Read HFN's full December 2014 article below:

The New Eclipse: Ellery's flagship window-treatment brand has been repositioned and relaunched.  By David Gill

AS PART OF WHAT CEO HUGH ROVIT CALLED "ROUND two" of the company's multiyear initiative to grow as a home textiles supplier, Ellery HomeStyles unveiled the repositioning of Eclipse, its signature blackout window-treatment program.

The new Eclipse collection has good-better-best components. Eclipse Core represents the "good" segment, while Eclipse Signature is the "better" offering and Eclipse Signature Premium Style is the "best" part of the collection. The September market relaunch of Eclipse also included a children's window-treatment line called Eclipse My Scene.

In formulating the revamped collection, Ellery worked with branding agency Parham Santana. The two companies formed an Eclipse branding team that included top management, design, sourcing and sales from both companies.

The original Eclipse line, which debuted at retail six years ago, was conceived as a grouping of energy-saving, noise-reducing blackout curtains. "Since its inception, Eclipse has been synonymous with 'blackout," Rovit said. "But over the years, a number of other opportunities came up for the collection, in the form of underserved areas. These included room darkening, light filtering and 100 percent blackout."

The new collection, as Rovit explained, addresses these opportunities while maintaining the blackout element of the line. "In effect, we went from one stick to a four-legged table," Rovit said. "We took Eclipse from being just one product to a whole system for energy saving and light filtering."

This broadened the Eclipse program into a solutions-based collection. "A consumer goes to the store and she has all sorts of questions: 'What do I need in terms of energy saving or light filtering?' When she gets to the store and sees our program, she sees that she can find her own solution to those needs," Rovit said.

As part of its branding role, Parham Santana repositioned Eclipse as "America's Block-Out Brand," which the company said is more extendable than the previous tag, which was simply "Blackout Curtain."

Also part of the new branding was the repackaging of the line. The previous Eclipse packaging of zippered vinyl covers was replaced by a more open packaging that allows shoppers to feel the merchandise's quality and value. This packaging also includes lifestyle photography, permitting shoppers to see how the curtain looks in a variety of living environments. It also comes in colors that differentiate the Eclipse product classifications. "The old vinyl bags were zippered so the consumer couldn't feel the product," Rovit said. "Also, vinyl tends to somewhat distort the color of the curtain. When the consumer gets home, she might see that the color is off from what she thought it was, and then have to return it."

With the new packaging, consumers can see precisely what color each curtain is. In addition, the new packaging makes the program easier for retailers to stock. "The store associate doesn't have to discover the color or size or price points in putting each curtain on display," Rovit said.

In terms of pricing, the new good-better-best orientation provides benefits for both the consumer and the retailer. "We more effectively took the retailer's price matrix to put the program into the good-better-best mode," Rovit said. "For the consumer, the pricing provides a more logical way for her to see the value of each curtain and the step-up options she now has with the program."

Initiatives such as Eclipse's relaunch are intended to further Ellery's mission to increase its share in its varied product categories. "My mandate is to continue to evolve Ellery in the direction of a consumer-centric mindset," Rovit said.