Rizzy Parent Receives ISO 9001 Certification

Furniture World Magazine

Management at RizTex USA, Inc., producers of Rizzy Rugs and Rizzy Home, announced that the company’s parent corporation, Sheikh Bhullan Carpets (P) Ltd., has been awarded ISO 9001: 2000 certification for meeting all requirements associated with dyeing, manufacturing, and exporting handmade carpets and other floor coverage. “This is a significant accomplishment”, remarks Mark Ferullo, RIZZY VP of Sales. “First of all, this certification establishesRizzy rugs and its other home furnishing products are manufactured under the strictest guidelines with regard to product quality, treatment of the environment, and treatment of the company’s workers,” he says. Ferullo says that in today’s global marketplace, these are issues that are of valued importance to not only the retailers with whom the company does business; it is of equal or greater importance for the consumers of the retailer’s products. Concurring is Roger Stringer, who was recently promoted to Western Regional Sales for all the Rizzy brands. Stringer began his career in the industry in management and buyer positions for Seattle-based retailers before accepting sales and sales management positions on the supplier side. Stringer, who joined Rizzy a little over a year ago, comments, “Rizzy receiving this certification is yet another and very important distinction of why retailers choose us as their key supplier for rug and home textiles.” Ferullo says that Roger Stringer’s contributions to the company this past year have been tremendous. “Roger is such a pro and has a style in his presentation that really draws people in. We’ve hired so many independent representatives with little or no rug experience who have commented to me on numerous occasions how much they learn about the rug business from Roger during the markets,” remarks Ferullo. Ferullo announced that RIZZY has also hired yet, another rug industry veteran with the appointment of Sheila Altenstadter as a regional sales manager and key accounts executive. Altenstadter brings a decade of experience to her new position. For the past ten-years she was Sales Manager for National Accounts for Fibreworks. She is based in Louisville, Kentucky and will be responsible for sales management, key and national accounts as well as for accounts in her home territory. “This is just a great opportunity to apply my experience, contacts and knowledge with a company whose owners and management are aggressively eeking to gain market share. I think that the company’s recent award of ISO 9001 certification further establishes Rizzy as the company to do business with,” remarks Sheila Altenstadter. In new products being introduced this winter by Rizzy, the company is expanding its Volarẻ Collection in January in Atlanta and February in Las Vegas. Volarẻ, which had a soft launch in the fourth quarter at the recent High Point Market, brings container pricing to dealers from an out-of-warehouse program. Volarẻ takes some of Rizzy’s best designs from a variety of collections that range from traditional to contemporary stylesthe RIZZY brands and promotes them to hit certain “magical” retail price points. According to Doug Ernwein, Rizzy VP of Product Development and former rug buyer for HOM Furniture, “Without being specific, I can tell you that there are certain retail price points for hand made rugs in a 5’ x 8’ that will literally draw crowds of people if advertised properly in any given market. Our Volarẻ collection hits those price points and for retailers with the power to promote they’ll be selling a lot of rug for the money.” Ernwein says the company is also introducing the Destiny Collection, a series of handmade rugs that feature distinctive, yet familiar patterns such as paisley motifs in bold colors. It is also expanding on its Country Collection. Rizzy has created some new bold new designs in Country that are based on hand drawn artwork that has been enlarged in scale. Bright vibrant colors and designs featuring looped construction of New Zealand blended wool that are hand made in India. Another new collection will make its debut with the introduction of the LAYERS collection. This unique series is hand tufted, New Zealand blendedwool, with a beautiful high low dimension to it. There are varying pile heights that show off a variety of color shades depending on the pile height. “All designs here require that we begin with 25% more wool to achieve the varying pile heights. It is sculpted rather than just carved so it has a softer curved look to the pile. This takes great sculpting skills to achieve so only the company’s most skilled artisans work on this collection,” explains Doug Ernwein. He reports that from the Rizzy Home division, several new bed ensembles and pillows will debut that, as always, coordinate with the company’s rugs. RIZZY will show at the upcoming market in Atlanta and In Las Vegas February 9-13, 2009 in the World Market Center Building C at WMC C-886. For further information contact RIZZY at: 706.602.8857. Visit the company online at www.rizzyrugs.com