Karndean maintains 40-year tradition as style leader

HomeInside FCNewsKarndean maintains 40-year tradition as style leader

Volume 27/Number 21; March 3/10, 2014

By K.J. Quinn

As Karndean International enters its 40th year in business, the basic tenets established by the founder help define its future. Touting luxury vinyl flooring inspired by nature and designed for living, the company continues to encourage bravery and creative thinking in developing residential and commercial products.

“We understand that our ‘house-proud’ consumer is doing more than putting flooring in,” said Emil Mellow, vice president of marketing. “She is creating an environment, a statement about value and lifestyle.”

Last October, the family-owned British company announced the launch of a yearlong campaign looking at where it all began and Karndean’s position today as a globally recognized brand. In honor of its success creating realistic wood and stone effect luxury vinyl flooring, the company will look to help local charities and organizations in the U.K., U.S., Australia and New Zealand. “Our 40th anniversary is a massive achievement and we’re extremely proud of where we started and where we are today,” said Paul Barratt, managing director. “And what better way to celebrate than by giving back to our customers and helping a variety of excellent causes?”

Forty years of dedication

The company traces its roots back to the summer of 1973, when a young entrepreneur named Michael Walker began looking for a way to make it on his own. According to the company, Walker was successful in the early days—when he sold samples out of the trunk of his car—but quickly became bored with selling other peoples’ designs. In his mind, a floor should not be just practical; it needed to be beautiful as well.

“A huge advantage Karndean Designflooring has in the marketplace is our 40 years of experience focused entirely on LVT,” Mellow noted. “Our stunning visuals and quality are a testament to the fact we are not just jumping into this category.”

Traveling the world seeking inspiration, Walker was able to generate ideas for what later became some of the most realistic luxury vinyl flooring products on the market. He found a way to recreate the look of natural materials such as limestone, slate, parquet and timber without having their practical drawbacks. Products offered consumers and end users opportunities to create endless combinations of planks, tiles, borders and design strips—not to mention the ability to cut the product into pretty much any shape required.

“When I started off, I thought that a floor should be more than just practical,” Walker told FCNews. “It needed to be beautiful as well.” During

the 1990s, Walker’s daughter, Fleur, took over the reins of the business, with her brother, Chris, on the road selling. In 1992, Walker moved the business into a modest house in Offenham, U.K., where the Karndean team worked for several years. During this time, one faithful companion included the family’s dog, Smokey, the Great Dane who is still present on Karndean’s logo today.

Seven years later, Karndean made an important strategic decision to establish an office in the U.S. in North Versailles, Pa., where it employed nine full-timers and appointed Ed Perrin to head up this business as CEO.

At the time, Karndean had three people in the field and sold exclusively through distribution. Between 1999 and 2005, Karndean’s U.S. office established a presence in every state in the country, created a direct sales force and began to establish its retail dealer network.

“In 2000, we launched our Van Gogh range, which revolutionized the luxury vinyl tile market and helped to bring it to the forefront of the flooring industry,” Perrin said. “In 2005, Karndean USA moved into a new state-of-the-art showroom and distribution center in Export, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.”

In the U.S., Karndean started with its Knight Tile range, which served as an introduction to the concept the company calls “designflooring.”

“This has grown into our current portfolio of more than 160 products along with our Art Select, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Opus, Michelangelo, Knight Tile and LooseLay ranges,” Perrin explained.

Proven success

Over the years, the Karndean brand has become synonymous with style and innovation within the flooring industry. One of the biggest launches was Van Gogh LVT, introduced during a time when 4 inches was the standard plank width. The first Van Gogh designs featured six colors and a 7-inch plank.

“The Van Gogh and Art Select products are the most popular, although the LooseLay product is beginning to take over,” reported Kristy Ridilla, co-owner of Cliff’s Carpet One, Latrobe, Pa. “Our customers love the idea of loose lay, the ease and speed of installation, the fact they have the option to do it themselves.”

LooseLay, recognized with a Best of NeoCon award at NeoCon 2013, features a friction-grip backing and increased dimensional stability, which secures the floor firmly in place without the need for adhesives in many installations.

A number of retail partners contacted by FCNews said Karndean has hit the mark on numerous points. “Karndean is a great partner to have in our showroom,” said Bill Greene, founder and president, Affordable Interiors, Indiana, Pa.

Retailers have played a major part in the company’s success, as Karndean sells direct to flooring dealers and provides a full array of support, training and point-of-sale services aimed at helping its customers grow their businesses with the Designflooring lines.

“Karndean’s focus in 2014 is to increase our support at retail,” Mellow said. “We want to continue providing our retail partners with the right products and tools to effectively sell our premium luxury vinyl tile.”

A second major area of emphasis in 2014 is adding more qualified retailers to sell the Designflooring line. “Increasing our point of sale, in the right retailers, is key to our success,” Mellow added. “With that comes a commitment from Karndean to design and offer installation training, increase the product portfolio and provide competitive pricing.”

The current Karndean flooring portfolio includes 150 products from six core ranges, all replicating a variety of natural materials—from wood and stone to “iconic” products such as metal, mosaic and pebble.

“We don’t just dabble in luxury vinyl tile; this is our passion,” Perrin said. “The realism of our product and the creation of our designs set us apart.”

Rather than looking uniform and manufactured, each Karndean plank or tile has its own individual grain and appearance. “The fact that they can get the look of ceramic tile or the look of hardwood but skip all the negative characteristics of each, is probably the most appealing benefit to our customers,” Ridilla said.

Karndean products are not only fashionable, they’re built to withstand the daily demands of busy family life. Stain resistant and easy to clean, Designflooring can handle water spillages without warping, and doesn’t harbor dirt, dust mites or bacteria. And, because Designflooring is comprised of individual wood planks and tiles, damaged pieces can be easily replaced by an installer using spares from the original installation.

Cliff’s Carpet One maintains a design showroom featuring Karndean displays, installed flooring and a design table. “One of our salespeople shows Karndean to everyone whether they are in the market for it or not,” Ridilla noted. “He is just that enthusiastic about it, and it typically gets our customers excited about future projects.”

In addition to the home, Karndean Designflooring is specified for several commercial applications, such as hospitality and leisure, retail, healthcare, education and offices. “The beauty of Karndean is that we service all markets across the residential, retail, commercial and flooring contractor base,” Perrin said. “Karndean floors can be used in pretty much every application.”

The last few years have seen Karndean open showrooms and distribution centers in Las Vegas (2010) and Dallas (2012). Employees at Karndean’s Export location recently selected the company as a “Top Workplace” in the Pittsburgh region for the second consecutive year. The facility, which doubles as Karndean’s U.S. headquarters, employs approximately 70 people who reside in the Pittsburgh region.

The top workplace winners were chosen following an online survey which asked employees to rate their employers on general job satisfaction, flexibility, perks and benefits such as healthcare, insurance and paid holidays, as well as rating aspects of leadership, career development, communication and engagement.

“Locally, we are known for being a good employer and looking after our people,” Perrin said. “We hope that this is a company people aspire to work for and that everywhere you meet a Karndean employee, retailer or customer, they have a good story to tell, and those stories paint a similar picture of what we are as a brand and what we stand for as an organization.”

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