FloorCoveringNews

Kennesaw, Ga. –Mack H. Hale of Roswell, GA passed away unexpectedly on March 22, 2012 after spending 40 years in the floor covering industry, where his contagious enthusiasm and optimism for work and life created strong and enduring relationships. Throughout the years, Mack excelled in different industry roles in the mill, retail and fiber communities. Most recently, Mack was manager, major accounts, at INVISTA Surfaces, where for the last decade he played a significant role in supporting the INVISTA aligned distribution networks and calling on retail buying groups.

By Matthew Spieler

San Antonio—As the economy picks up steam members of the Alliance Flooring network were encouraged to take control of their destinies by being the driver and making a difference.

The days of just hanging a sign and having people come in are over, noted Ron Dunn, co-CEO of Alliance. “You need to drive to it; it doesn’t come to you.”

Kennesaw, Ga. – Invista Surfaces, a segment of Invista Performance Surfaces & Materials (PS&M)and maker of Stainmaster and Antron carpet fibers, welcomes Melissa Minihan to its marketing team.

Melissa Minihan joins Invista as vice president of marketing, Invista Surfaces, for its Stainmaster and Antron brands. In this role, Melissa will lead customer insight, promotions and brand strategies that create value for our customers, and which build upon the equity in the 25 year strong Stainmaster brand and over 40 year strong Antron brand.

Minihan comes to Invista with experience in channel marketing, shopper marketing, brand marketing, digital marketing and strategic planning.

by Celia Payne

Las Vegas—Surfaces 2012 presented the opportunity to shine—even brighter than the Vegas strip. The successful protagonists at the show know you must set yourself apart among a sea of introductions.

Invista Surfaces, a division of INVISTA Performance Surfaces and Materials (PS&M) and maker of Stainmaster carpet fibers, continues to ‘walk the talk’ of investing in the equity of its 25 year strong Stainmaster brand. At the Surfaces tradeshow, Invista will unveil two new fiber innovations to retailers; in addition, Invista will highlight some exciting Stainmaster brand extensions and brand-supporting and consumer-reaching advertising and merchandising support for its aligned retail partners.

Kennesaw, Ga. — Invista announces Richard Harinsky of Lady Lakes, Fla. as the winner of the Stainmaster carpet 25^th anniversary sweepstakes; a promotion held during October at participating Stainmaster flooring center showrooms and Stainmaster Showcase retailers.

Kennesaw, Ga.—Brian Burgess joins Invista Surfaces, a segment of Invista Performance Surfaces & Materials and maker of Stainmaster carpet fiber.

Burgess is named vice president of the retail channel for Surfaces, the segment created in early 2010 within Invista’s global PS&M business. In this role, Burgess will lead his residential team to focus with an increased strategic account capability and support of aligned distribution accounts, which include Stainmaster flooring centers, showcase dealers and national accounts. He will work with his colleagues to bring differentiated innovations, channel marketing and brand marketing efforts to the value chain, as well as to the end-user.

As the third quarter of 2011 comes to a close, FCNews asked a few important questions of a few important players in the carpet industry: How has business been? Have this year’s challenges been different from those we saw in 2010? What are consumers buying? What is the deal with all this carpet-related legislation coming from California?

Overall, last year’s increase in spending from the first-time homeowners tax credit gave consumers a boost in confidence to remodel—though on a smaller scale than in years past—and has begun to wane. Commitment to new production technologies, new trends and a resilient frame of mind has kept residential carpet sales relatively flat over the last nine months and given a lift to the commercial market.

KENNESAW, GA.—Invista announced today the appointment of Todd van der Kruik to the position of innovation manager for commercial flooring at Invista.  Van der Kruik will lead global product development efforts and merchandising efforts for the Antron brand.

“We are pleased to have someone with Todd’s industry experience and creativity on our team,” said Marc Ahrens, North American sales director for Invista commercial flooring. “The innovation manager is instrumental in helping us develop new fiber systems that can be used by commercial carpet mill product development teams to develop innovative carpet styles for end users. His focus will be to provide insight and feedback to our R&D and technical teams and creatively showcase new fiber systems to the carpet mills.”

CHICAGO—As the commercial market continues on the comeback trail, NeoCon 2011 served as the landscape for many flooring manufacturers to roll out new products, concepts and directions.

Mannington Commercial, for example, unveiled a litany of products, all collaborations with outside designers. One in particular was the Best of NeoCon Gold winner Vivendi Collection, a heterogeneous vinyl sheet developed in conjunction with world renowned design firm HOK and fabrics manufacturer Pallas Textiles.

Atlanta—Invista, maker of Antron carpet fiber, announced a call for entries for all of the Antron Carpet Fiber Design Award programs including:

It has been 25 years since the fiber industry has undergone the amount of changes that have taken place in the last five years—and this time is it not because of an explosion in technology, though there is still plenty of innovating going on.

Instead, sharp rises in energy and raw material prices, coupled with a steep, longer-than-expected economic decline mixed with changing consumer preferences—from wanting more value-based products to goods with a sustainable story—have been the main culprits.

by FCNews staff

JAPAN DISASTER: Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the citizens of Japan following the horrendous devastation imposed on the country from the triple whammy earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incident. While many companies in the flooring industry have nobly stepped up with donations, such as the $1 million in cash plus various home supplies like bath tissue given by Invista’s parent Koch Industries, some may wonder how the situation affects the domestic flooring industry. In Koch’s case, Invista, maker of Stainmaster and Antron fibers, has offices in Tokyo and Osaka. It also has a fiber-production venture in Shiga. All told, 75 employees and their families make their home in Japan and, thankfully, all were accounted for.

KENNESAW, GA.—Sometimes the old way of doing things wasn’t so bad after all. That’s what Invista has discovered with its flooring business, which resides within the company’s Performance Surfaces & Materials (PS&M) division.

As such, the company announced it is integrating its residential Stainmaster and commercial Antron business segments into a new organization within PS&M called Surfaces. As part of the reorganization, Dan Haycook, who has served as Asian Pacific executive vice president for Invista’s Apparel business, has been appointed Surfaces’ executive vice president. He will report to David Duncan, PS&M president. In addition, Steve Griffith, who is currently responsible for Invista’s residential business segments, will become chief marketing officer for the Surfaces business.

Atlanta—Invista has added a new online tool it calls the Life Cycle Impact (LCI) calculator. It is designed to show architects, designers and end-users the potential energy and greenhouse gas emissions savings that can be achieved by specifying carpet made with Antron fiber. The LCI calculator provides real-world equations to energy and greenhouse gas emission and how we can all make a difference through the product choices we make.

Atlanta—Invista announced today that the second annual People’s Choice Award for carpet style innovation featuring Antron carpet fiber has been awarded to Tandus Flooring’s District. The product was chosen by professional architects and designers in an online voting contest at antronfirstlife.net. The online voting was open to professional architects and interior designers from August 30, 2010 to September 30, 2010. Each person was able to cast one vote.

Wichita, Kan.—David Duncan has been named new president, Invista Performance Surfaces &  Materials (PS&M). With over 13 years of leadership experience with Koch companies, Duncan already has significant knowledge of the PS&M business and its growth strategies ss executive vice president of Invista for the last several years.

Duncan will succeed Dan Stone, who has elected to pursue a different strategic role within Invista PS&M. Both  will work out of the Kennesaw offices.

For more information, call 877.446.8478.

CHICAGO—After more than a year of feeling the affects of a recession that played havoc with the residential market for nearly four years, the architectural and design community is beginning to see signs of life. That was the prevailing sentiment at NeoCon 2010, which was marked by an uptick in attendance, standing-room-only carpet showrooms, gains in exhibitors and exhibit space and, most importantly, immeasurable optimism.

Can technology be utilized in order to achieve art, or an art form, as it relates to carpet fiber? With all that fiber producers can do nowadays with the technology at their fingertips, why not?

According to Bart Rich, director of brand management for Mohawk Industries, the mill’s newest fiber innovations include both nylon and polyester advancements that focus on enhancing durability and softness. “In nylon, Mohawk introduced WearDated SoftTouch featuring our new soft fusion technology. This proprietary process combines the benefits of superior durability along with ultra-soft comfort. We market it as the softest soft nylon in carpet. This fiber gives consumers an irresistibly comfortable carpet that is tough-tested and long lasting.

KENNESAW, GA.—Invista announced plans for a $14 million capital investment in research and development (R&D) at its nylon fiber manufacturing facilities in Dalton; Camden, S.C., and Kingston, Ontario, Canada with the money geared toward expanding its Stainmaster and Antron branded fibers.

Of the three sites, the one in Camden is getting more than $5 million, which is also expected to add 10 jobs at the facility. The remainder of the $14 million is being divided between the other sites, though Invista did not disclose exact details.