Boca Raton, Fla.—With more than 320 dealers now in the fold, many of Mohawk Industries’ Floorscapes members gathered last month for the program’s 2nd annual convention here at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. With fashion and design being emphasized, attendees got a chance to see Mohawk’s area rug offerings, broadloom products, cleaning solutions and national advertising and merchandising programs.

Despite so many concerns about the recent state of the economy, most at the convention expressed optimism about business for the future. “The economy always goes through cycles of expansion and contraction,” said Jeff Lorberbaum, Mohawk’s president and CEO. “Most recessions of the past have lasted from six to nine months. And this one is not expected to be much different. “Economic forecasters say the economy should bottom out during the first quarter of 2002,” he added, “and should accelerate for the rest of the year.” “The flooring industry led the way into the recession and we’re leading the way out,” said Denny Vickory of American Carpet Sales in Pensacola, Fla. “As far as we are concerned, we’re coming out of it now.”

Something else most people also had a good feeling about at the show was the new Forever Fresh collection featuring Odor-Eater technology for odor resistance as well as Mohawk’s Stain Guard. “It’s the first carpet to provide active odor-destroying elements,” said Steve Nosek, Mohawk’s director of advertising and marketing. Manny Llerena, vice president of retail marketing for Mohawk said, Forever Fresh is “a revolutionary product. We see it as being a true brand and plan to develop it as such, much the same as one would view DuPont Stainmaster. Obviously, we have a long way to go before we reach that level, but we feel Forever Fresh can and will become another household brand name.” “The whole concept of Forever Fresh and the key benefits and features of it that dealers can bring forth to the consumer was extremely well received at this convention,” said Mark Olson, Mohawk’s marketing manager. “I think it’s just a matter of people being as creative as possible in figuring out how they can place these products on the floor and then it can grow from there.” “It’s really a recognized need,” said George Miriello, merchandising manager, residential marketing of Forever Fresh. “The industry really hasn’t effectly addressed it up to this point. It will help greatly with pet odors and stains.”

Other highlights of the show was the introduction of FloorCare Essentials, a proprietary cleaning products program developed through a partnership between 3M and Bissell, as well as a trio of proprietary car pet offerings—Wild at Heart, True Grace and Stapleton.

A Floorscapes merchandising program was also launched which featured a Fashion Statement Shop. “The FloorCare system has impressed me the most,” said Vickory. “Forever Fresh is a great idea but I would like a little bit more information on how exactly it is going to work.” Mike Junkins of Harris Carpets in Anderson, S.C., said he was impressed with Mohawk’s area rug collection, which included pieces by artist Thomas Kincaid. “We are thinking about taking on area rugs. We don’t have that in our business right now. I definitely think rugs can become a growing part of our business.” His wife, Essie, commenting on Mohawk’s recent acquisition of Dal-Tile, said, “It ought to mean a lot to Mohawk. Dal-Tile has a really good ceramic tile line. I’m excited about it. We do a lot of ceramic business but haven’t had any of Dal-Tile’s samples in our store. So we are excited Mohawk is doing this.” “We have new opportunities of revenue,” said Mike Riley of Dalley Carpet in Livonia, Mich., “new things that are proprietary to Mohawk and/or to Floorscapes dealers. I think Forever Fresh is a great concept. It’s what we need. We need to be different. We need to have our own market.”

Ron Mullins of Dove Flooring in Edwardsville, Ill., was happy not only with the convention but with his decision to become a Floor-scapes dealer. “The service Mohawk gives as a flooring provider is what is making it advantageous for dealers to get involved with it. We joined up a little more than a year ago. Mohawk worked on us for over a year. I’ve been in flooring for 30 years. “I was slow to take on the program because I had been in a program that didn’t work for us,” he explained, “but this is great. Mohawk has done everything it said it would do.” “I’m interested in the Forever Fresh,” said Lori Statz of Nonn’s Flooring in Middleton, Wis. “I think that’s a great idea. I’m very interested in it. Many people have pets nowadays, especially in our area. This’ll be a good thing.” Like Junkins, Statz is also interested in Mohawk’s area rug collection. “We have been waiting for Mohawk to bring its area rugs to retailers and, being a Floorscapes dealer, wanted to include Mohawk’s area rugs in our package. So, already being an area rug dealer it certainly works out well for us that Mohawk has decided to join the rug business too.” —Louis Iannaco