March 5/12, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 19 By Reginald Tucker For all the talk about laminate’s demise in the face of intensifying pressure from competing hard surface categories, the now-mature product segment is proving it has staying power. Ongoing innovations in the form of dramatically improved resistance to moisture, ultra-realistic replications of natural materials like wood and stone, and upgrades in surface texture and product performance are keeping the
Laminate
February 5/12, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 17 By Reginald Tucker Water, water everywhere. Some of the laminate booth spaces at Surfaces this year looked more like aquariums than traditional room vignettes with all the fish tanks and waterfalls touting the products’ enhanced water-resistant or waterproof capabilities. It’s a trend that manufacturers are looking to leverage. Case in point is Mohawk, which has revamped the way it is marketing its
Change in laminate brand marketing strategy reflects product’s evolution February 5/12, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 17 By Reginald Tucker After conducting extensive consumer research, Mohawk has decided to dramatically alter the way it markets its laminate flooring product offerings at retail. In a nutshell, laminate products previously positioned under the “laminate” banner will now be labeled RevWood—although the core construction of the product has not changed. Ditto for the
January 8/15, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 15 By Reginald Tucker In a mature flooring segment such as laminate, one might not expect to see groundbreaking advances emerge with regularity. However, suppliers point to several recent and developing innovations that stand to build on an already durable, fashionable and desirable product. “Innovation is always key to business and we have seen a lot of changes in the past years to
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 6/13, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 11 By Reginald Tucker In the ongoing battle between independent flooring retailers and the big boxes, laminate manufacturers have come up with a way to keep their channel partners happy: Develop private-label programs for some of the home centers while awarding specialty dealers with long established brands that carry the greatest brand equity. But this is not a distinction in name only; many
November 6/13, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 11 By Ken Ryan Prior to the explosive growth of LVT/WPC, hardwood was the hot product in the hard surface flooring segment. In fact, 2012 and 2013 saw some of the largest increases in the wood category, with double-digit gains each year. Since then wood has continued to grow, albeit at a declining rate. Some observers surmise that this slow growth, which in
September 11/18, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 7 Innovations4Flooring (I4F), a technology company focused on the development of patents and flooring installation solutions, has more than doubled its number of licensees over the last 12 months. This growth is driven largely by acceptance of the company’s flagship technologies, including 3L TripleLock and Click4U. 3L TripleLock provides a one-piece drop-lock installation innovation, and Click4U delivers an angle system for the long
September 11/18, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 7 By Reginald Tucker With all the attention being paid to WPC-type floors—and rightfully so—one might think there’s not much happening in the way of innovations with other competing hard surface categories. That notion could not be further from the truth as evidenced by what’s taking place in the mature-but-still-evolving laminate flooring sector. As several manufacturers continue to fortify their coreboards with materials
September 11/18, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 7 By Reginald Tucker New York—Current and long-time members of the North American Laminate Flooring Association (NALFA) convened here earlier this month to mark a significant milestone—20 years in the business. The event included an update on the standards-setting group’s objectives and goals, a recap of the state of the laminate flooring industry and, most importantly, the unveiling of a new website more
July 31/Aug. 7: Volume 31, Issue 4 By Reginald Tucker The upside to laminate flooring’s popularity in the U.S. over the past 20 years is more consumers have become very familiar with the product—from how it’s constructed to the way it is primarily installed. The “downside,” however, is that high comfort level has encouraged more renters and homeowners to install the product themselves, cutting into a profit center for
June 26: Volume 32, Issue 1 By Reginald Tucker A gradual build-up of stateside production and capacity of laminate flooring in 2016—combined with an increase in European-made product—was partially neutralized by the continued drop-off in imports from China that began in earnest in early 2015. The end result was a category that grew marginally in terms of value but slightly more with respect to volume. FCNews research showed U.S.
June 26: Volume 32, Issue 1 The flooring industry in 2016 continued its recovery from The Great Recession. While growth rates pale in comparison to the mid-2000s heydays, the industry last year continued to post steady gains across the board with increases of 5.1% in dollars and 3.8% in volume. This comes on the heels of 4.4% growth in dollars and 3.2% in volume in 2015; 3.6% growth in
May 22/29, 2017: Volume 31, Issue 25 By Reginald Tucker In the perennial slugfest with the home centers and big discount merchants, specialty floor covering retailers who sell laminate continue to find ways to differentiate themselves from low-end providers. Successful strategies range from focusing on higher-end goods (12mm or thicker), promoting private-label branded products that can’t be shopped around and providing professional installation services. A prime case in point
April 24/May 1, 2017: Volume 31, Issue 23 By Lindsay Baillie When asked to identify the best flooring introductions of 2016, retailers cited a bevy of wood, laminate, carpet and LVT/WPC products. One highly regarded product was Mannington’s Adura Max, which received praise from multiple retailers for its new visuals. Other notable 2016 introductions touched on key product innovations spanning wood, laminate and resilient lines, soft carpets/rugs and industry-wide updates
Floor Covering News
