By Emily Hooper
Green is once again the dominant trend for this fall’s hardwood lines. Not as in color, but as in environmentally green. Manufacturers are focused on the Lacey Act, CARB guidelines and FSC certification to set market trends as environmental awareness has become a priority for producers across the hardwood industry.

Conservation and reducing the carbon footprint has not sacrificed aesthetics, though. Character lines and exotics are taking precedence as the most sought after visuals in the category and end users aren’t sacrificing looks to the environment. They want both, and this fall manufacturers are meeting those demands.

Armstrong

Fresh from one of the biggest product launches in company, if not industry, history, Armstrong has one of the largest collections of hardwood flooring on the market with 435 SKUs. “Armstrong makes it easy to find the right product, at the right price, to fit any lifestyle with the broadest assortment of striking visuals that focus on the details,” said Shiva Menon, product manager of Armstrong hardwood.

The new hardwood flooring is broken into five main categories: Exotic and Specialty, Hand-sculpted, Distressed, Traditional and Performance, blending old and new trends.

The Exotic and Specialty category utilizes responsibly harvested hardwood that meets design needs for a unique aesthetic. The Hand-sculpted category has three lines that combine older craftsmanship with modern taste. The Distressed category is a growing retail segment and is gaining appeal with homeowners. The Traditional category stems from indigenous species like oak, maple, pecan and cherry. The Performance category is an acrylic impregnated line for extreme durability. ( FCNews, Aug. 17/24).

Looks aren’t all that’s important at Armstrong. All of its wood products are in full compliance with the Lacey Act, and all engineered products follow CARB 2 guidelines. With 90% of its timber sourced from North America, the importation supply chain is held to strict scrutiny and compliance with national and international law is strictly enforced.

Columbia

Columbia’s focus for the fall follows the current market trends, dictated by the economic slump. “With current economic conditions causing a steep decrease in new home construction, we are now seeing the consistent hardwood flooring purchases being made by the replacement/remodel consumers,” said Dewevai Buchanan, vice president of hardwood. He said that 30% of purchases made in the hardwood market today are for character products with features like texture and rusticity.

“The character woods feature planks with unique surface treatments such as hand-sculpted, recovered, weathered, distressed and time-worn looks, as well as details such as natural knots, hammer dents, nail holes, splits and mineral streaks,” Buchanan said.

As the “character wood specialist,” Columbia offers 48 solid and 50 engineered hardwoods, including the Silverton Collection which features natural knots, sapwood and the heartwood of species native to North America. The Amelia Collection’s hand-sculpted plank flooring has well-defined grain and is available in solid and engineered constructions. Columbia’s Beaufort Collection is lightly scraped with filled plugs and patches, similar to the features of recovered wood, and recreates an aged look.

In keeping with the trend for environmentally responsible products, all of Columbia’s solid and engineered hardwood products are compliant with the Lacey Act and CARB 2.

Elegance

Elegance also followed market trends, noting the dominant role exotics have been playing in the market, and with over 50 SKUs it has been meeting those demands of its retailers and consumers. “We have a well rounded line of natural and stained exotics,” said Lukasz Piatek, sales manager. “This means that in a depressed market, we continue to find the business that others are losing.”

To further meet the needs of buyers, Elegance released three lines for a total of 18 new products. “People want Old World elegance with a new twist— hand- scraped, wider planks and more exotics,” Piatek said.

Elegance also fulfills the environmental needs of its customers. In addition to complying with the Lacey Act and CARB 2, it has practiced reforestation for more than a decade. For every tree harvested, three to four others are planted as replacements.

Mirage

Mirage ramped up its existing lines with some new and improved changes for the fall. “In response to the increasing demand for Mirage Lock technology, the mill has added umbria and charcoal colors, in maple and red oak species, with a cashmere or semi-gloss finish,” said Luc Robitaille, vice president of marketing. He added that the cashmere or semi-gloss finish is now available on all 5-inch engineered products.

To meet the demands for exotic hardwood, the World Aroma series recently introduced Bali Coco, made from the Canadian Breza. The new engineered, 35/16- inch boards come in both the semi-gloss and cashmere finish.

An additional response to the exotic trend is the release of Ebony, Tawny and Ruby on Koubari, a species of Brazilian cherry found throughout Central and South America. All three colors are available in 35/16-inch and 5-inch engineered planks with either finish.

Robitaille also discussed the green trend. “Consumers are concerned about products that are not made from responsibly managed forests or not legally harvested. By supplying North American hardwood that complies with the Lacey Act, we at Mirage ensure the quality of wood we provide.”

Mohawk

Revival, Lineage, Rarity and Artiquity lines span the range of Mohawk’s hard surfaces, each accomplishing a different function and design goal for the end user. The Revival line follows more traditional aesthetics, Lineage utilizes a more simplified style, and the Rarity collection combines Old and New World looks. The Artiquity line captures the recent inclination in handscraped and distressed flooring, straying as far as possible from factory-produced visuals.

Mohawk’s wood products feature the Scotchguard Protector Advanced Repel Technology, a finish that embellishes the ease of care and maintenance. “This protection not only prevents catastrophic stains but also makes floors easier to clean and allows floors to look new, longer,” said Nicki Osborn, manager of public relations and advertising. “Flooring with this finish, whether engineered, solid or plank, is nearly impenetrable to the most damaging of elements, including paint and permanent marker.”

In addition to casual upkeep, installation is also an appealing feature with Mohawk’s hard surfaces fall line. “DIY and professional installers alike are benefiting from Mohawk’s expansion of UniClic glueless technology in its hardwood line,” Osborn said.

Glueless floors are just one of the ways in which Mohawk is committed to green efforts. All Mohawk hardwood brands achieved CARB 2 certification long before the full compliance mandate in January of 2010, said Osborn. She added that many of Mohawk’s products have been certified sustainable by the FSC and Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers.

Mullican

Pioneering green standards for the manufacture of both solid and engineered hardwood has earned new distinction for Mullican. With the release of the Green Haven line, Mullican became America’s first hardwood flooring manufacturer to offer a domestic, 100% FSC Pure certified solid product, meaning that all components must come from an FSC-certified forest. The Green Haven line comes in 16 different styles and contributes to LEED certification, making it popular with both designers and builders.

“A lot of people talk about green, but this collection is truly 100% green,” said Brian Greenwell, vice president of sales and marketing. “We are the first to do it. It shows our commitment to the environment by allowing builders, designers, architects and consumers to purchase green.”

Mullican plans to extend that principle to its release of a certified FSC Pure engineered floor this fall, giving buyers the option to go green below grade. It will be available in both 3- and 5-inch widths, in 10 colors with hand sculpting.

USFloors

The manufacturer of unique and sustainable floors has green needs at the forefront of its hardwood line. USFloors launched Navarre Timeless Wood Floors with a pre-installation natural oil finish, Natural E, that penetrates the wood fibers, creating a natural layer of protection and eliminating the need for synthetic or plastic coating. The line is also 100% pure, certified by the FSC.

“FSC certification gives consumers and environmentally-conscious designers and retailers the assurance that wood that is used to make these beautiful oil-finished hardwood floors was grown and harvested in well-managed forests and that environmentally responsible practices were used to produce them,” said Phillipe Erramuzpe, COO of USFloors.

Navarre Timeless Wood Floors are wide plank, natural oil finished, oak floors with engineered tongue-and-groove design. They are available in three widths: 7¼- inch, 10 ¼-inch, 12-inch, and two thicknesses: 5/8-inch, and 13/16-inch. The engineered 13/16-inch thickness has a ¼-inch wear layer, similar to a solid, but offers more stability with the option of gluing down to a concrete slab. Select Navarre products have a 6mm wear layer on the 13/16-inch thickness, making it the thickest wear layer available on an engineered floor, said Erramuzpe.