Tapestry Maple is part of Wilsonart’s new Styles Classic Collection.

By Matthew Spieler
Las Vegas—Sales of laminate flooring in 2006 may not have reached the spectacular growth rates of years past, but at 8% they still outpaced the rest of the industry. One of the main contributors for the category’s continued appeal is how each year products look and feel more like the real thing—whether it is the unique grain of an exotic wood or an intricate pattern found in porcelain.

This was clearly the case at Surfaces 2007 as laminate booths were filled with goods resembling wood and tile. At Wilsonart Flooring, the company “has invested time and resources in the development of products that feel as good as they look,” noted Curt Thompson, president. The 25 products launched at the show, including a new design family, Styles Classic Collection, “were created with the idea there are two things that influence a consumer’s final decision on flooring: the way it looks and the way it feels.”

He noted the new designs take advantage of Wilsonart’s latest surfacing innovations: grain-matched texture that “brings out the distinctive beauty of the natural wood grain using a mirror-image embossing technique” and a natural slate texture that “captures the subtle clefts and surface variations found in natural stone.”

Along with the new Styles collection, Wilsonart’s highest-end Red Label Collection is undergoing a significant facelift in 2007. With 26 designs in nearly every format, finish and texture that Wilsonart brings to market, Red Label has become the company’s second broadest offering.

Paul DeCock, CEO of Quick•Step, said its 2007 products help poise the company “to reinvent the very definition of laminate flooring. The introductions demonstrate how artful design, superior craftsmanship and exquisite details are combining to provide an unprecedented flooring experience for the most discerning consumers.”

Two additions to Quick• Step’s popular Country range, Malaysian Merbau and Worn Oak, exemplify the mill’s proprietary Contour Artisanal technique, which creates recessed edges on all sides of the plank, similar to authentic handscraped floors. Both products take advantage of the “wider is better” trend and come in an extra-wide 6-inch plank.

To further illustrate the company’s technological advancements, Quick•Step has come out with a range of exotic species featuring some of the world’s rarest woods, such as Afzelia Doussie, which has a look similar to teak, and Afromosia, a hard-to-find West African wood.

Another company seeking leadership is Alloc. Claes Wennerth, president, noted, “We’ve always put an emphasis on fashion, but now we want to be a leader, not a follower.”

While the company’s wood and tile looks are already “extremely convincing,” he said, “it’s more than just the authenticity of our finishes. Our plank configurations, embossing, beveling and handscraping really bring style.”

As an example, Wennerth pointed to Alloc’s tile category and the two new slate looks it was launching at Surfaces: Solana and Alicante. Featuring random, embossed-in-register design on a 16-inch tile, these products are “true representations of natural slate. They are also made with the company’s Joint Guard technology, which replicates the appearance of real grout lines.”

When it came to creating realistic tiles and grouts, Tim Tipton, director of North American sales for Formica Flooring, said, “Our slate and travertine designs are taken from actual photographs of the stone and grout, providing a more realistic finished floor. Our grout lines are much narrower, which is reflective of natural tile installations.”

He called out the new Sienna tile collection as an example. Containing eight slate and travertine designs, the collection features four tile patterns with highlighted grout lines and natural finished textures.

Sienna was one of five collections debuted under the new Formica label, which is now under the auspices of Kronotex USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of KronoGroup Switzerland, one of the world’s largest and fully integrated laminate manufacturers in the world. “With the resources we have in Kronotex, our company can manufacture as good if not better than anyone,” said Ken Peden, COO.

While the Formica’s side of the Kronotex booth at Surfaces showcased high-end products to give specialty dealers something from which to differentiate themselves, the other side featured “high-quality laminate flooring at budget-friendly prices,” Peden said, noting the technology used in the Kronotex branded goods is the same it used when producing product under private-label agreements with other manufacturers. “We’ve now made that same quality and style available directly for dealers in three collections: Yorkshire, Ashebrooke and Herrington.”

Keeping pace is Moderna by BHK, which had its most aggressive launch at Surfaces with more than two dozen colors and patterns. One of the more significant was in its Ceramico planked tile line, which saw the addition of four stone patterns: Padua, Triana, Salerno and Veneto. “Consumers are seeking new ways to update their homes—beautifully, inexpensively and easily,” said William Byrne, BHK’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The new Ceramico patterns provide for the look and feel of quality tile and are the perfect complement to kitchens and foyers as well as family and sunrooms.”

Not to be outdone, Faus Group showed its commitment to the specialty retail segment with the continued expansion of its Fausfloor line with numerous additions to its Classic American and Really Exotic collections. Available only to specialty dealers, Faus-floor takes advantage of the company’s world famous and patented surfacing technology to manufacture products “designed to meet consumer demands at the highest of levels,” said Juan Flores, president.

Two of the company’s latest innovations—UltraClarity and DualFinish—were displayed in the Really Exotic Collection, which features species such as Tigerwood, Merbau, Mahogany, Wenge and Walnut. Flores said UltraClarity gives a clean, clear look at the actual design, while DualFinish, allows the mill to mix two types of gloss levels on a single plank to create a unique, yet stylish effect.