Sferra is headed into the New York Gift Fair/Home Textiles Week with a new sheeting program that addresses the current economic environment by offering a collection at less than half the retail price of the company’s mainstay program.

Fiona is an Italian-made, 100% Egyptian cotton sateen created with a blend of yarns to eliminate pilling and a special finish to give it a silky hand.

Sold open stock, a queen set would retail for $305. Sferra’s core Giotto retails for $760 a set, “so you can see the difference – giving us a true ‘opening price point,’” said Paul Hooker, owner of the company. “We’ve had a great reception to it at the Atlanta and Dallas shows.”

The same fabric is being used in Sferra’s new Finley fashion bedding, which features a scrolling pattern of embroidery in sheets, pillowcasers, duvet covers and shams.

Fiona and Finley are being stocked in white and ivory, but can be made in more than 50 other colors, depending upon the customer’s needs, he added. Sferra earlier this year launched a campaign called “Losecount” to encourage retailers and luxury shoppers to focus on the quality of the product rather than thread counts. For that reason, Sferra is not labeling the thread count on Fiona and Finley, saying it is less than Giotto, which is 590TC.

Completing the top-of-bed introductions for Sferra is Dhara, a yarn-dyed sateen jacquard featuring an elaborate floral and leaf pattern. Available in the swan colorway, the duvet cover uses Fiona in ivory on the back. Both the duvet cover and shams feature an understated hemstitch.

Sferra is also introducing its first easy-care sheet: Grande Hotel Maid Easy, a crisp, white percale finished with a single line of white satin-stitch embroidery.

1891 by Sferra – a brand extension at slightly lower price points for better department and boutiques – launches its fifth bedding collection this season. The Garden Escape collection was inspired by the work of the Folly Cove Designers, a Massachusetts artists’ cooperative under the tutelage of award-winning illustrator Virgina Lee Burton in the 1940s and 1950s.

“The Folly Cove designers were timeless and classic, but with terrific details that made them contemporary for her audience,” said Aaron Stewart, Sferra’s creative director.

The Jinnee ensemble features a brightly colorful daisy with blooms of orange and berry red on an ivory cotton sateen duvet cover and shams set. Coordinating Maybelle sheet sets with star-shaped flowers in yellow make an embroidered border. A daily quilt and shams layer into the ensemble, as do a number of decorative accessories.