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Second-Look technology is used for the new Joseph Abboud collection for Versa.  Fourteen designer patterns come standard with 20% recycled content. 

Joseph Abboud for Versa is inspired by Joseph Abboud’s roots in menswear, incorporating tailored details, textures resembling nubby linens, brushed silks and burnished suedes, and designs influenced by glen plaids, paisleys, stripes and damasks. Earthy organic looks also emphasize artisanal, irregular, hand-crafted qualities and include interpretations of burled wood, foliage and weathered materials.  Made of Type II, 20-ounce vinyl, the collection features deeply embossed 3-D textures and 20% recycled content reclaimed and recycled through Versa’s Second-Look® program.    

“It was a natural progressive to take our design sensibility to the wall,” said Randy Fields, Senior Vice President Design, Merchandising, Production for New York City-based Joseph Abboud.  “We drew from our expertise in residential fabrics and furnishings, but particularly from our fashion leadership in menswear.  Designers considered the subtle patterns and textures of apparel and adjusted for differences in scale and repetition for the wall. Using signature elements from our menswear heritage, we have created a timeless, tailored collection for today’s environments.”

“We saw the opportunity to reach outside the interior design industry and collaborate with designers of a different mindset,” said Bruce Foster,  Director of Creative Design for Versa, a brand of Louisville-based LSI Wallcovering.  “We thought the Joseph Abboud aesthetic held compelling possibilities for a distinctive wallcovering collection.  And we were excited by the opportunity to bring this confident, successful American brand personality to the commercial interiors market.”

The collaborators wanted an eco forward collection and harnessed Versa’s Second-Look® technology that reclaims and recycles vinyl wallcovering.  Designs are standard with 20% recycled content, including 10% post-consumer.  Specifiers also have the option to participate in Second-Look’s retrieval program by reclaiming vinyl wallcovering from their renovation projects and sending it freight-free to Versa.  The first recycling technology for vinyl wallcovering, Second-Look received numerous awards when introduced in 2007, including sustainability awards from IIDEX/NeoCon Canada, the Healthcare Facilities Symposium and the Innovations Awards at NeoCon, as well as Editor’s Choice Awards from Architectural Record and Interiors & Sources.

The brainchild of Foster and John Gaudet, Joseph Abboud design director, the 14 patterns offer what the duo describe as a compelling contradictions:  Classical influences that work in modern environments; layered artisanal looks that project refinement; and tailored details that are polished, yet unpretentious. The balance and juxtaposition of divergent influences make the wallcoverings appropriate for a range of environments, according to Beth Rich, Versa Director of Brand Management.  “The Joseph Abboud lifestyle aesthetic translates to commercial wallcovering in a way that is classic yet creative and sophisticated yet approachable. The collection also benefits from the same made-to-measure details and sartorial subtleties that give Joseph Abboud clothing its sophistication, substance and style.”

Joseph Abboud for Versa is a Type II, 20-ounce vinyl wallcovering measuring 52”/54” wide.  The low-VOC collection uses water-based inks and adhesives and incorporates a mildew-inhibiting agent that helps prevent fungal and other microbiological growth. Designs include 20% recycled content via the Second-Look technology, but have the same durability, aesthetic quality and price point of Versa’s nonrecycled wallcoverings.

About Versa

Versa (www.versawallcovering.com), a brand of Louisville-based LSI Wallcovering, is known for award-winning designs, highly textural embossings, premium quality and on-time delivery.  Founded in 1955, LSI claims a rich history of technological innovation including development of award-winning Second-Look, the first technology for reclaiming and recycling post-consumer vinyl wallcovering, and Terren™, a cellulose-based substrate.  Both eco products are available from the Versa brand.  Among the first manufacturers to eliminate solvent inks, LSI produces low-VOC wallcoverings that use water-based inks. A member of USGBC and IIDA, LSI recycles inks, manufacturing waste and post-consumer wallcovering, and is continually researching and developing new methods of sustainability.  

About Joseph Abboud

The Joseph Abboud® brand (www.josephabboud.com) embodies sophisticated American style for Traditional Menswear.  The Joseph Abboud brand instills confidence through tailored collections and unique sportswear that are crafted from the world’s finest fabrics and defined by superior fit, exceptional quality and remarkable luxurious style.  Since its inception in 1987, Joseph Abboud has grown its worldwide retail lifestyle brand with an expanding number of products in categories including men’s apparel and accessories, boy’s apparel and home furnishings.  The brand includes Joseph Abboud, Joseph Abboud Jeans Inc., JOE Joseph Abboud, Joseph Abboud Boys and Joseph Abboud Home.  Joseph Abboud branded products are available in superior department stores and specialty stores throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia. 
  

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