By Jenna Lippin
Volume 26/Number 22; March 18/25, 2013
While we are only a few months into this year, there already is a renewed sense of optimism. Surfaces has quickly come and gone, but this does not mean opportunities are over for manufacturers to showcase new goods. Some are revamping existing lines while others are unveiling brand new designs.
Anderson
Showcasing an intricate time-worn look, worm holes and distressed detailing, Anderson Hardwood’s newest introduction, Bastille, within the Virginia Vintage brand, uses the aforementioned characteristics to create a naturally worn visual. “We’ve spent the past year dedicated to refining and perfecting Bastille, one of our most stunning hardwood floors to date,” said Rick Knowles, vice president of sales. “Bastille offers hardwood enthusiasts an exclusive visual, incorporating a romantic European charm and unique time-worn look.”
Bastille comes in five colors that compliment the latest in furniture and cabinetry finishes and features the super-scratch-resistant LusterLock Ultra finish, which maintains the natural look of the grain, saw marks and character, he noted. With an engineered construction in a 6¼-inch-wide plank, Bastille’s antique textures and dramatic color variations within each unique board offer a refined estate look.
Also new for 2013 is Urban Loft, a wire-brushed hickory engineered hardwood floor with a delicately textured surface that Knowles said feels soft to the touch. Advantages of Urban Loft include the EnviroCore core-board base, which contains post-consumer content and delivers an extra dense body to increase durability.
CFS
This spring CFS highlights its new Marshlands collection of prefinished solid maple flooring. Due to maple’s inherent hardness, the mill said Marshland is able to withstand high-wear environments, keeping its aesthetic appeal. The planks are 3½ inches wide and come in four stains: Edisto, a honey color; Kiawah, a darker gray/brown; Pawleys, an ebony visual, and Seabrook, a light near-natural.
The Dixie Group
The change of season brings a number of introductions within three distinct brands under the Dixie Group umbrella: Dixie Home, Masland and Fabrica.
The moniker for Dixie Home, “affordable fashion,” lends to the brand’s unique looks that are fashion forward yet come at a reasonable price point, said Dan Phelan, vice president of marketing, The Dixie Group. Twenty-three introductions include a mix of nylon and yarn offerings featuring SolarMax and Durasilk Polyester.
Masland will feature 12 new nylon products and six wool introductions. “These products continue to do well for us,” he said. “We are again adding to the diversity of Masland. You can’t stick around if you don’t think of new innovations.” The Masland offerings are aggressively priced and designed to fit various rooms throughout the home.
Fabrica, the “best in class” brand, is an exclusively placed product line in the retail environment. With limited distribution, high style and innovative designs, Fabrica “gets a lot of attention for its unique, differentiated looks and fashion-forward colorations,” Phelan said. Highlighted for 2013 are 20 nylon and wool looks, all of which were showcased at Surfaces.
DuChateau Floors
The hardwood mill has just released the Vintage Remains collection, which features unique markings and treatments that create an antique visual. The new line, which is FSC certified, is offered in four colors that create distinct weathered looks suitable for commercial, retail and residential flooring, said Misael Tagle, CEO and co-founder. Both ceiling and wall panel applications are available. Vintage Remains planks are 7 inches wide with a micro beveled edge that can be glued, nailed or floated. The flooring offers tongue and groove for easy installation and is engineered for added stability.
“Our Vintage Remains collection lends modern advantage to a reclaimed timber style floor by providing the unpredictable textures found in nature with the added durability of an engineered floor,” he explained.
As with all DuChateau products, the Vintage Remains collection features the mill’s environmentally friendly Hard-Wax Oil finish creating extra durability while penetrating deep into the wood fiber, protecting from within.
Emser Tile
The company has taken the wraps off several new products and redesigned lines for the next part of the year. Champagne Light, Primavera and Direction are three offerings on which the company is focused.
Champagne Light Limestone is a lightly colored line with a honed finish. The collection comes in 12 x 12, 18 x 18 and 12 x 24 sizes. The striated and chiseled 12 x 24 helps complement the other tile sizes with a dramatic and trendy appearance. Made of natural limestone, Champagne Light is designed for residential and both light and heavy commercial use.
Primavera is “perfect for spring” as the selection is in-spired by the season, noted the company. A glazed porcelain series, the new line uses HD technology for a realistic look. Primavera comes in four colors and three sizes (and one mosaic)—12 x 24, 18 x 18 and 13 x 13. The tiles can be used on floors or walls, is suitable for outdoor use and performs well in both residential and light commercial areas.
Direction is ideal for commercial or residential projects with modern looks. With 50 SKUs, the line is available in five colors ranging from gray-beige tones to darker browns. The three finishes—polished, matte and textured—add further differentiation to the colors. Emser said, the 12 x 12, 12 x 24 and 24 x 24 sizes can be combined with any of the line’s three trims to create a personalized look; mosaics are also offered in each color of the series.
Florida Tile
Inspired by traditional Vermont slate, Cliffside HDP (High Definition Porcelain) wall and floor tile is one of Florida Tile’s top products this spring. The line also emphasizes the company’s Made in the USA initiative, featuring an early Americana look.
“As an American manufacturer, we love to promote anything American,” noted Sean Cilona, marketing director. “That is especially true in the design of Cliffside. This material has been used in building since the founding of this great country.”
Cliffside can be used in both commercial and residential applications and, according to Cilona, the fact the line is available in pressed, 12 x 12, 12 x 24 and 18 x 18 formats means it “will outperform real slate in durability, ease of maintenance, price and color offering.”
Accompanying the field tile is an M12 mosaic, 6 x 12 cove base and corners, a 3 x 12 bullnose and decorative 2 x 12 listellos.
Also unveiled for Spring 2013 is the HDP line called Tides. The product is a stylized interpretation of vein cut stone, specifically a linear cut travertine or limestone known as Georgette. Using Florida Tile’s HDP technology, the company reproduces the stone look while experimenting with color combinations that are not found in nature. Each base color features a blend of complementary tones within the veining to add depth.
This glazed porcelain floor and wall tile is available in pressed 12 x 24 with a 3 x 24 bullnose for each color. Additionally, Tides features a unique patterned M12 mosaic that rotates each chip 90 degrees, which creates a checkerboard pattern.
Harris Wood
The company is highlighting two collections for the coming months: Aspen and Highlands. Both are ideal for an area or room in a residential setting and feature 5-ply balanced construction engineered wood floors. The planks can be glued, floated or nailed/stapled down.
Aspen is a prefinished engineered hardwood offered in four neutral colors with a weathered look and ultra low-gloss finish. The line is described as “reminiscent of old whitewashed oiled floors in tranquil resort lodges or sun-bleached coastal cottages.” Aspen comes in random lengths from 12 to 47 inches and 5-inch widths.
Highlands is prepackaged and offered in 3-, 5- and 7-inch widths with random lengths up to 47 inches. A subtly rustic flooring, the new offering features a gentle timeworn scraped appearance to accent the wood’s natural character.
HomerWood
The wood manufacturer’s goal for spring is to strengthen its brand. The company has selected 54 products to highlight in a range of styles, textures, surface treatments and colors to fit both residential and commercial environments.
The new HomerWood merchandising display highlights the visual appeal of its products, focusing on the floor itself rather than the display. Customers have the option of customizing the display to meet their needs. “When we selected the 54 visuals, we created a new merchandiser that will hold 35 SKUs so our distribution partners have the opportunity to customize the product mix to their specific markets and present customers with a focused selection of choices,” said Paul Walker, general manager.
He added if the distributor likes a particular color of a wood but wants it in a different style, handscraped, for example, the company will add it to the display for that individual distributor.
IndusParquet
Previewed at Surfaces, Pau Ferro is the star of the show for IndusParquet this season.
The smooth engineered hardwood features bold striations in its natural grain, creating an animal-print look. “Animal print has seen resurgence in popularity over the past few years and is being used in unexpected and inspired places,” said Jason Strong, vice president of sales and marketing. “What we have been able to achieve, through our exclusive construction and finishing techniques, is a floor that captures both the beauty of nature and your imagination.”
Pau Ferro comes in an extra wide 6¼-inch plank for maximum grain exposure, and its random lengths of 11 to 88 inches give the entire line a custom look. While the Brazillain species has an extremely exotic look, the product is offered at an affordable price point and can endure wear and tear, Strong said.
Royalty Carpet Mills
The company will feature additions to both the Royalty and Camelot brands this spring. All boast extreme softness and/or innovative de-signs and patterns.
Royalty has rolled out Royal Premier, which co-brands with Scotchgard stain release. The combined warrantees from the two brands allow them to remain on “equal footing” according to Paul Engle, vice president of marketing.
The soft fiber line is a finer DPF creating a softer, 6,6 nylon feel. The collection features a combination of colors and textures thanks to the integration of several barber pole yarns with a space-dyed and incorporated berber fleck.
Royalty’s fiber system is also introducing several products, including soft yarns, loops and cut piles. Boogie and Samba, two promotional products in level cut loop (LCL) offer two different patterns—one more traditional and the other a modern, less consistent design.
The Camelot brand now features updated offerings focused on soft feel, innovative pattern designs and popular gray and blue hues. Starlight is one product doing particularly well for the brand, created with a solid-color cut pile on top and a barber pole, brighter yarn in loop down below.
Newly released under the Camelot brand is Valeur, a solid color, cut pile, velvet plush. The company emphasizes the product’s extreme softness and yarn finish. Valeur’s
color palette features grays, blues, taupes and other earth tones.
Tarkett
To help customers during the selection process, Tarkett is rolling out iSelect, a coordination system that puts the consumer in control by helping her find the ideal floor for her taste, lifestyle and budget. After choosing one of six color palettes, she will be led to the design most appropriate for her. Each selection offers all of the Tarkett flooring options: FiberFloor, Luxury Tile and Plank, and Laminate.
The iSelect System also offers Finishing Accents, which includes options for durable baseboards, quarter rounds and flexible transitions. Finishing Accents feature a no-dent, no-scratch decorative baseboard and transition collection.
Tarkett has also recently introduced I.D. Inspiration High Performance Resilient Planks. I.D. Inspiration works best in heavy traffic commercial areas including hospitality, retail, corporate, education, healthcare and more. Available in 20 rich wood plank looks, I.D. Inspiration touts easy installation and maintenance. Its reinforced polyurethane surface treatment and 28mil wear layer makes it one of the most resistant and durable luxury vinyl planks available. The planks also feature a non-woven glass fiber reinforcement that adds to their strength.