read the care instructions, but most down comforters and pillows can be laundered. Use a mild detergent to wash and when drying put some clean tennis balls in the dryer to help fluff and distribute the down.

# Wash and dry flannel sheets separately. Flannel has a tendency to deposit lint in the dryer. Perhaps the most important care instruction for flannel is not to over-dry. Over-drying can cause wrinkles to set and colors to fade.

# Wool blankets can be washed and dried! Use cold water on a gentle cycle and fluff dry. Add some towels to help absorb moisture and cut down on drying time.

# Save time and use a drop-off service.

# Always read the care labels. Laundering comforters and bedspreads at the laundry saves money over dry cleaning, but certain fabrics, such as satin, cannot be washed and should be taken to a professional dry cleaner.

Care tips for Bed Linens

If you wash your sheets, you're doing only part of the job.

All bed linens need to be cleaned from time to time. Here are some pointers from the Soap and Detergent Association:

All linens: Check the care label to determine whether the item can be laundered at home or needs to be dry cleaned. If the item is washable, follow the recommendations on the label.

Comforters, quilts and mattress pads: Queen- or king-size comforters may not fit in regular-size washers and dryers. If they don't, take them to a coin-operated laundry with large-capacity machines.

Pretreat heavily soiled areas with a prewash product.

Toss a few dry, clean towels into the dryer with the comforter or mattress pad to keep the filling from clumping. If you can find clean, white tennis balls, those work well, too.

Pillows: Wash two pillows at a time, agitating only one or two minutes on a gentle cycle.

Machine dry. During the drying cycle, periodically take the pillows out and fluff them to prevent clumping and promote even drying.

-- Mary Beth Breckenridge

If body aches, consider buying a better pillow

Odds are, you're not paying too much attention to the pillow you cradle your head on night after night. But maybe you should. Using the wrong kind of pillow or one that is just worn out not only can lead to a poor night's sleep, but also can contribute to body aches, allergies and asthma.

"When people come in and say they have neck and shoulder pain, the first thing I ask is what (pillow) are they sleeping on," says Sandy Colley, director of sales at Joanne's Bed and Back, a Washington-area chain. (Often, she says, it's a down pillow bunched up for support, which can result in tension to neck muscles).

Colley says factors to consider when pillow shopping include: sleep habits (whether you lie on your back or side), length of neck and width of shoulders, personal preferences and budget. While the idea of spending more than $20 on a pillow may seem extravagant to some, the health benefits may be worth it.

Having a soft spot to rest one's head while sleeping is important, but "the goal of a good pillow," she says, "is to keep your neck in better postural alignment."

Hollander Home Fashions, manufacturer of one of every three pillows sold in the United States, offers more tips:

Determine your pillow style: Stomach sleepers need a soft pillow with little elevation; back sleepers need a medium pillow with moderate elevation; side sleepers need a firmer pillow with higher elevation.

Keep it fresh: Pillows should be replaced every one to two years. A pillow past its prime could contain a high level of dust mites, which can increase breathing disorders, asthma or allergies.

The telltale signs: Pillows that have reached the end of the road will often feel lumpy or flat and will not re-fluff very well.


Take the test: To determine whether your pillow needs replacing, Fold your pillow in half. Place a tennis shoe on top of the folded half. If the pillow throws the shoe off, it still has some life. If the pillow remains folded with the shoe on top, it needs to be replaced.

Down comforters can reduce home energy costs

Consumers can see significant savings by lowering nighttime thermostat

With energy costs now at record levels, an investment in a down comforter can have significant returns. A local manufacturer of down comforters and accessories, reports that turning the thermostat down at night can save the typical household an average of up to $300 for the 2005-2006 winter heating season.

Sleeping under a down comforter is a very effective way to stay comfortable in a cool bedroom. Down is the best natural insulator, and because it keeps sleepers warm with minimal weight on the body, it's a good choice for children or frail elderly, who may be particularly sensitive to the cold. (Note that down bedding is NOT recommended for cribs.)

Click here for the Full Article

To Take the Fight Out of Your Pillow

Odds are, you're not paying too much attention to the pillow you cradle your head on night after night. But maybe you should.

Using the wrong kind of pillow or one that is just worn out not only can lead to a poor night's sleep, but also can contribute to body aches, allergies and asthma.

"When people come in and say they have neck and shoulder pain, the first thing I ask is what [pillow] are they sleeping on," says Sandy Colley, director of sales at Joanne's Bed and Back, a local chain. (Often, she says, it's a down pillow -- bunched up for support, which can result in tension to the neck muscles).

Click Here for the Full Article

Pick A Perfect Pillow For A Great Night's Sleep

When was the last time you replaced your pillow. Do you even know what kind of pillow you have? Well considering we spend a third of our lives in bed, it's good to know where you lay your head. Before you go shopping, you need to know what to look for. NY1 stopped by Bloomingdale's for a little pillow talk.

"Most people who come in really have no idea what they are sleeping on, so there are two things to consider. First how do you sleep – do you sleep on your stomach, your back, your side – and what sort of filling do you prefer," says Elizabeth Quarta of Bloomingdales.

With so many pillows on the market, it's hard not to buy into the fluff. But, basically there are 2 types of pillows: natural and synthetic. The best natural pillow you can get is 100 percent goose down, but it's also the most expensive, so there are some alternatives.

Click Here for the Full Article

Creature Comforts: Readers donate squares that are turned into cat blankets for local animal shelters

We who live with cats know they are heat-seeking pleasure lovers, that they will appropriate for themselves the warmest, cushiest places in the house. If an afghan rests on the back of a chair, the cat will lie on it. If a soft pillow is propped on an easy chair, the cat will cuff it down onto the seat and pat it into a bed. Leave a sweater on a chair and the resident puss will rearrange it to make itself a cozy nest.

But orphaned cats waiting to be adopted often live in confinement at animal shelters without the option of ferreting out soft, comfortable places to doze or contemplate the world. That thought prompted me in January to ask readers to knit or crochet and send to me 6-inch squares that could be sewn into bedding or what I have come to refer to as "cat mats."

Click Here for the Full Article