Cali started with a surf trip. In 2004, two friends discovered bamboo on a trip to Hawaii, noticed how fast and strong the woody grass grew, and came home to San Diego with an idea: Sell a sustainable alternative to traditional building materials. What began as rolled bamboo fencing grew into bamboo flooring, plywood and composite decking—and a company that would spend 13 consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list.
But the story dealers know best didn’t begin on that beach. It began in 2017, when Doug Jackson joined the company after a 24-year career at Shaw Industries.
A new direction
At the time, the company was known mostly as a direct-to-consumer bamboo brand. Jackson saw something bigger: a lifestyle brand that could serve the entire flooring market—dealers, designers, builders and trade professionals alike— without losing its California soul. That vision meant building real credibility in a business-to-business industry that rarely takes newcomers seriously.
The turning point came in 2018, when Cali was accepted as a vendor by the National Floorcovering Alliance. Membership signaled to the industry that Cali wasn’t a passing trend; it was a serious partner committed to the dealer channel. That same year the company crossed $100 million in revenue and assembled what World Floor Covering Association CEO Scott Humphrey called a “dream team” of industry veterans.
“What we’re seeing with the leadership of Doug Jackson and the assembly of this dream team of flooring industry professionals is a real opportunity to make a difference and change the paradigm in our industry,” Humphrey said at the time.
Jackson brought in seasoned talent who knew the channel and the regions they’d serve—people like Bob Fish, Chanel Clifford, Jay Flynn and later Jim Curtin, a 40-year industry veteran who took the reins of Eastern U.S. dealer sales. Each hire deepened Cali’s relationships with retailers who valued working with people who understood their business. Strengthened connections led to partnerships with other flooring groups, including CCA in 2022.
Beyond bamboo
As the team grew, so did the product line. In 2019, Cali moved into hardwood with the launch of the Meritage collection— premium European white oak, responsibly sourced and cut into extra-long, extra-wide planks. “Meritage represents Cali venturing into the upper echelons of luxury hardwood flooring, but with a price point that really rocks the boat,” Jackson said at launch. That balance of quality and value would become a defining Cali trait.
Hardwood became a strategic priority. Under Jackson’s direction, the team leaned hard into developing wood collections that felt natural and beautiful while staying accessible—a direct expression of the brand’s “Simply Authentic” ethos and its West Coast roots. Today, the Barrel Trilogy anchors that effort: Barrel offers best-selling European white oak at an accessible price, Varietals showcases unstained species like ash, acacia, maple and hickory, and First Press delivers artisanal, hand-finished character. Merchandised together in Cali’s signature wine barrel displays, the Trilogy gives dealers a clear framework to guide customers by style and budget.
Cali’s vinyl business has long been its bread and butter—anchored by Longboards, a best-selling collection dealers know well, now evolved into Longboards Icons, a longer WPC version of the classic. The category kept innovating to meet new demand, including collections built specifically for the builder and multi-family market, like the loose-lay Hang Loose and glue-down Laid Back. And Cali’s laminate reimagined the category entirely, engineering wood-look collections like Mavericks and Santa Cruz with attached padding, watertight cores and waterproof performance that outperforms customer expectations.
Stability and scale
In 2021, Cali was acquired by Victoria PLC, a publicly traded UK flooring company established in 1895 with roughly $1 billion in annual sales and operations across Europe and Australia.
The acquisition gave Cali something the previous era hadn’t: stability and resources. As an autonomous Victoria subsidiary, Cali gained access to global manufacturing, substrates and infrastructure—while remaining fully responsible for its own success.
“Today marks the next chapter for Cali,” Jackson said at the time. “We have found a great partner and a permanent home within the Victoria family.” For dealers, that meant more curated product lines, delivered more efficiently, backed by a more robust team. Cali remains one of the strongest-performing brands in the Victoria portfolio.
What dealers see
Ask Cali’s retail partners what sets the brand apart, and what gets mentioned most often are the displays, the colors and products at the best value per square foot.
Cali’s showroom displays—inspired by coastal living and vineyard culture—consistently stand out from the crowd. The fresh, natural color palette answers real customer demand for the light, beachy, organic looks shoppers pull from Pinterest and bring into stores. That distinct aesthetic extends to Cali’s Surfaces trade show booth, which has won Best Booth Design three years running—a remarkable feat for a smaller brand. Each year, the booth immerses visitors in the best of California: the redwoods and state parks, the wine valleys, the surf culture—all while showcasing the latest launches.
Behind the scenes, Jackson’s team reengineered the operation to serve dealers better. They revamped territory manager coverage across the country, hired regional experts with deep local knowledge and optimized distribution centers for faster, more reliable deliveries. They also shaped products around dealer and builder needs—value-conscious hardwood in Barrel, builder-friendly vinyl in Hang Loose and Laid Back, and elevated entry-level oak in Reserve.
Cali also invests in the relationships directly. Regular “Design Center Night Out” events bring designers together for an evening of color and product presentations from Cali’s own designers and developers—paired with wine, food and a first look at upcoming collections.
Giving back
Cali’s commitment to the channel extends to the industry’s future. In partnership with the Floor Covering Education Foundation, Cali created a simple way for retail partners to help address the installer shortage: contributing an additional penny per square foot on Cali orders to fund recruitment, education and training for the next generation of installers.
“This collaboration aims to address the very real challenge with the lack of installers while also bolstering our industry with well-trained professionals,” Jackson said. It’s a fitting expression of a company that has always believed success comes from gathering the right people and doing good work.
Simply authentic
More than 20 years after that first crate of bamboo landed in San Diego, Cali has become something rare in flooring: a brand customers recognize before they read the name. The coastal aesthetic, the curated palette, the wine-country storytelling—it all adds up to an identity that’s unmistakably Cali.
For dealers, that’s the real value. In a crowded market, Cali offers premium, differentiated collections at the best value per square foot, backed by a team that knows the channel and a brand customers already want. From bamboo fencing to a full-portfolio flooring leader, the throughline has never changed: Stay true to the West Coast, stay true to natural materials and stay Simply Authentic.
