Article Number : 6700 |
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| Date | 6/14/2011 11:12:45 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=6700 |
| Abstract | By K.J. Quinn It has been said nothing stays the same. One would think an industry where the bestselling color has not changed in 25 years would be as dull as, well, beige, and lack in sophistication... |
| Article | By K.J. Quinn It has been said nothing stays the same. One would think an industry where the bestselling color has not changed in 25 years would be as dull as, well, beige, and lack in sophistication. Not so in carpet, an industry which in 1987 captured approximately 70% share of total flooring sales, featured more than 300 mills and moved a large amount of product through department stores and regional retail chains. It was around this time when Shaw Industries sparked a mill consolidation craze by purchasing WestPoint’s carpet business. Over the next 11 years, Shaw acquired several other carpet mills, transforming it into a $3 billion player. Rival Mohawk Industries embarked on a similar course shortly after going public in 1992. The mill moved swiftly in buying American Rug Craftsmen, Karastan Bigelow, Horizon and Aladdin Mills. It would later buy other textile companies on its way to becoming the second member of the $3 billion club. Beaulieu of America took a similar path in purchasing numerous smaller players to form the industry’s third-largest mill with sales eclipsing $1 billion. Meanwhile, companies such as Dixie Group and Interface increased in size largely through mergers and acquisitions. By 2000, the top five players represented more than 80% of carpet sales and less than 100 mills existed. Style and design advances While you needed a scorecard to track the comings and goings of mills from the 1980s to late 1990s, keeping tabs on style and design trends was just as challenging. The 1980s saw the ascent of solid-color, cut-pile saxonies and the hot accent colors were mauve and gray. Synthetic berbers made their debut while wool berbers were a popular choice for upscale homes. The 1990s brought change in the way consumers viewed carpet as berbers, textures and patterns offered more variety. New yarn twists and styles helped position carpet as a fashionable interior product that linked all decorative elements in a room. By 1997, consumer awareness of the product escalated even further with the launch of an industry-funded national advertising campaign touting the tagline, “Carpet: It just feels better.” The first half of the new millennium saw continued investment by manufacturers to improve style, design and performance. Friezes, nearly nonexistent in the mid-1980s, became popular as did berber-flecked looks. Soft, solid-color nylon berbers began supplanting traditional, multi-color polypropylene-based carpets. The last five years brought technical innovation around filament yarn systems, which led to cleaner, crisper styles. The single biggest innovation in filament yarns during this time, according to David Duncan, senior vice president, Mohawk Flooring, was SmartStrand made with DuPont Sorona. “SmartStrand solved the challenges of both nylon and polyester by providing a next- generation fiber that gave exceptional durability along with permanent, built-in stain protection that never washes or wears off.” Tufting technology and yarn capability have enabled developers to create beautiful patterns and colors, according to Randy Merritt, president, Shaw Industries. “Consumers have never had more choices when it comes to style, design and durability in what are now the softest carpets ever made.” During this time, patterned carpets exploded on the scene, no longer limited to the high end. “They are now available in a wide variety of price points,” said Paul Comiskey, vice president, The Dixie Group, and president of the residential carpet division. “Additionally, we are starting to see the use of various yarns combined with patterning to add more depth to products.” While styling has trended more toward friezes and highly twisted yarns in high pile construction, the last two years has seen a movement to more texture, reported Beaulieu president and CEO Ralph Boe. “There has also been a movement to multi-colored effects in carpet yarns, a little more sophisticated than the multicolored products that existed about 25 years ago.” The growing popularity of hard surfaces has impacted carpet design as well. “We have become more adept at utilizing sophisticated space-dyed colorations and different dyeing yarns to create visual excitement or simulate the appearance of natural materials,” noted Tony Prestipino, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Gulistan Carpet. “Coupling yarn effects with pattern-making machinery, such as LCL, has taken styling to higher levels.” Indeed, technological gains have not only made it faster, cheaper and more efficient to produce, inventory and transport carpet, but enabled mills to improve the product development process. “With today’s technology, we can look at furniture, fabric, clothing—any number of things—as sources of new design,” Dixie’s Comiskey pointed out. “We can use technology to transfer and interpret various elements to come up with new product ideas.” Investments in fiber technology pay off Fiber, the basic raw material used to produce carpet, witnessed its own evolution during the last 25 years. Looking back, perhaps the biggest change occurred in the fall of 1986, when DuPont launched a new stain-resistant technology called Stainmaster. The brand was backed by a $60 million ad campaign. It worked, as Stainmaster quickly grew into a household name. Not to be outdone, other fiber producers joined the fray as Monsanto introduced Wear-Dated Gold Label and Allied launched Anso V Worry-Free. The investment in marketing and promotion by these and other fiber companies is considered the biggest advertising blitz the industry has ever seen. While all this was happening, mills worked behind the scenes to extrude their own fiber as part of an effort to backward integrate their business and control costs and manufacturing. Beaulieu became arguably the first to install an olefin extrusion operation for woven rugs in the mid-1980s. Mills would go on to extrude additional yarns, including nylon and polyester, substantially reducing their reliance on fiber producers. By the early to mid 2000s, there was greater emphasis on softer fibers, driven largely by consumer desire. And while Stainmaster may have been a catalyst in fiber technology, the newcomer, SmartStrand Sorona, designated triexta by the Federal Trade Commission—the only new fiber classification in the last 50 years—is making its mark with retailers and consumers today. “There were other fiber brands that touted ‘performance’ and ‘soft,’ but when SmartStrand Sorona hit the market, it redefined these terms for the industry,” said Mohawk’s Duncan. In addition to SmartStrand, there were other soft fibers from yarn producers such as DuPont (Tactesse), Solutia (DuraSoft) and Honeywell (Caress) as well as private-label versions from mills. These soft fibers—many of which featured fine denier nylon strands to create a cotton-like feel—were used in friezes and textured styles. The technology behind softer fibers reportedly made carpet more appealing and higher performing. “New heat-setting technology has been developed with better controls so the uniformity of filament yarns is enhanced,” observed Shaw’s Merritt. “In addition, the evolution of R2X has also made it easier for our design staff to build more beautiful constructions, knowing we have the soil and stain technology to ensure that even the most critical constructions will perform on the floor.” By 2006, the different types of fiber had dwindled to a select few: nylon BCF, polypropylene BCF, nylon staple, polyester staple and polypropylene staple. But since then, the usage of these fibers has changed dramatically, driven by styling needs and cost considerations. “We have seen a major decline in the use of polypropylene and all staple fibers, both nylon and polyester,” Dixie’s Comiskey said. “Nylon filament continues to be strong and polyester filament has exploded as both are better suited to [meet] today’s styling needs.” The mills report that consumers have developed a preference for more casual and informal looks. The different textures of carpet—LCL patterns, friezes, cut pile berber/flecks and even shags—have lent themselves to use filament yarns. “We are beginning to see more requests for the tighter, more tailored visuals once so in demand and where most staple fiber went,” Shaw’s Merritt said. “But the quality and uniformity of today’s filament fibers, along with the ability to adjust the luster of the fiber, allow us to make even the most critical styles from filament yarn systems.” One of the most dramatic shifts in fiber demand occurred within the last two years, with polyester now accounting for about 25% market share while nylon has seen its portion dwindle to 56%. “This is driven mainly by the economic difference between the purchasing price of nylon resin and polyester resin,” Beaulieu’s Boe pointed out. “Since 2008, the price differential expanded significantly to 50 cents per pound or greater at the same weight.” Changing distribution channels The types of retail outlets where consumers purchase carpet changed dramatically the past 25 years. Once upon a time, a great deal of broadloom was sold by the only national store chain (Color Tile) and regional retail ers such as New York Carpet World (NYCW), Carpetland USA, Carpeteria, Carpet Town and Sandler & Worth. Major department stores like Sears (which at one time was among the top broadloom retailers), Montgomery Ward, JC Penney and Macy’s thrived in selling carpet, which complemented their home furnishings. By 1998, home centers emerged as the leading retailers of floor coverings. The so-called “category killers” increased their selection of special-order carpet and retail sales grew as quickly as new store openings. Specialty retailers remained the primary distribution channel for carpet, although many joined buying groups, whose collective buying power, marketing and merchandising expertise gave them the fire power to compete against the big boxes. Toward the end of the 1990s, many of the large regional dealers, including NYCW, were no longer around. Many department stores that once carried wall-to-wall carpet vacated the category. Since that time, the retail business has become more diversified—not in number of outlets but in ways to go to market. Indeed, shop-at-home retailers such as Empire have emerged as solid alternative distribution channels for carpet. “We see many different models, from the full-service retailer to the outlet-type stores,” Shaw’s Merritt said. “With the growth of the Internet and all forms of social media, the consumer today comes into the process more educated than ever about her flooring purchase.” |