Maryland Heights, Mo.—A little more than a year into his role at Schattdecor North America, David Sheehan, CEO, is pleased with the company’s progress in accessing the domestic LVT market. Estimated to be somewhere between 700 million and 800 million square feet, Sheehan said Schattdecor has expanded its customer base and is actively working toward delivering designs that will launch in 2026. 
“Last year was all about building awareness of Schattdecor as not only a leading decorative print supplier to the laminate flooring industry, but also to leverage our expertise in LVT, the strongest flooring category,” he said.
Mission accomplished. “We have established new relationships, new customers and are working hard to earn more of their business.”
This year the company expects to not only leverage its domestic footprint in St. Louis but to also take advantage of its global manufacturing footprint, which includes Asia. “The same people who make decisions on domestic supply of PVC film also decide who wins the business in Asia,” Sheehan explained. “We can work with designers here in the U.S. for pattern and color development and then have the film produced in Asia and shipped to the supplier of their choice. We have designers and a digital lab, and we can workshop with our customers to finalize the designs they need to win in the market. We’re also here in the same time zone and can develop products in the U.S. and transfer the files to our partners in Asia. No need to get up early or stay up late to accommodate the time differences. This saves our flooring customers time, money and increases speed to market.”
Nearly 80% of the LVT consumed in the U.S. comes from Asia. “We’re going to get as much of the business that we can here in the U.S., but we are part of larger group and can help both our customers and our sister companies to tap into the approximately 3 billion square feet that comes from Asia,” Sheehan said. “We have a global Made by Schattdecor quality standard. We use the same inks, same substrates, processes and print using the same equipment globally. We are the only decor printer that can do this.” He added that many of the leading suppliers of LVT in the U.S. have diversified their supply chain to include both domestic and internationally sourced supply chains.
“Some LVT suppliers also want to offer the same image in multiple products like glue down or rigid LVT,” Sheehan said. “For example, the glue down may be made here in the U.S. and rigid products may come from Asia. With our capabilities, we can deliver the same design to both regions from different plants. It doesn’t make sense to ship print films around the world when you can print them in the same region. Lead times are shorter, and LVT suppliers don’t need to maintain high levels of printed film inventory.”
Then there is the issue of tariffs. “With all of the uncertainty and instability of tariffs, companies need to maintain a flexible supply chain,” Sheehan noted. “Schattdecor can help companies achieve these dynamic changes when customers need to shift production from sourced to domestic or vice versa.”
He noted that Schattdecor is cautiously optimistic about 2026 but the company cannot afford to wait for economic conditions to improve. “We need to listen to our customers and find opportunities and pathways where they can grow,” he said. “We design not only for the flooring industry but for the kitchen cabinet, countertop, wall panel and furniture industries as well. We ensure that our flooring customers have the most on-trend designs and colors for both residential and commercial applications.”
