Article Number : 2022 |
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| Date | 5/30/2007 7:45:23 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=2022 |
| Abstract | By Louis Iannaco While the residential side of the flooring business continues to sag, the commercial segment has been maintaining its double-digit growth of the past 18 months... |
| Article | By Louis Iannaco While the residential side of the flooring business continues to sag, the commercial segment has been maintaining its double-digit growth of the past 18 months. Contributing to this growth has been the modular tile sector, which offers long-term value, minimal waste, ease of installation and selective replacement. Modular tile is one of Shaw Industries’ fastest growing product segments. “Besides being attractive, easy-to-store and causing minimal disruption during replacement,” noted Steve Sieracki, Shaw’s director of product marketing, “carpet tiles are sustainable solutions. They are an integral part of the Shaw Green Edge.” Main Street tile, like Shaw’s commercial tile, will be constructed of EcoWorx backing and EcoSolution Q nylon. Shaw has created a program around EcoWorx with Commercial Tile Express folders holding three products priced in a good-better-best structure. Capital III/Consultant is a core value product with 12 hues in a 24-inch tile. High Voltage is a basketweave pattern with a 1/10-gauge textured loop in 24 ounces. It’s made of EcoSolution Q nylon with 25% recycled content and is available in 12 colors. Work•Life, a popular tile collection from Shaw Contract Group, has three new patterns: Focus, Embrace and Escape. Work•Life comes with Shaw’s Environmental Guarantee, meaning the group pledges to pick up EcoWorx at the end of its life at no charge to the customer and recycle it into more EcoWorx backing. Bentley Prince Street Illuminaire, new from Bentley Prince Street, is available in broadloom or Modloom 18-inch carpet tile, bringing options to multi-functional areas within a program. In Illuminaire, Bentley Prince Street has combined Antron’s Brilliance yarns with its high-luster Glimmer yarns, contrasting matte against shimmer. This combination creates a depth and variation that catches the light to sparkle and adds brightness with multiple dye levels. These yarns, combined with Antron Legacy 6,6 nylon, continue the tradition of superior resistance to crushing, matting and wear. Illuminaire is efficient in its manufacture and allows for low minimums to custom colors, only 50 square yards. In addition, Illuminaire uses Bentley Prince Street’s new post-consumer recycled High Performance PC backing, engineered with a more tightly woven primary and secondary backing for better stability and straighter patterns. Mannington Mannington Commercial recently introduced Infinity RE, a unique backing for modular carpet. Mannington has diverted two of the largest construction waste streams from landfills and incorporated them into new product. The Infinity RE carpet tile backing utilizes both post-consumer drywall and post-consumer carpet—something unique to the company and industry. The drywall is reclaimed from regional construction sites and processed so the gypsum it contains replaces some of the other raw materials in the product. “It’s another way Mannington demonstrates its commitment to becoming a net user of waste,” said Dave Kitts, vice president, environment. Net user of waste refers to Mannington’s commitment to bringing in and re-utilizing more waste than it sends to landfill. Milliken Milliken Carpet at NeoCon will unveil the Plan A collection, an extension of its exclusive Convergence technology. With Plan A, Milliken offers the A&D community six new patterns for coordinated looks in virtually any commercial environment. “When you have Milliken’s Plan A, you don’t need a plan B,” said Kaye Gosline, creative director. “Using these six patterns, a designer can create floorscapes for clients who are ready for a little color and whimsy, as well as providing rich and inviting options for clients who prefer something more subdued. It’s a modular collection, so you can easily include multiple patterns in your design and know they’ll look great together.” ES (Engineered for Sustainability) cushion backing ensures underfoot comfort and extended appearance retention as well as 35% recycled content. As with all Milliken products, Plan A is entirely PVC-free. All Plan A carpets are 100% sustainable and can be renewed through Milliken’s Earth Square process, which reclaims carpet and renews it for another lifetime of use. Durkan Durkan Commercial is moving into uncharted design territory with Mind/Body/ Soul. This carpet collection, developed in collaboration with CleverSpin, offers design possibilities that are not only aesthetically appealing but also eco-friendly. All modular styles will feature Mohawk’s new PVC-free Encycle backing system. “When we set out to develop this collection we saw a styling void in modular carpeting,” said Allen Parker, senior vice president of fashion brands, The Mohawk Group. “Mind/Body/ Soul answers the market’s need for unique multi-layered modular carpets, creating floors with beautiful, fresh, organic and non-directional patterns in medium to large scales.” Mind/Body/Soul relies on computer art and digital images that have been translated, deconstructed, manipulated and massaged to create dimensional interest, layering, shading and depth with intriguing effects. The patterns are organic, influenced by body and urban surfaces such as tattoos and graffiti. “We’ve tested the limits of interpreting computer graphics into flooring artistry,” said Jackie Dettmar, vice president of product development and design, The Mohawk Group. “Mind/Body/ Soul offers hip, cutting-edge patterns in a long-lasting construction.” |