March 19/26, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 20 By Ken Ryan As hard surface products continue to take market share residentially, carpet mills are facing some choices: hope the pendulum swings back to broadloom, or get in on the action. Many of them chose the latter, offering custom area rug programs as an add-on sale to hardwood and other types of hard surfaces. In fact, for some mills, business has
Carpet
February 19/26, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 18 By Ken Ryan Carpet that offers stain and soil protection is no longer merely a trend but a standard feature offered by mills throughout the industry—albeit with new iterations being added continuously. Today’s push is also about providing a healthier home environment, with some companies highlighting products that offer hypoallergenic and antimicrobial properties. Flooring executives say this trend was borne out of
February 5/12, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 17 By Ken Ryan and Reginald Tucker Putting the brands together just makes sense because this is how people live in their homes. That’s how Katie Ford, director of brand strategy, describes the thought process behind the combination of the Anderson and Tuftex brands to form one company. Rest assured, this is not just a merger of brands for simplicity’s sake. “We have
February 5/12, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 17 By Ken Ryan Traditional carpet mills invariably face this decision: Do we ride the hard surface tide and introduce our own products, or do we stick to our knitting and stay soft? Surprisingly many are choosing the latter, and they are not apologizing for it. While Dixie Group, Phenix Flooring and Marquis Industries expanded their hard surface assortments at Surfaces—while Engineered Floors
January 22/29, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 16 The year was 2009. The economy was in a freefall. Carpet was losing market share to hard surface. You’re nearly an octogenarian with enough money in the bank to last multiple lifetimes. You’re golf game remains respectable. Conventional wisdom dictates that the last thing you would ever do is launch a carpet mill. But conventional has never been a word in Bob
January 8/15, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 15 By Ken Ryan California is the sixth-largest economy in the world, having surpassed France in 2016 thanks to a robust state economy and strong U.S. dollar; it is now on the verge of eclipsing the United Kingdom for the No. 5 spot. So when Todd Wheeler, owner of Wheeler’s Flooring in Salinas, Calif., says he is afraid the new California recycling law
November 27-December 11, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 13 By Ken Ryan Words like “sluggish” and “tepid” to describe growth in the flooring industry are being replaced by “healthy” and “sustainable” as some of flooring’s top executives see an industry that is now accelerating to a respectable cruising speed as we approach 2018. The catalyst driving this momentum is winning products—the still-booming LVT market and across-the-board innovations in other segments.
November 27-December 11, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 13 By Lindsay Baillie FCNews asked retailers to name the top flooring introductions of 2017. It should come as no surprise that the responses covered a broad range of products across the spectrum—LVT/WPC, wood, laminate and carpet. Some of the products identified were updated designs and looks from intros of 2016, while others were completely new launches. Following is an overview of
November 20/27, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 12 By Ken Ryan From breakthroughs in new categories of carpet to innovations in soft luxury, carpet mills brought excitement to the flooring market in 2017. Following is an overview. Engineered Floors: Apex SDP Founded on its PureColor solution-dyed fiber process (SDP), Engineered Floors’ Apex SDP raises the bar for a superior fiber in commercial use with performance characteristics similar to nylon. “We’ve
November 20/27, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 12 Combined entity to make debut at Surfaces By Reginald Tucker Dalton–What has been rumored for months is now confirmed. Shaw Floors, parent company of the venerable Anderson Hardwood and Tuftex brands, has announced plans to merge the two with the combined entity to be called Anderson Tuftex. The change is effective Jan. 1, 2018. For Shaw, the deal made sense because both
October 23/30, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 10 By Lindsay Baillie Southwind Carpets, a division of Cherokee Carpet Industries, has been known for providing a range of residential and Main Street commercial carpets to dealers throughout the U.S. and abroad. Since its hard surface division launched in 2015, the company has added LVP, WPC and hardwood collections to its portfolio—providing retailers with the complete flooring package. Southwind’s leap into hard
October 23/30, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 10 By Lindsay Baillie Despite the increase in hard surface sales, carpets and rugs continue to hold significance in flooring showrooms across the United States. Kane Carpet, a trendsetter in broadloom since 1947, is helping dealers increase margins and soft surface sales with its high-end carpets and rugs. The company also aims to provide retailers with upsell opportunities through its service, style and
October 23/30, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 10 By Lindsay Baillie Stanton Carpet is looking to simplify the way it transacts with retail customers via a new B2B website—stantonb2b.com. The site makes it easier for retailers to find products, submit requests to create a rug, view dropped products and order swatches, among other features. The new B2B site, which launched Oct. 9, is something Stanton has been working on for
October 23/30, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 10 By Ken Ryan The two major carpet mills and industry trade associations gave a thumbs down to California’s new carpet recycling law, which will require manufacturers selling carpet in the state to implement a stewardship program that sets a carpet recycling goal of 24% by 2020. At stake here, observers say, is the risk of losing carpet sales in a state of
August 28/September 4: Volume 32, Issue 6 By Lindsay Baillie 3M recently tested the power of Scotchgard Protector to determine the brand’s overall cachét. The results positioned Scotchgard as one of the top “protector” brands on the market—ranking higher than others in both consumer awareness and desirability. Furthermore, Scotchgard Protector—a brand that has been around for years—continues to fulfill market needs while gaining consumer trust and loyalty. “Perceptions of
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