Reach the Consumer Media: Last Call for October Media Event
The consumer demands value but is not willing to compromise on design. What is your company doing to meet the needs of the frugal consumer? IHA’s fall media event focuses on Affordable Innovation and offers members a one-on-one opportunity to promote their new, innovative and well-designed products to the consumer and trade news media. The event is limited to 40 IHA member companies. Deadline to sign up is Thursday, September 24. Products displayed must be new to the market after July 1, 2009. Click here for more information or to sign up.

Make Your Design A Winner
Entries are now being accepted for the 7th Annual Housewares Design Awards, sponsored by HomeWorld Business magazine with the educational support of IHA. Entry deadline is October 28. The awards recognize design’s critical importance in the housewares industry. All manufacturers and marketers of housewares products are invited to enter products that have been available for consumer purchase in the U.S. during the period October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009. Click here to enter and for more information. Up to five finalists and a “Best in Category” winner are chosen in each of 13 categories. In addition “Green House” Design Awards also will be presented. The winners will be announced at a gala luncheon on February 3 in New York City.

Learn About Retail Forward’s Holiday Business Forecast
The 2009 holiday season will be better than last year, but it still will be one of the weakest holidays of the past 40 years, according to Retail Forward’s forecast for key retail sectors. During Holiday 2009—It's All Relative, a one-hour webinar on Wednesday, September 23, Retail Forward’s panel of economists and retail and shopper insights experts will unwrap the holiday outlook and share significant findings from Retail Forward’s monthly ShopperScape™ Online Survey to paint a less-than-rosy picture of holiday 2009. Covered topics include:

• What lies ahead for the homegoods, apparel and food, drug and mass retail sectors?
  
• What lines of trade will suffer the most this holiday season? Will any sectors experience growth?
  
• How will online sales fare?
  
• What impact will macroeconomic issues have on consumer spending in the coming months and into 2010?
  
• What will shopping behavior look like in the early days of the post-recession?

Click here for more information or to register.

IHA Announces Lower Show Hotel Rates
IHA is pleased to announce that it has negotiated new, lower rates with close to 20 out of the 51 official block hotels for the 2010 International Home + Housewares Show! Be sure to take advantage of rate reductions of up to 35% from the original contracted rate! Book your hotel reservations or view the reduced rates, which are noted next to each hotel name. In addition to the lower rates, we have a number of new hotels in our block. IHA would like to welcome the Affinia Chicago, the Hotel Felix and the Hotel Indigo!

2009 Show Education Seminars Available
Miss out on the educational seminars at the Show? Lee Eiseman’s color and design programs are available as podcasts on IHA’s website . And don’t miss Tom Mirabile and his expert panel discussing the consumer trends that will affect your business in 2010 or Tyler Florence’s keynote address on the success of being a celebrity chef. Click here to access the 2009 Show Educatin Seminars.

IHA to Host October Credit Group Meeting
Credit personnel of all IHA Regular member companies in the U.S. are invited to participate as guests in the semi-annual meeting of the IHA Credit Group, managed by Riemer Reporting Service, on Tuesday, October 20. The meeting will be held at the IHA offices in Rosemont, Ill., and members can either attend in person or participate via teleconference. Let the IHA Credit Group add dollars to YOUR bottom line! The program includes a roundtable discussion covering Credit Review on a Budget, Controlling Credit Risk, The Latest Collection Laws and Non-Compliance Charges, and account discussions. For those who attend in person, lunch will be served. Click here for more details.

Attention All Inventors
Calling all inventors! Put your product in front of 60,000 of the housewares industry’s leaders. The Inventors Corner pavilion and Inventors Revue are hot destinations at the International Home + Housewares Show. Retail buyers and exhibitors know this is where to find the latest, most creative new product concepts. Tell your story to industry insiders who really want to hear about your idea. Click here to learn more about exhibiting in the Inventors Corner.

Retail Buyers & Consumers Are Trying to Find You: Do We Have Your Correct Information?
Attention all IHA members, one of the most visited areas on our website is the membership directory. Please take a moment to visit the directory and review your company listing to ensure that all the information we have on your company is correct. If there are any changes you would like to make, please email them to Ginny Costello at gcostello@housewares.org.

Invention of the Month
IHA and Invention Home have partnered to offer IHA members innovative, new product ideas available for license. Click here to receive new inventions via email from Invention Home. Here’s a sample listing:

Rope-A-Towel
The patented, fully developed "Rope-A-Towel" provides consumers with a convenient way to wear a towel so it is always at their fingertips for use.

Learn more about the the Rope-A-Towel.