Wilmington, Del.— Invista, formerly DuPont Textile & Interiors ( FCNews, Sept. 15/22), has selected Mannington Mills to manufacture its new line of Stainmaster resilient flooring. The selection is in line with Invista’s initiative to expand the Stainmaster brand into additional home interior products such as hard surface flooring. “This innovative product offering includes three new lines, comprised of totally original patterns and colors that reflect the needs of today’s consumers,” said Gary Johnston, Stainmaster brand manager.

“What Stainmaster does is, it gives the vinyl floor more resistance toward those more difficult stains like oil and tar that might be tracked in from the garage, magic marker type ink—those types of stains.” “Mannington is a leader in the resilient flooring category and we look forward to launching a resilient flooring that delivers on the Stainmaster brand promise of beauty that lasts,” said Steve Griffith, vice president of North American Residential Flooring, Stainmaster carpet. “The Stainmaster brand has come to represent quality, beauty and performance and we feel this resilient flooring offer lives up to that heritage.” “We are excited to be aligned with the Stainmaster brand in this initiative,” said Kim Holm, Mannington’s president of resilient business.

“Stainmaster is a known and trusted brand, and we are confident it will be as successful in hard surface flooring as it has been elsewhere.” “Our independent research indicates the Stainmaster brand increases the purchase intent by 80%,” said David Sheehan, Mannington’s director of resilient business. “This is a very powerful brand.” The line will be planned using a good/better/best selling structure, consistent with the Stainmaster carpet merchandising system, and will feature an initial offering of 60 “exciting new SKUs,” said Sheehan. “These designs are exclusive to Stainmaster. Within the next 18 months, the program will expand to 100 SKUs.”

The goal of this type of selling system is to help make it easy for salespeople to offer trade-ups, he noted, and easy for consumers to understand the benefits of each level and select the product that is right for them. “This does not change our agreement with DuPont in regard to Teflon,” said Sheehan. “These are two separate agreements. We’re receiving great feedback from consumers and dealers on Mannington wood, laminate and resilient with Teflon. Stainmaster resilient is the first extension of this powerful brand into hard surfaces and we’re very excited to be part of this program. “There will not be a floor with both Stainmaster and Teflon,” he explained. “These are separate and distinct brands. Similar to Teflon, Stainmaster resilient will look new longer compared to traditional vinyl floors. Additionally, this line will live up to the Stainmaster brand promise of quality, beauty and performance.”

“The Teflon offering is unique upon itself,” said Johnston, “and then you have got the Stainmaster brand; both will be in the marketplace together.” “There is a possibility that Stainmaster might be integrated into other hard surfaces, but right now we’re focusing on resilient,” he added. “Marketing of Stainmaster will be a combination effort between Invista and Mannington. There’ll be some in-store merchandising and advertising activity.” Rave Reviews The Stainmaster product line and merchandising fixture were introduced to rave reviews at the recent DuPont Flooring Center convention in Scottsdale, Ariz. “This is such a great program,” said Ron Robinson of Robinson Corp. in Claymont, Del. “I felt like I needed to be first in line to sign up.” Farhad Rashedi of Sully Carpets in Chantilly, Va., added,

“This program has exactly the ‘wow factor’ we’ve been looking for. I love the designs and the unique merchandising system.” “The Stainmaster resilient flooring will really do well and I plan on carrying this flooring for my customers,” said Salem Essis of Essis & Sons Carpet One in Harrisburg, Pa. “What makes me different is the products in my store, and I’m always looking for something different that helps me stand out.” “Stainmaster resilient flooring fits well with my merchandising system and branding,” said Will Osborne of Pierce Floorings in Bozeman, Mont. “I really like this product because it simplifies what can be a complicated buying experience for consumers.” The Stainmaster resilient floor ing program will first be rolled out in DuPont Flooring Centers country-wide in early December. Master Gallery stores and preferred retailers can expect displays and product as early as Jan. 15, 2004. For more information, call Invista at 800/438-7668 or Mannington at 856/935-3000.