floorcoveringnewsvolume 33number 17 I fcnewsnet I the publication more retailers prefer I February 512 2018 I $200

NEWSPAPER

IN THIS ISSUE

NFA dealers optimisticabout businessPAGE 3

Floors amp More looks tobuild on its base PAGE 5

CCA global conventionsbring the value PAGE 36

Cast your ballots nowCast your votes in FCNewsrsquoAward of Excellence competi-tion Log on to fcnewsnet andclick on the Award ofExcellence link or visit ourFacebook and Twitter pages

Scan this QR code with yoursmartphone to link to our fea-tured site

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

LAS VEGASmdashAnother year anoth-er Surfaces in the books But itrsquosanything but old hat Suppliersacross a broad range of categoriesshowcased head-turning innova-tions in terms of both surfacevisuals and product performance

ldquoI was more impressed withwhat technology can do than anysingle product at the showrdquo saidJohn Toliver owner ToliverrsquosCarpet One Tempe Ariz ldquoThenew technology that is comingout is creating [excitement] for all

these new prod-uctsrdquo

Much of thatbuzz was focusedon manufacturingprocesses designedto help productsbetter withstandwater incursionmdashclearly a nod to thedamage inflicted by hurricanesand major storms over the pastfew years ldquoThe hot topic thisyear was waterproof every-thingmdashLVP WPC even woodand carpet had some tie in to

water resistancerdquosaid NickFreadreacea presi-dent The FlooringGallery LouisvilleKy

Another newproduct technologythat had everyonebuzzing was the

Magnetic Building Solutions(MBS) system unveiled by theWorld Floor Covering Association(WFCA) ldquoI thought it was themost revolutionary product at theshowrdquo said Brian Witkin execu-

tive vice president of sales AvalonFlooring Cherry Hill NJ ldquoLongterm I believe that product willdo very well in the marketrdquo

Dave Snedeker divisionalmerchandise manager-flooringNebraska Furniture MartOmaha Neb is in agreementadding ldquoI welcome the innova-tion for our industryrdquo

Freadreacea also sees thepotential of MBS predicting rapidacceptance of the system ldquoI amsure by next year it will be thething to see and virtually everycategory will be available withthat installation systemrdquo

LANCASTER PAmdashArmstrongFlooring has ended its partner-ship with Southeast distributorWilliam M Bird a relationshipthat dates to 1936 when Birdbegan distributing Armstrongfloor coverings and building

materials as its entry into floor-ing distribution

ldquoEnding an 82-year relation-ship is not something you everexpect however William MBird is prepared and positionedto handle this transitionrdquoMaybank Hagood CEO toldFCNews

Hagood said its house brandproducts including PalmettoRoad and Azalea Lane as wellas its portfolio of branded lineslike Roppe Metroflor Tarkettand Somerset will provide thewholesaler with the flexibilityto bring new products to Birdcustomers ldquothat provide thehighest level of value and quali-ty in wood LVT WPC rigidcore and laminate productsOur core values as a companyhave always driven our deci-

sion-making and how we part-ner with our customers withthe right products That will notchange at all We have alwaysbeen committed to an excep-tional salesforce cutting-edgetechnologiesvia our onlinetools andd y n a m i cwarehousingand logisticsto assure our customers thatwhen they call us they will beserved by a team driven to helpour customers succeedrdquo

Hagood said it is ldquoprobablypremature at this pointrdquo tocomment about any potentialfuture partnerships Howeverhe did note ldquoWe have had somegreat conversations in the lastcouple of weeks and we look

Innovation is the name of the game at TISE Retailers embrace enhancements in durability and design

Armstrong severs ties with William M Bird

By FCNews staff

By Ken Ryan

From left Industry legend Bob Shaw greets dealers at theEngineered Floors booth attendees flock the exhibition area

on day one and Mohawk sees brisk activity throughout the show

Continued on page 10

Surfacesrecaps

Carpet 18Resilient 22Wood26Tile 30Laminate 32

forward to finalizing andannouncing soon the next gen-eration of brands that will helpserve to define William M Birdfor the futurerdquo

Hagood put a positive spinon the separa-tion withArmstrongmdashits longest-standing sup-pliermdashsaying

ldquoA change like this will allow usto deepen our existing strategicpartnerships and continue ourmission to deliver the rightproducts and services to theright customer at the righttimerdquo

In light of the Bird changesArmstrong will expand the ter-ritories of three of its existing

Continued on page 11

Getting social with fcnews

4 I February 512 2018 fcnews

industry Hall of Fame by inviting about1000 of its closest friends Well deserved

So now letrsquos get to the point What willI remember from Surfaces It begins withwhat seemed like 500 companies showcas-ing WPC SPC rigid core and anythingwaterproof That was the buzzword of theshowmdashwaterproof Everyone puts theirown spin on the category And anotherthing dear diary that sticks out Manycompanies in the Chinese pavilion couldnot understand our questions but couldcertainly exclaim ldquoOEMrdquo quite clearlySide business next year translators

What about product Well dear diarythat is a loaded question because I am set-ting myself up for failure and offendingthose I will forget and fail to mention Buthere it goes The extension of the Fabricabrand into hardwood was nothing short offabulous Showstopper Yoursquove never seenanything like this Yes itrsquos niche but a mostappropriate representation of the high-endbrand indeed

Speaking of wood I know Arte Mundiis not a household name but you will behearing a lot about this company movingforward A Best of Surfaces winner for BestBooth under 1200 square feet (see thenext issue of FCNews) this company show-cased unique wood designs embeddedwith Swarovski crystals as well as a blue-stained hardwood called Denim thatcaught my eye every time I walked past thebooth Ex-Ark-er John Lee is at the helm

Then there was the coming-out partyfor Anderson Tuftex Shaw Floorsrsquo new

high-end multi-product brand A mostdeserving Best of Surfaces winner for BestBooth over 1200 square feet the woodportfolio is as strong as ever and makes fora perfect marriage to the highly styledTuftex line (If only all marriages were thisperfect) Speaking of which if it were meI would find a way to showcase the coordi-nation of a piece of wood with a few sam-ples of carpet and vice versa Sort of likewhen design-skill-deprived people like meneed to purchase the shirt and tie off themannequin because we cannot coordinateon our own

And what about USFloors dear diaryThis company continues to innovate andremain ahead of the WPC world this timewith COREtec Stone Piet Dossche doesnot know the meaning of ldquoresting on onersquoslaurelsrdquo

What else Letrsquos play random rouletteAlways find the Provenza booth to be spe-cial Metroflorrsquos party at the House ofBlues was the event of the weekhellip I likethis idea of magnetic flooring that theWFCA is pushing I just donrsquot know howmany consumers will accept the additional$150 a foothellip The new Cleo brand fromCongoleum is a surefire winnerhellip Nice tosee the venerable Gulistan brand back inthe gamehellip Allie Finkell is doing a hell of ajob at Hearthwoods Like father likedaughter

My body still hurts

Dear Diary

Another January another Surfaces How isit possible that 24 years have flown by thisquickly And how is it that each year wegear up for months for what has to be themost grueling week of the year yet theshow seems to be over in a nanosecondAn adrenaline rush indeed in every senseof the word

The festivities for us actually begin onthe eve of Surfaces with the NationalFloorcovering Alliancersquos specialty vendorshowcase tucked away in a third floor ball-room at Mandalay Great prep for the bigdance We get to see some of the best retail-ers in the land along with some qualitymanufacturers some familiar and somenew faces It gets the ball rolling for the 17-hour days that include a breakfast a showa slew of cocktail parties and late-nightsocial shenanigans at Eye Candy

So if you were able to attend Surfacesyou have your own opinions as to whatstood out Here are my takeaways deardiary

First as has been the story for the lastfew years Mohawk and its brands domi-nated the show floor The focus is on whatthe company is calling its ldquoherordquo productsAiro SmartStrand Silk Reserve SolidTechand RevWood The latter is where the com-pany is betting a bunch that the rebrandingof its laminate line (see story on page 14)pays huge dividends

Mohawk also celebrated the officialinduction of Jeff Lorberbaum into the

Page 24 from my Surfaces diary

my take

Steven Feldman

floorcoveringnews

Copyright 2018 by Roel Productions Inc All rights reserved Printed in the USA Material in thispublication may not be reproduced in any form withoutwritten permission from the publisherThe opinions expressed by columnistsdo not necessarily reflect the views ofmanagement Single copy $2 US sub-scriptions $25yr Canadian subscriptions $50 USyrForeign via air $200 USyrforeign via surface $100 USyr Printed in the USA

postmasterSend address changes to FLOOR COVERING NEWS subscrip-tion Dept151 Fairchild Avenue Ste 2 Plainview NY 11803Floor Covering News (ISSN-10794174) is published biweekly byRoel Productions Inc 550 W Old Country Road Ste 204Hicksville NY 11801 Periodicals postage paid at Hicksville NYand additional mailing offices

member

michael blick presidentceo mikefcnewsnet

steven feldmanpublishereditorial directorstevefcnewsnet

dustin aaronsonassociate publisheradvertising directordustinfcnewsnet

editorial

reginald tuckermanaging editorreggiefcnewsnet

ken ryansenior editorkenfcnewsnet

lindsay baillieassociate editorlindsayfcnewsnet

artproduction

frank notarbartoloartproduction directorfrankfcnewsnet

sales associate

nadia ramlakhannadiafcnewsnet

founderalbert wahnon 1920-2011

correspondentsleah grosskj quinn

nicole murray

columnsjim augustus armstrong marketing mastery lisbeth calandrino lisbiz strategies scott perron retailer2retailer roman basi financial fcica installments

nafcd distributorsrsquo view tom jennings lessons learned

headquarters550 w old country road suite 204

hicksville ny 11801tel 5169327860 fax 5169327639fcnewsnet website fcnewsnet

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MIN

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AL

CO

MP

OS

ITE

CO

RE

[M

CC

] bull

PV

C F

RE

E bull

10

0

WA

TE

RP

RO

OF

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22 I February 512 2018 fcnews

Therersquos a common threadamong the plethora ofnew resilient flooring

products introduced at SurfacesThey all aim to make it easier forretailers to sell and consumers tounderstand

A majority of the manufactur-ers at the event noted that theresilient market is saturated withproductsmdasha phenomenon thatcan cause confusion for distribu-tors retailers and consumersalike To address this issue man-ufacturers are providing retailersand distributors with updatedstyles and newer product con-structions in conjunction withgreater education explicit brand-ing and unique product stories

Education and innovationwas a focal point of KarndeanDesignflooringrsquos 2018 introduc-tions which entailed new SKUsacross three formats glue downloose lay and rigid core The ulti-mate goal the company said is toencourage retailers to rethinkflooring ldquoWersquore trying to getretailers to see flooring different-ly design flooring differently andspecify flooring differently so thatthey have a way of making moremargin and really beating out thecompetitionrdquo said Emil Mellowdirector of public relations

Part of rethinking flooringinvolves a complete understand-ing of how Karndeanrsquos productswork together to create design-flooring ldquoWith our new SKUswersquore trying to push design differ-entlyrdquo Mellow explained ldquoForexample with Korlok we tellretailers you can blend SKUsrdquo

Mohawkrsquos new sheet vinyllineup is bringing awareness to aproduct category that has consis-tently been losing market shareto LVT WPC and SPC Accordingto Angela Duke senior brandmanager Mohawk the companystill sees a market for sheet vinyland so should retailers ldquoThis isone of the most durable floors Itis one of our highest margin prod-ucts because of its lower pricerdquo

Mohawkrsquos new sheet vinylfeatures a new technology calledClearGuard which aims to showconsumers how easy it is to cleanthe product Duke explaineddealers should also take advan-tage of the productrsquos waterproofqualities ldquoWersquore seeing a lot ofpush for this product in differentareas such as laundry roomsbasements and bathroomsrdquo

Educating dealers on productfeatures is also a key point forForbo The manufacturerrsquosMarmoleum with click cinchlock is available in a wide array ofcolors allowing retailers to offer

consumers something out of theordinary Whatrsquos more dealerscan mix and match the squareand plank formats to createunique flooring designs ldquoWhat ifyou could get a click product thatis easy to install and with morevibrant colorsrdquo asked TimDonahue residential nationalsales manager ldquoYoursquore not goingto get these colors inan LVTrdquo

Forbo has alsoadded FlowTex toits product portfo-lio To create thetexture of FlowTexthe product isldquoflockedrdquo a manu-facturing processthat combines aPVC backing a layerin between and anadhesive on top fol-lowed by a magneticcharge that acti-vates the productOnce the product isdried it becomesimpenetrable towater Donahuesaid ldquoFlowTex is atextile version of aresilient and is actu-ally closer to a hardsurface than a car-petrdquo

Fusion the dis-tribution division of USFloors isfocused on educating its cus-tomers on the positives of doingbusiness with the company ldquoWeoffer completely different colorsand SKUs than USFloorsrdquo saidJim Nielsen vice president ofsales ldquoWe cover all of the baseswith this category and wersquoll stayat the very forefront of technologyand give our distributors serviceand compassionrdquo

The companyrsquos two invest-ments for 2018 are its enhancebevel WPC and SPC ldquoThese arehigher end design-focused prod-uctsrdquo Nielsen explainedldquoTheyrsquore very realistic lookingcompared to what wersquove had inthe past Wersquove also attached apad which provides more com-fort and is sound deadeningDistributors will be able to getmore premium price on theseproducts than what is out thererdquo

Happy Feet also emphasizedthe importance of educating theretailer on the benefits of part-nering with the right manufac-turer going beyond productspecs In addition to the compa-nyrsquos new products such asBlockbuster and GladiatorHappy Feet boasts competitivepricing shipping within 24 hoursand unmatchable inventory ldquoWewant to help retailers makemoneyrdquo said CJ Johnson sales

Whatrsquos in a brandSome manufacturers introducednew products at Surfaces thataim to help strengthen brandrecognition in consumers andmake it easier for dealers to bet-ter identify products in a saturat-ed market Case in point isArmstrong which is looking toleverage its Diamond 10 technol-

ogy to create brand awarenesswith consumers ldquoWersquore pushingour Diamond 10 technologywhich is a differentiating factorto bring consumers into retailersrsquostoresrdquo said Morgan Hafer prod-uct manager for Alterna ldquoItrsquosbeing used in shows on HGTV

and throughout social media to[drive] brand awarenessrdquo

EarthWerks is also using itsbranding to make it easier forretailers to distinguish betweendifferent sizes of products Thecompany showed Noble ClassicPlus and Plus XL as well asParkhill and Plus XXL Plus XLand Plus XXL represent thicker

longer versions oftheir respectivelines

ldquoAt EarthWerkswe say style avail-ability and serviceyou can trustrdquo saidLindsey Nisbetstrategic marketingand product devel-opment ldquoOur styleis getting betterevery year withrespect to servicewe have some of thebest distributionrdquo

Quick-Step andIVC are also makingit easier to identifytheir resilient prod-ucts Quick-Step hasupdated the prod-ucts it sells to focusless on the productlines and more onits attributes Thecompany is nowusing the term

ldquoEnduraTEKrdquo for its resilientproducts ldquoWe consider resilientas the entry into hard surfacerdquosaid Jason Sims senior brandmanager Mohawk IndustriesldquoAll of our flexible product iscalled EnduraTEK As you tradeup the rigid offerings are called

EnduraTEK UltrardquoQuick-Step is doing its best

to provide distributors with bet-ter and best offerings within theresilient category ldquoWhat wersquorefeaturing this year is the abilityfor them to trade up within thecategory from flexible to rigidrdquoSims said ldquoWe are also offeringfor the first time flexible LVT tilethat has a hidden grout line Youcan mix them and it quicklyinstalls These are all availableon one display as wellrdquo

IVC is updating its brand toreflect the resilient category Thecompany showed its new Arteraand Millright lines both sheetvinyl as well as Urbanne its newflexible tiles Sims explained thatthe word ldquoresilientrdquo not onlydescribes the category but alsohighlights what the segment canultimately provide consumersldquoWe have positioned our brandas uncompromised design forlife We bring a different designelement to everything we dordquo

While some companies arepromoting various productnames to drive brand recogni-tion others are looking to betterleverage their own corporateidentities DuChacircteau primarilyknown for its innovations inhardwood for flooring and wallapplications has expanded itsreach to include luxury vinylplank products ldquoWe conductedextensive research with design-ers architects contractors andhomeowners to see where theywanted to go with more luxuri-ous and distinctive flooringdesignsrdquo said Misael Tagle CEOand co-founder of DuChacircteau

Engineered Floors has made a strong entry into the rigidcore world with Revotec according to Ana Torrence

product manager hard surfaces

Innovations aim to add simplicity to the buying By Lindsay Baillie

Piet Dossche knows a winner whenhe creates one Five years agodespite serious doubts from somewell-respected retail executivesthe USFloorsrsquo founder and presi-dent launched COREtec and pre-dicted success He got itmdashinspades helping to launch a cate-gory that has surpassed $1 billionin sales

ldquoPeople said it wasnrsquot going toworkrdquo he recalled of COREtec ldquoIwas saying lsquoGood keep thinkinglike thatrsquordquo COREtec was a runawayhit and helped launch the break-out success of the LVT sub-seg-ment

Dossche has similar expecta-tions for COREtec Stone which thecompany showed at Surfaces 2018as an alternative to ceramic andporcelain tile The productmdashacompositeSPC engineered tilemdashisexpected to be ready for market in

the second half of 2018 ldquoThis isgoing to be hugerdquo Dossche said ldquoItis going to bring solutions to theceramic tile categoryrdquo

Ceramic tile is a growing busi-ness but it has issues For startersceramic tile is heavy and may notbe appropriate for certain installa-

tions it is cold and can crack orbreak easily it is a time-consum-ing installation process and it isalso an expensive installation withspecial tools needed critics saySometimes the cost of the instal-lation is more than the materialsIt is also messy and expensive toremove ceramic or porcelain tile

Enter COREtec Stone which islighter warmer cheaper and easi-er to install with no grout neededeasier to remove and more com-fortable to walk on because of itsattached cork backing Plus itdoesnrsquot break

Dossche who believes thissegment could grow to be a $500million business in a few years isoptimistic ldquoIf you bring to marketa good-looking product that solvesissues you have a winnerComposite weatherproof flooringwill be the high double-digitgrowth engine in hard surfaces forthe next five years

COREtec Stone The next big thing

Piet Dossche USFloors founder and president with the COREtec Stone display

By Ken Ryan

resilientS U R FAC E S C OV E R A G E

Product story is alsokey to Beauflorrsquos newintroductions Blacktexand Boardwalk The for-mer is a roll product thatcan also be merchan-dised with boards andmarketed as either asheet vinyl or LVT prod-uct The textile backingprovides users withsome of the benefits and featuresof LVT Meanwhile Boardwalk isa rigid click loose-lay product

fcnews February 512 2018 I 23

Introducing a breath of fresh air in hardwood

ooringItrsquos a whole new brand and approach to a cleaner greener lifestyle and a healthier happier home from the oor up

For 2018 we proudlypresent the new

9 collections in 5 species across 40 luxurious styles ndash and all with ZERObullADDreg

formaldehyde

Beautiful oors Better air quality And certi ed for peace-of- mind to sell with complete con dence

Only from the newLIFECOREreg Flooring Products brand

Visit us atLIFECORE ooringcom

Because you live your life on your oorsreg

From The Arden Hickory Collection Always AR127AL

ldquoThe craftsmanship and fashion-forward designs of our new col-lections meet their needsrdquo

The manufacturerrsquos newAtelier Seriesrsquo Sovereign editionfeatures the sought-after signa-ture aesthetic of European-styleexclusive designs in a glue-downvinyl plank Then therersquos theVinyl Deluxe Grand collectionwith LuxCor technology fol-lowed by the Vinyl DeluxeClassic collection Rounding outthe offering is the AmericanGuild collection which featuresclassic colors and a contempo-rary American design aestheticwith the realistic look and feel ofwood and stone

Congoleum is looking to takebranding a step further with thecreation of CLEO Homemdasha sep-arate standalone brand that fea-tures healthy and environmen-tally conscious flooringAccording to Kurt Denmanchief marketing officer and exec-utive vice president of salesCLEO Home is intended to helpconsumers who might be strug-gling with design confidence

ldquoWe wanted to create some-thing from a designer standpointthat really appealed to the con-sumer We have great brandrecognition with Congoleumwith our legacy products Thisnew foray into the marketplaceis a great way to connect withthe next generationrdquo

CLEO breaks down into threedifferent layers The base is 85limestone and the other 15 is abinder that is not made withPVC The top layer is digitalimaging with a high-performancecoating ldquoWhen you get rid ofPVC you get rid of plasticizersphthalates and all the things thatare perceived as negative words inthe industryrdquo Denman explained(Incidentally Congoleum washonored for a Best of Surfacesaward in sustainability for CLEOHome) ldquoThis product is 100manufactured in the US so

wersquore not relying on print filmsshipped from Chinardquo

A compelling story Manufacturers are not onlydeveloping unique product sto-ries to help differentiate offer-ings they are ultimately provid-ing retailers with product educa-tion and strong brands Mohawkfor example has updated its cam-paign for SolidTech to play up theproductrsquos resistance to hurri-canes As Duke explained ldquoWehave a good story from a builderin Dallas who put SolidTech inone of his model homes after the

hurricane hit the dealerwas able to salvage thefloor in the model homeclean it up and reinstall it withoutany problemsrdquo

Armstrong has developed itsown story for its Alterna plankproductmdashan engineered tile nowavailable in a 6 x 36 plank formatldquoWe call it Alterna because it is analternative to ceramic and tilerdquoHafer explained ldquoThe storybehind engineered tile is its moredurable and comfortable to liveon and easier to install than realtile Alterna plank also featuresour Diamond 10 technologyrdquo

with an attached pad ldquoOur Blacktex sheet product

Congoleumrsquos CLEO Home launched atSurfaces as a standalone designer brand

and selling process

EarthWerksrsquo Plus XL and PlusXXL represent its new

thicker longer products

Continued on page 24

22 I February 512 2018 fcnews

Therersquos a common threadamong the plethora ofnew resilient flooring

products introduced at SurfacesThey all aim to make it easier forretailers to sell and consumers tounderstand

A majority of the manufactur-ers at the event noted that theresilient market is saturated withproductsmdasha phenomenon thatcan cause confusion for distribu-tors retailers and consumersalike To address this issue man-ufacturers are providing retailersand distributors with updatedstyles and newer product con-structions in conjunction withgreater education explicit brand-ing and unique product stories

Education and innovationwas a focal point of KarndeanDesignflooringrsquos 2018 introduc-tions which entailed new SKUsacross three formats glue downloose lay and rigid core The ulti-mate goal the company said is toencourage retailers to rethinkflooring ldquoWersquore trying to getretailers to see flooring different-ly design flooring differently andspecify flooring differently so thatthey have a way of making moremargin and really beating out thecompetitionrdquo said Emil Mellowdirector of public relations

Part of rethinking flooringinvolves a complete understand-ing of how Karndeanrsquos productswork together to create design-flooring ldquoWith our new SKUswersquore trying to push design differ-entlyrdquo Mellow explained ldquoForexample with Korlok we tellretailers you can blend SKUsrdquo

Mohawkrsquos new sheet vinyllineup is bringing awareness to aproduct category that has consis-tently been losing market shareto LVT WPC and SPC Accordingto Angela Duke senior brandmanager Mohawk the companystill sees a market for sheet vinyland so should retailers ldquoThis isone of the most durable floors Itis one of our highest margin prod-ucts because of its lower pricerdquo

Mohawkrsquos new sheet vinylfeatures a new technology calledClearGuard which aims to showconsumers how easy it is to cleanthe product Duke explaineddealers should also take advan-tage of the productrsquos waterproofqualities ldquoWersquore seeing a lot ofpush for this product in differentareas such as laundry roomsbasements and bathroomsrdquo

Educating dealers on productfeatures is also a key point forForbo The manufacturerrsquosMarmoleum with click cinchlock is available in a wide array ofcolors allowing retailers to offer

consumers something out of theordinary Whatrsquos more dealerscan mix and match the squareand plank formats to createunique flooring designs ldquoWhat ifyou could get a click product thatis easy to install and with morevibrant colorsrdquo asked TimDonahue residential nationalsales manager ldquoYoursquore not goingto get these colors inan LVTrdquo

Forbo has alsoadded FlowTex toits product portfo-lio To create thetexture of FlowTexthe product isldquoflockedrdquo a manu-facturing processthat combines aPVC backing a layerin between and anadhesive on top fol-lowed by a magneticcharge that acti-vates the productOnce the product isdried it becomesimpenetrable towater Donahuesaid ldquoFlowTex is atextile version of aresilient and is actu-ally closer to a hardsurface than a car-petrdquo

Fusion the dis-tribution division of USFloors isfocused on educating its cus-tomers on the positives of doingbusiness with the company ldquoWeoffer completely different colorsand SKUs than USFloorsrdquo saidJim Nielsen vice president ofsales ldquoWe cover all of the baseswith this category and wersquoll stayat the very forefront of technologyand give our distributors serviceand compassionrdquo

The companyrsquos two invest-ments for 2018 are its enhancebevel WPC and SPC ldquoThese arehigher end design-focused prod-uctsrdquo Nielsen explainedldquoTheyrsquore very realistic lookingcompared to what wersquove had inthe past Wersquove also attached apad which provides more com-fort and is sound deadeningDistributors will be able to getmore premium price on theseproducts than what is out thererdquo

Happy Feet also emphasizedthe importance of educating theretailer on the benefits of part-nering with the right manufac-turer going beyond productspecs In addition to the compa-nyrsquos new products such asBlockbuster and GladiatorHappy Feet boasts competitivepricing shipping within 24 hoursand unmatchable inventory ldquoWewant to help retailers makemoneyrdquo said CJ Johnson sales

Whatrsquos in a brandSome manufacturers introducednew products at Surfaces thataim to help strengthen brandrecognition in consumers andmake it easier for dealers to bet-ter identify products in a saturat-ed market Case in point isArmstrong which is looking toleverage its Diamond 10 technol-

ogy to create brand awarenesswith consumers ldquoWersquore pushingour Diamond 10 technologywhich is a differentiating factorto bring consumers into retailersrsquostoresrdquo said Morgan Hafer prod-uct manager for Alterna ldquoItrsquosbeing used in shows on HGTV

and throughout social media to[drive] brand awarenessrdquo

EarthWerks is also using itsbranding to make it easier forretailers to distinguish betweendifferent sizes of products Thecompany showed Noble ClassicPlus and Plus XL as well asParkhill and Plus XXL Plus XLand Plus XXL represent thicker

longer versions oftheir respectivelines

ldquoAt EarthWerkswe say style avail-ability and serviceyou can trustrdquo saidLindsey Nisbetstrategic marketingand product devel-opment ldquoOur styleis getting betterevery year withrespect to servicewe have some of thebest distributionrdquo

Quick-Step andIVC are also makingit easier to identifytheir resilient prod-ucts Quick-Step hasupdated the prod-ucts it sells to focusless on the productlines and more onits attributes Thecompany is nowusing the term

ldquoEnduraTEKrdquo for its resilientproducts ldquoWe consider resilientas the entry into hard surfacerdquosaid Jason Sims senior brandmanager Mohawk IndustriesldquoAll of our flexible product iscalled EnduraTEK As you tradeup the rigid offerings are called

EnduraTEK UltrardquoQuick-Step is doing its best

to provide distributors with bet-ter and best offerings within theresilient category ldquoWhat wersquorefeaturing this year is the abilityfor them to trade up within thecategory from flexible to rigidrdquoSims said ldquoWe are also offeringfor the first time flexible LVT tilethat has a hidden grout line Youcan mix them and it quicklyinstalls These are all availableon one display as wellrdquo

IVC is updating its brand toreflect the resilient category Thecompany showed its new Arteraand Millright lines both sheetvinyl as well as Urbanne its newflexible tiles Sims explained thatthe word ldquoresilientrdquo not onlydescribes the category but alsohighlights what the segment canultimately provide consumersldquoWe have positioned our brandas uncompromised design forlife We bring a different designelement to everything we dordquo

While some companies arepromoting various productnames to drive brand recogni-tion others are looking to betterleverage their own corporateidentities DuChacircteau primarilyknown for its innovations inhardwood for flooring and wallapplications has expanded itsreach to include luxury vinylplank products ldquoWe conductedextensive research with design-ers architects contractors andhomeowners to see where theywanted to go with more luxuri-ous and distinctive flooringdesignsrdquo said Misael Tagle CEOand co-founder of DuChacircteau

Engineered Floors has made a strong entry into the rigidcore world with Revotec according to Ana Torrence

product manager hard surfaces

Innovations aim to add simplicity to the buying By Lindsay Baillie

Piet Dossche knows a winner whenhe creates one Five years agodespite serious doubts from somewell-respected retail executivesthe USFloorsrsquo founder and presi-dent launched COREtec and pre-dicted success He got itmdashinspades helping to launch a cate-gory that has surpassed $1 billionin sales

ldquoPeople said it wasnrsquot going toworkrdquo he recalled of COREtec ldquoIwas saying lsquoGood keep thinkinglike thatrsquordquo COREtec was a runawayhit and helped launch the break-out success of the LVT sub-seg-ment

Dossche has similar expecta-tions for COREtec Stone which thecompany showed at Surfaces 2018as an alternative to ceramic andporcelain tile The productmdashacompositeSPC engineered tilemdashisexpected to be ready for market in

the second half of 2018 ldquoThis isgoing to be hugerdquo Dossche said ldquoItis going to bring solutions to theceramic tile categoryrdquo

Ceramic tile is a growing busi-ness but it has issues For startersceramic tile is heavy and may notbe appropriate for certain installa-

tions it is cold and can crack orbreak easily it is a time-consum-ing installation process and it isalso an expensive installation withspecial tools needed critics saySometimes the cost of the instal-lation is more than the materialsIt is also messy and expensive toremove ceramic or porcelain tile

Enter COREtec Stone which islighter warmer cheaper and easi-er to install with no grout neededeasier to remove and more com-fortable to walk on because of itsattached cork backing Plus itdoesnrsquot break

Dossche who believes thissegment could grow to be a $500million business in a few years isoptimistic ldquoIf you bring to marketa good-looking product that solvesissues you have a winnerComposite weatherproof flooringwill be the high double-digitgrowth engine in hard surfaces forthe next five years

COREtec Stone The next big thing

Piet Dossche USFloors founder and president with the COREtec Stone display

By Ken Ryan

resilientS U R FAC E S C OV E R A G E

Product story is alsokey to Beauflorrsquos newintroductions Blacktexand Boardwalk The for-mer is a roll product thatcan also be merchan-dised with boards andmarketed as either asheet vinyl or LVT prod-uct The textile backingprovides users withsome of the benefits and featuresof LVT Meanwhile Boardwalk isa rigid click loose-lay product

fcnews February 512 2018 I 23

Introducing a breath of fresh air in hardwood

ooringItrsquos a whole new brand and approach to a cleaner greener lifestyle and a healthier happier home from the oor up

For 2018 we proudlypresent the new

9 collections in 5 species across 40 luxurious styles ndash and all with ZERObullADDreg

formaldehyde

Beautiful oors Better air quality And certi ed for peace-of- mind to sell with complete con dence

Only from the newLIFECOREreg Flooring Products brand

Visit us atLIFECORE ooringcom

Because you live your life on your oorsreg

From The Arden Hickory Collection Always AR127AL

ldquoThe craftsmanship and fashion-forward designs of our new col-lections meet their needsrdquo

The manufacturerrsquos newAtelier Seriesrsquo Sovereign editionfeatures the sought-after signa-ture aesthetic of European-styleexclusive designs in a glue-downvinyl plank Then therersquos theVinyl Deluxe Grand collectionwith LuxCor technology fol-lowed by the Vinyl DeluxeClassic collection Rounding outthe offering is the AmericanGuild collection which featuresclassic colors and a contempo-rary American design aestheticwith the realistic look and feel ofwood and stone

Congoleum is looking to takebranding a step further with thecreation of CLEO Homemdasha sep-arate standalone brand that fea-tures healthy and environmen-tally conscious flooringAccording to Kurt Denmanchief marketing officer and exec-utive vice president of salesCLEO Home is intended to helpconsumers who might be strug-gling with design confidence

ldquoWe wanted to create some-thing from a designer standpointthat really appealed to the con-sumer We have great brandrecognition with Congoleumwith our legacy products Thisnew foray into the marketplaceis a great way to connect withthe next generationrdquo

CLEO breaks down into threedifferent layers The base is 85limestone and the other 15 is abinder that is not made withPVC The top layer is digitalimaging with a high-performancecoating ldquoWhen you get rid ofPVC you get rid of plasticizersphthalates and all the things thatare perceived as negative words inthe industryrdquo Denman explained(Incidentally Congoleum washonored for a Best of Surfacesaward in sustainability for CLEOHome) ldquoThis product is 100manufactured in the US so

wersquore not relying on print filmsshipped from Chinardquo

A compelling story Manufacturers are not onlydeveloping unique product sto-ries to help differentiate offer-ings they are ultimately provid-ing retailers with product educa-tion and strong brands Mohawkfor example has updated its cam-paign for SolidTech to play up theproductrsquos resistance to hurri-canes As Duke explained ldquoWehave a good story from a builderin Dallas who put SolidTech inone of his model homes after the

hurricane hit the dealerwas able to salvage thefloor in the model homeclean it up and reinstall it withoutany problemsrdquo

Armstrong has developed itsown story for its Alterna plankproductmdashan engineered tile nowavailable in a 6 x 36 plank formatldquoWe call it Alterna because it is analternative to ceramic and tilerdquoHafer explained ldquoThe storybehind engineered tile is its moredurable and comfortable to liveon and easier to install than realtile Alterna plank also featuresour Diamond 10 technologyrdquo

with an attached pad ldquoOur Blacktex sheet product

Congoleumrsquos CLEO Home launched atSurfaces as a standalone designer brand

and selling process

EarthWerksrsquo Plus XL and PlusXXL represent its new

thicker longer products

Continued on page 24

Product story is alsokey to Beauflorrsquos newintroductions Blacktexand Boardwalk The for-mer is a roll product thatcan also be merchan-dised with boards andmarketed as either asheet vinyl or LVT prod-uct The textile backingprovides users withsome of the benefits and featuresof LVT Meanwhile Boardwalk isa rigid click loose-lay product

fcnews February 512 2018 I 23

Introducing a breath of fresh air in hardwood

ooringItrsquos a whole new brand and approach to a cleaner greener lifestyle and a healthier happier home from the oor up

For 2018 we proudlypresent the new

9 collections in 5 species across 40 luxurious styles ndash and all with ZERObullADDreg

formaldehyde

Beautiful oors Better air quality And certi ed for peace-of- mind to sell with complete con dence

Only from the newLIFECOREreg Flooring Products brand

Visit us atLIFECORE ooringcom

Because you live your life on your oorsreg

From The Arden Hickory Collection Always AR127AL

ldquoThe craftsmanship and fashion-forward designs of our new col-lections meet their needsrdquo

The manufacturerrsquos newAtelier Seriesrsquo Sovereign editionfeatures the sought-after signa-ture aesthetic of European-styleexclusive designs in a glue-downvinyl plank Then therersquos theVinyl Deluxe Grand collectionwith LuxCor technology fol-lowed by the Vinyl DeluxeClassic collection Rounding outthe offering is the AmericanGuild collection which featuresclassic colors and a contempo-rary American design aestheticwith the realistic look and feel ofwood and stone

Congoleum is looking to takebranding a step further with thecreation of CLEO Homemdasha sep-arate standalone brand that fea-tures healthy and environmen-tally conscious flooringAccording to Kurt Denmanchief marketing officer and exec-utive vice president of salesCLEO Home is intended to helpconsumers who might be strug-gling with design confidence

ldquoWe wanted to create some-thing from a designer standpointthat really appealed to the con-sumer We have great brandrecognition with Congoleumwith our legacy products Thisnew foray into the marketplaceis a great way to connect withthe next generationrdquo

CLEO breaks down into threedifferent layers The base is 85limestone and the other 15 is abinder that is not made withPVC The top layer is digitalimaging with a high-performancecoating ldquoWhen you get rid ofPVC you get rid of plasticizersphthalates and all the things thatare perceived as negative words inthe industryrdquo Denman explained(Incidentally Congoleum washonored for a Best of Surfacesaward in sustainability for CLEOHome) ldquoThis product is 100manufactured in the US so

wersquore not relying on print filmsshipped from Chinardquo

A compelling story Manufacturers are not onlydeveloping unique product sto-ries to help differentiate offer-ings they are ultimately provid-ing retailers with product educa-tion and strong brands Mohawkfor example has updated its cam-paign for SolidTech to play up theproductrsquos resistance to hurri-canes As Duke explained ldquoWehave a good story from a builderin Dallas who put SolidTech inone of his model homes after the

hurricane hit the dealerwas able to salvage thefloor in the model homeclean it up and reinstall it withoutany problemsrdquo

Armstrong has developed itsown story for its Alterna plankproductmdashan engineered tile nowavailable in a 6 x 36 plank formatldquoWe call it Alterna because it is analternative to ceramic and tilerdquoHafer explained ldquoThe storybehind engineered tile is its moredurable and comfortable to liveon and easier to install than realtile Alterna plank also featuresour Diamond 10 technologyrdquo

with an attached pad ldquoOur Blacktex sheet product

Congoleumrsquos CLEO Home launched atSurfaces as a standalone designer brand

and selling process

EarthWerksrsquo Plus XL and PlusXXL represent its new

thicker longer products

Continued on page 24

24 I fcnews

is really the original waterproofproductrdquo said Johnny Barnesgeneral manager ldquoIf you look atthe top layer you can achievesome of the visuals with this linethat you canrsquot necessarily achievewith the WPC productsrdquo

Boardwalk initially availablein 14 SKUs is equally rich interms of aesthetics ldquoWehave several dimensionsand three SKUs that arerandom widthrdquo said NickBrown vice president ofsales North AmericaldquoThere are all these differ-ent products within the col-lection but theyrsquore all at thesame price pointrdquo

Raskin IndustriesrsquoCeramix the companyrsquosbuilt-in-grout loose-layLVT has its own storymdashone built on ease of installa-tion According to the man-ufacturer the offeringallows retailers to sell agrouted tile look withoutthe headache of a typical tileinstallation Whatrsquos moreCeramix which made its officialdebut at Surfaces 2017 earned aBest of Surfaces award for inno-vation at this yearrsquos event

Michael Raskin founder andpresident said the realistic lookof the grout is a difference makerldquoYou canrsquot tell it is not ceramicand with labor as a big issue inthe marketmdashthe labor is some-times two to three times morethan the productmdashthis can be putin with a perimeter install Itrsquosalso warmer slip resistant anddoesnrsquot shatterrdquo

Novalis continues to push itsenvironmentally friendly prod-ucts with the development ofSerenbe a SPC product boastinghigh-density core technologyNovaShield coating and anattached pad ldquoSerenbe is ultra-realisticrdquo said Steven Erlich vicepresident of sales and marketingldquoThere are ceramic planks andherringbone patterns to name afew In addition all of our prod-ucts are pressed with a rollededge or groutable edgerdquo

Nox US highlighted its newGenesis technology at SurfacesThe new line the company saidcreates a bridge between WPCand SPC products ldquoldquoWPC isgrowing for everyone but thereare challenges with indentationand brittlenessrdquo said EricErickson senior vice presidentsales and marketing NorthAmerica ldquoAlso everyone is chas-ing SPC but itrsquos really heavy andstiff What wersquove been able to dois develop new technology in ourcore so that it is a little less denseand as you move up layers itbecomes denser like a rigid prod-

uct This is an 8mm product andit feels the same weight of WPCbut has the performance of rigidrdquo

Mills flood the arenaEngineered Floors previously acarpet-only company officiallydebuted Revotec a high-densityrigid-core floating floor featuringtile visuals with a realistic groutline embedded and Triumph aclick floating floor that employs

high-density core technology forimproved dimensional stabilityand better indentation resistanceldquoOur plan is to be a player in thissegmentrdquo said Brandon Kerseybrand manager for Main Streetcommercial and hard surfaceldquoWe are transitioning to the newversion of rigid core and wethink Revotec can take us toanother levelrdquo

The acquisition of Beaulieursquosassets helped EF enter hard sur-faces since the former companywas already in the WPC spaceAna Torrence product managerhard surfaces for EF said Revoteclooks like real grouted tile Shecited other advantages ldquoItrsquos areally fast install It is a betteralternative than stone or ceramicin terms of installation timerdquo

A year after entering the LVTcategory Phenix Flooring is dou-bling its assortment of PetProtectLVT rigid core click and loose layofferings In 2018 Phenix willmarket two display fixtures thatblend hard and soft surfaces Thefixtures were consolidated intosmaller footprints to providedesign flexibility and allow everySKU to be merchandised differ-ently ldquoWersquore a year into hard sur-faces and I can tell you we arecommitted to itrdquo said MarkClayton president and CEO

Marquis Industries made itsmark 10 years ago as a mid-sizedmill that ventured into LVT Thecompany did not enter the cate-gory for the sake of it its execu-tives traveled the globe extensive-ly to source the right raw materi-als and ensure quality control wasfollowed along the way ldquoWhenyou spend half a million bucks onan opening order you better be

rightrdquo said Larry Heckman CEOldquoIf you donrsquot anticipate it correct-ly you can be out of stock three tofour months and you never getcaught up We took it seriouslyrdquo

Marquisrsquo 2018 offeringsinclude two 5-foot-long x 9-inchwide rigid core linesmdashWhispering Pines and BiltmoreClassicmdashwith a 20-mil wearlayer The Dalton-based companyopened a new building in Georgia

devoted entirely to hardsurfaces It also has an exist-ing West Coast distributioncenter to service cus-tomers The mill still main-tains a two-thirds to one-thirds split in favor of car-pet

The Dixie Group beganas a yarn company thattransitioned into a carpetmanufacturer that is trans-forming into an all-surfacesuppliermdashall the whiledoing it in a way that bestrepresents the DixieMasland and Fabricabrands In 2017 Dixie wasone of two companies

(Phenix was the other) licensedto sell Stainmaster PetProtectLVT products The launchexceeded expectations and nowDixie and Masland are comingout with eight new styles each forhigh performance core includingwood planks with a paintedbeveled edge

ldquoA lot of our good customerswere moving with the marketinto hard surface categories likeluxury vinyl and we felt like wehad an opportunity to enter thatmarket and could be relevantrdquosaid TM Nuckols president ofthe residential division the DixieGroup ldquoWe tried to take the rightapproach from a distributionstandpoint to create a profitopportunity for our partnersrdquo

Southwind is another tradi-tional carpet company that madethe leap when LVT got hot Thecompany unveiled AuthenticTile an SPC core product thathas the feel of ceramic tile alongwith the heft (each 8-piece car-ton weighs 40 lbs) ldquoIt has beenvery well received at the showrdquosaid Tim Gilmore Southeastregional vice president ldquoSeveralbig dealers are taking it onrdquo

Wellmade Flooring is pushingits Opti-Wood Flooring line withHydri-HDPC technology and thePowerShield moisture protectionsystem which company officialssay is the difference makerWellmade showed 16 SKUs inpoplar eucalyptus hickory oakand bamboo Steve Wagnerdirector of sales and marketingdoes not believe the LVTWPCSPC market is saturated just yetldquoI think there is a home for every-body who can come to marketwith different formulasrdquo

Mohawk SolidTechrsquos new product storytouts resistance to hurricane damage

resilient

Prior to leaving the showZack asked me tons of questionsabout flooring business andwhether I felt we made the rightdecision by being in the flooringbusiness To that I repliedldquoAbsolutelyrdquo We all have thingswe wish we could change how-ever the path unknown may nothave been any brighter

In the wake of a youngFlorida man winning the $450million Mega Millions lotteryZack asked me one final ques-tion ldquoWhat if you won the lot-tery dad What would you dordquoI thought for a moment and toldhim I would give back to theindustry that got me to where Iam now by helping to fix thegreatest issue we will face in the

future I would fund and

build a state-of-the-arttraining facility for floor-ing installation teams tolearn this valuable tradeBased on their perform-ance I would open it upto anyone free of chargein hopes of turningthousands of young menand women into profes-sional tradespeople

rivaling the best electriciansplumbers and HVAC contractorswith further hopes of them train-ing their sons and daughters todo the same In addition tolearning the trade itself wewould teach them the basicpremise of business finance andprofit and loss while providingsystems for them to retain bene-fits and create a retirement planfor their families

What if as an industry werecognized that if we all cametogether in a small way with asimilar purpose then we wouldhave the resources necessary toaccomplish this goal in our life-time Being the odds of winningthe Mega Millions are about onein 259 million there is always achance

retailer2retailer

SCOTTPERRON

When odds are againstyou take a chance

In January my son Zacharywho is now 17 and I took ourfirst father-son trip to an

industry trade show for the SEFlooring Market in Atlanta As ayoung man Zack was intermit-tently around during my corpo-rate days in Kansas City but hehad never been to a vendor showof any size

During our 60-hour jauntthat included drive time to andfrom Atlanta we had time to talkabout life business and thefuture I look forward to takingthat same type of trip with mydaughter Morgan in the not-too-distant future Interestinglyenough I thought back to mydad taking me to Atlanta back inthe early rsquo80s when we attendedthe show at the AtlantaMerchandise Mart

We walked the floor andworked several prearrangedmeetings with our vendors fromthe largest manufacturers to thesmallest distributors As Iwatched Zack interact with thevendors it occurred to me thathe had been listening to much of

what I had said over these lastseveral years Even more enlight-ening for him was his mom anddad were in a really big industrythat provides profitable productsand services to the masses andthose numbers and possibilitiesbegan to become very real

Sally and I made a rule yearsago that we would never pushour children into the family busi-ness In addition we made itclear they both needed to attendand finish college and also workfor another company or two forat least a year before they wereallowed to come on board Thisway they would clearly under-stand what others expected fromthem so they could grow toexpect the same or more fromthemselves

WHAT IF AS AN INDUSTRY WE

RECOGNIZED THAT IF WE ALL CAME

TOGETHER IN A SMALL WAY WITH A

SIMILAR PURPOSE THEN WE WOULD

HAVE THE RESOURCES NECESSARY

TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL IN OUR

LIFETIME

Scott Perron is the president of 24-7 Floors and Floor4Pros based in Sarasota Fla He is also an industry trainer and motivational speaker He can be reached at scott24-7floorscom or 8602501733

Continued from page 23Innovations

resilientS U R FAC E S C OV E R A G E