Fall is in the air, and the industry’s broadloom producers are ready. Here are several new and colorful products that a few of the mills have to offer for the upcoming season.
Beaulieu of America
“Bliss HealthyTouch is Beaulieu’s biggest product launch ever,” said Jeff Meadows, chief marketing officer.
There are 20 collections in the HealthyTouch line with color palettes ranging from nine to 36 colors; and from textured to plush to loop to pattern. All HealthyTouch carpets are made with Beaulieu’s SoftSense polyester fiber and are pretreated with Magic Fresh odor reducer.
“Bliss HealthyTouch is the complete package for today’s consumer,” he said. “It has the super-softness she’s looking for, plus solutions for her family, such as Magic Fresh odor reducer and Silver Release antimicrobial technology, 3M Scotchgard, a ‘You’ll love it or we’ll take it back’ guarantee and lifetime stain protection.”
The Dixie Group
Tufted with the latest proprietary technology, Chatelaine and Sorbonne are perfect for today’s casual fashion interiors, noted Dan Phelan, Dixie Home’s vice president of marketing. “As the newest additions to the Masland Avenue Collection, both have very versatile patterns that provide endless design possibilities and are an exemplary statement of casual elegance with an air of sophistication.” Both are manufactured using Stainmaster Luxerell BCF nylon and share a palette of 36 colors.
Fabrica’s Art Deco is an eclectic expression of elegance, glamour and design, he added. “The texture play of cut/loop creates a subtle linear symmetry that embraces many areas of design.” Art Deco is constructed of Stainmaster Tactesse BCF nylon and offers 40 fashion-forward colors. “Hypnotic conjures up the notion of a carpet that keeps you spellbound. The dimensional effect achieved by the construction creates the illusion of a true, hand-crafted basket weave.” Hypnotic is also constructed of Stainmaster Tactesse BCF nylon in 40 colors.
Dixie Home will be introducing three patterned Stainmaster branded products—Alcova, Delano and Millport— which share a palette of 12 natural colors in a combination of solids and tweeds.
Gulistan
Gulistan this fall is focused on completing the rollout of its 2011 styles introduced at Surfaces, said Tony Prespitino, executive vice president of sales and marketing. “We are now concentrating on sampling our texture series: Plaza, Park Plaza and Plaza Suite.”
Soft is the preference trend for consumers, he added, and the Plaza series styles, manufactured with Luxerell (the latest ‘soft fiber technology’ from Invista) fit into that niche. “Each product has an ultra-soft hand and beautiful finish. A 45- color palette is common to the series, allowing consumers to compare differences in appearance and feel, and trade-up their carpet selections depending on budget preferences. The palette consists of vibrant, warm natural earth tones and rich, saturated hues.” These styles are certified Green Label Plus, as are all Gulistan styles.
Mohawk
The mill is enhancing collections across its EverStrand, SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona and Wear-Dated platforms.
Innovative qualities, combined with affordability, have made EverStrand one of the top-selling carpets on the market today, according to Bart Rich, director of brand management for soft surface at Mohawk Flooring. Building on this success, Mohawk will expand the offerings. Retailers should look for:
•EverStrand products with up to 100% post-consumer recycled material, complete with on-demand certification letters.
•New styles of EverStrand Revive carpet. “Revive remains the softest polyester carpet avail- able made from post-consumer recycled material,” Rich said.
Mohawk is also expanding its triexta SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona product offerings. Each new style will boast the four key features that make SmartStrand a unique and strong-performing carpet:
•Lifetime stain and soil protection that is built into the fiber and not applied chemically after production.
•Extraordinary durability resulting from triexta’s unique molecular structure that allows SmartStrand to bend and rebound without crushing under heavy foot traffic.
•Exceptional softness that is inherent.
•37% of SmartStrand is made from renewable resources making it an eco-friendly option for today’s environmentally conscious consumers.
Mohawk will also add new styles to its Wear-Dated collection. “Featuring a wide selection of DuraSoft and SoftTouch products, this collection has exactly what the consumer wants to make the perfect room,” Rich said. “It unites three of the most trusted brands in flooring: Mohawk, Wear-Dated and Scotchgard. Retailers will find all of the new Wear-Dated styles continue to deliver the perfect combination of ultra strength, supreme softness, stain and soil protection, and high-style.”
Nourison
Nourison will introduce its new tufted broadloom collections— New Majesty, Felicity and Serenity. All three are 1⁄8 gauge, machine-made wool broadlooms on jute backing. “We utilize only the highest quality New Zealand wool to create this ensemble,” said Alex Peykar, principal. “The color palettes are consistent throughout the styles for perfect matching and coordination.”
Shaw
“We are introducing two carpet tile products in a new collection,” said Steve Sieracki, vice president, residential marketing and product management. “Interference is a collection of two carpet tile pattern products, Static and Feedback, which are both superposition of color and pattern crossing over one another resulting in a interference of movement and play within the tiles.”
The Interference collection is Philadelphia commercial’s newest offering among our random, mergeable “UNLimited” styles, he added:
•Unlimited: Unique carpet tile that lets you unleash your creativity
•Easy: Out of the box and onto the floor
•Mergeable: Mix and match. No worry about dye lot because it always matches
•Random: It doesn’t matter which way you turn it when you put it down.
•Sustainable: EcoWorx tile backing with EcoSolution Q face yarn is completely carpet-to-carpet recyclable.
The Interference collection is engineered to handle the performance requirements of public interiors, such as healthcare, K through 12, higher education and corporate environments. On the residential side, Shaw is introducing two ClearTouch PET BCF styles for the fall: Dorado Texture and Twist and San Benito Tonal and Accent. Both are made from Shaw’s 100% PET BCF ClearTouch fiber which includes 25% recycled content and the mill’s patented R2X stain and soil treatment.
“The recycled content comes from our Clearpath bottle recycling facility in North Carolina,” said Sieracki.
“The products represent tremendous value in the market and will be targeted at key retail consumer price points,” he explained. “The colorlines for the products are deep, rich tonal and accent colors. We are mixing barber pole solution dyed fleck yarn with deep accent over dye base colors to achieve unique visuals.”
Stanton Carpet
“In 2011, neutrals have taken over and they are far from the boring neutrals of the past,” said Jonathan Cohen, COO. Textured, tufted wool products like Bryant and Mercer offer luxurious dimensions in soft and subtle neutral tones. “Even bold and trendy patterns like Orion and Felix have found homes on creamy backgrounds and are already receiving great response from designers and consumers.”
Shags like Shaggy Luxe bring new life to neutral in multi-tonal classics such as ivory and ecru. “Shagariffic and Shaggy Radiance introduce the world to the new neutral: metallics,” he added.
-Louis Iannaco