International Housewares Association

Leatrice Eiseman Explores Color Trends, Previews 2015 Palettes at International Home + Housewares Show

Radiant Orchid is the Pantone Color of the Year, Leatrice (Lee) Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, told an audience today at the 2014 International Home + Housewares Show. “It’s a beautiful color,” Eiseman said. “The inspiration for it is a harmony of fuchsia and pink undertones, like a gorgeous sunset. It’s a hue that sparks the imagination.…

Lifestyle Guru Tom Mirabile Reveals the Top Housewares Trends for 2014

Housewares manufacturers need to adapt, inspire and motivate in order to have success with today’s ever changing consumer, IHA’s lifestyle trend forecaster Tom Mirabile said today at the 2014 International Home + Housewares Show. He explained how to do so during his early morning seminar, “Top Trends for 2014The New Normal: How to Survive and Thrive in our Erratic…

Five Minute Interview with Celebrity Chef Michelle Bernstein

Michelle Bernstein is always on the go. A former ballerina and James Beard Award winner, the Miami native is a successful restaurateur, celebrity chef, cookbook author, regular judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, and host of the PBS weekly series Check Please! She battled celebrity chef Bobby Flay with gusto on Iron Chef America and won. The Show caught up with her before her…

Designer + Kickstarter = Entrepreneur: How to Launch A Company with Kickstarter

One of the more dynamic and attention grabbing ways to develop and market new products today is Kickstarter, a web-based home that funds creative products including films, games, art, design, technology and, yes, housewares. Three entrepreneurs who raised funds on Kickstarter for their products – silicone baking sheets with the accent on design and functionality, an…

Two Fat Pigs in the Python

The Baby Boomers, the large population growth that began after World War II, has long been known as the “pig in the python”—an image depicting the pig (the huge, sharp population growth) swallowed by the python (the world) and moving through it gradually, having an enormous impact on consumer needs, preferences and spending. Now there’s another pig: Millennials. Put the two…

Win at Dreaming – Identifying Passion Points for Market Share Growth

Housewares suppliers today are trying to woo a unique aspirational society by developing passion points that are meaningful to each consumer generation and their retail experiences, said Susan Yashinsky of Sphere Trending. Due to the incredible boom in new technology, particularly smart phones and other digital communication, consumers went too far one way, “sleeping with…

Five Minute Interview with Celebrity Chef Rick Bayless

Rick Bayless has made a career out of Mexican food. From owning restaurants, to TV appearances, shows of his own and award-winning books and cooking lessons that inspire and educate, his world revolves around Mexican culinary offerings. IHA catches up with Chef Bayless at the Show. You were one of the first celebrity chefs to engage with media and you've stayed on top of that.…

The Internet of Things at Your Door

As the Internet of Things becomes more tangible for consumers and more household products become “smart,” there is huge potential for the housewares industry, said a panel of manufacturers, consumer editors and technology experts. But housewares manufacturers will need to be smart, as well, about introducing those “smart” housewares products to consumers, the panelists said.…

Rethinking the Shopper’s Path to Purchase

Because our digital world of smartphones, tablets, laptops/PCs, and connected/streaming TV activity has dramatically changed how consumers shop for housewares, it is imperative that housewares executives reach shoppers before products hit the shelves. In addition, research from Google shows that people are increasingly looking to reflect their own style in the brands they…