By Louis Iannaco & Matthew Spieler
Las Vegas—If there is one general theme that can be taken from Surfaces 2006 is technology continues to play a huge role in the industry. At this year’s market companies in all categories were showcasing products that could never have been made as little as five years ago if not for the advancements in manufacturing.

Last issue, FCNews began its overview of what each flooring segment had to offer at Surfaces. Here, we finish off with the resilient and ceramic categories as well as a look into what the major fiber producers were touting. Future issues, will break down each segment further with detailed stories on specific products, technologies and programs, as well as discussing many of the ancillary things that were shown such as installation tools, adhesives, etc.

Manufacturers of resilient flooring continue to use the latest in technology to make their products look as close to the real things
as possible, whether they mimic stone, wood or ceramic tile.

Mannington Mills had no shortage of innovative products as it highlighted goods with its next generation NatureForm Optix as well as Optique surface technology.

Naturals With NatureForm Optix, is a 14 pattern, 52-SKU line featuring Mannington’s proprietary technology that offers improved digital imaging, tighter tolerances on embossing and the popular low-gloss urethane. As well, the warranty, which is for 20 years, includes the new “Gotta Love It” guarantee. If after 30 days the consumer does not love her new resilient floor, Mannington will give her a new one until she likes it.

The new technology is also featured on the mill’s popular Adura products which feature a new Distinctive Collection and an up-date to its tile offering with a new Escalante pattern.

Another innovation shown at Surfaces was Optique Surface Technology which is featured on Mannington’s Stainmaster branded products. Four patterns totaling 16 SKUs have been added to the collection which features 100 choices.

Tarkett came to Surfaces with plenty of new ideas in each of its segments, especially its largest, resilient. With its FiberFloor line doing so well, the company added a fourth collection, Play, and used it as part of a new way the mill is marketing these products.

Products are grouped into four decorating styles—Country Rustic, Timeless Classics, Spa and Play. These can be seen in the new i-grat selling system that was also unveiled at Surfaces.

“Since consumers typically shop for flooring with a vision of what they want,” said Vince Wilkens, director of marketing communications, “this new grouping will enable them to quickly find what they are looking for and help simplify the selection process.”

The new Play line, said Mark Brown, director of marketing, features “a wide array of vibrant and bright coloring in bold geometric patterning that is suitable for both masculine and feminine sensibilities.” Though the line is targeted specifically toward kids and teens, it also includes ‘retro’ styles reminiscent of the ’50s and ’60s.

Play will be initially launched in five patterns—Victoria’s Garden, Flower Power, Bubble Fun, Square Dance and Gee-I Camouflage—and 24 colorways.

Tarkett’s traditional vinyl products also received a great deal of attention with a new collection, City View, and additions to the Pre-ference line.

City View features Tarkett’s exclusive Nature’s Touch finish for an enhanced realistic look. It comes in five patterns and 17 colors. Three patterns and 13 colors were added to Preference to give consumers more choices.

The Nafco division was busy at the show, with a new luxury vinyl tile (LVT) display and updates to PermaStone and PermaStone Modular. The LVT display showcases the complete range of the two PermaStone collections, with sample sizes of 24X40-in. for Modular, while the full 16-in. panel of the original is shown. Additionally, 21 18X24-in. panels showcase the collection for easier viewing.

Two patterns and 14 colors were added to PermaStone and Modular received five more designs in its Better Living Collection and one in its Best line.

On the commercial side, Azrock debuted its SolidAir series which
is also the final component to its ColorWorks system. SolidAir is a 16-in. tile in 20 colors. Color-Works is a color coordinated system that includes four environments—natural, urban, contemporary and cosmopolitan.

Other commercial offerings include three products under the new I.D. Moduline banner and the new Square collection of loose lay tiles. (Editor’s note: FCNews will discuss Tarkett’s commercial offerings in more detail in an upcoming issue.)

Johnsonite, a new division of Tarkett (FCNews Dec. 26/Jan. 2), showcased a number of new rubber floor and wallbase products. High on the list was Defiant Oil and Grease Resistant Tile, Inertia, and rePlace Demountable Wall Base.

Defiant features a unique formulation making it oppose oil and grease, thus cutting down on maintenance costs. Inertia is billed as multi functional and sport floor, and is for environments that require heavy-duty flooring without the need for skate, spike and free-weight protection. The wall base is hung on a track with no adhesives so it takes less time to install and can be easily replaced to keep up with office remodels.

Centiva by International Floors of America bulked up a number of its collections with new products being added to three lines.

Tuscan Leaf and Countour Plank were added to the Contour Series; Mineral Chip went to the Victory Series, and Urban Loft and Paradiso were both placed in the Event Series.

A company spokesperson described each product’s unique features. Paradiso is 30mil and resembles a watercolor design in an 18-in. tile; Urban Loft is also 30mil but looks like metallic city highlights running through a foggy skyline in a 12X36-in. tile; Mineral Chip is produced with a unique manufacturing process to ensure no two tiles ever repeat; Countour Plank comes in at 32mil and mimics the look of wood in a heterogeneous floor, and Tuscan Leaf features Centiva’s new Tumbled, Pathway and Frost surface textures and works best as an accent tile.

EarthWerks continued its run of bringing innovative products and looks to market with the new Chesapeake LVT and Vintage Floral.

Using an enhanced manufacturing process, Chesapeake comes in 4X36-in. boards to further its replication of real wood. Featuring beveled edges, it has the look and feel of a real handscraped product.

Vintage Floral follows up on the wood theme but with a more distressed look in planks that measure approximately 7-1/4X37-1/3-in. each. What truly differentiates this product is the delicate flowers of orange and lavender moss intertwined between the planks.

Finally, LG Floors made its Surfaces debut by showcasing the company’s entire portfolio of luxury vinyl tile, solid vinyl tile, heterogeneous sheet vinyl and ESD tile will be on display.

Many of the products such as those in its Naturelife sheet line feature benefits including mechanical embossing and registration to replicate the look of hardwood.

In addition to Naturelife, LG has five other series—Stone/Wood, Neovia, Noble Art, Artwalk and Static Pulse—each with its own distinctive sub-collections that were displayed at Surfaces.

In the world of ceramic tile, manufacturers continue to offer more in the way of total packages, wall and floor combinations as well as the most realistic natural looks their technology can create. Whether it be glass, metal, larger formats, richer colors or wood looks, attendees at Surfaces had an opportunity to see all the category had to offer.

While Daltile debuted two product lines at Surfaces and also added elements to three of its existing collections and introduced two natural stone tiles and two slab colors, its most popular item at the market may have been its Design-A-Room software.

The program allows users to view the company’s tiles and slabs in a selection of photo-realistic sample rooms or in photos of the user’s home which are uploaded into the program. It features Daltile’s entire catalog of porcelain, ceramic, natural stone, glass, metal and mosaic tiles, as well as stone slabs, medallions and decorative elements from all its collections.

Design-A-Room can be used to simulate a wide variety of applications, noted Lori-Kirk Rolley, Daltile’s marketing director, including floors, walls, backsplashes and countertops, as well as painted surfaces with the entire Sherwin Williams paint collection. “Users can then create a number of surfaces and can then customize the tile color, patterns and grout colors. Design-A-Room also allows users to print, save and e-mail their projects for reference.”

As for new products, Capriccio is a glazed floor/wall tile that boasts an ancient travertine stone look with subtle shades. It’s available in three colors, comes in a wide variety of sizes and is complemented by three decorative accents. It is suitable for floors, walls, backsplashes and countertops in both residential and commercial settings.

With subtle limestone signatures and a lightly textured surface, City View emulates the refined, minimalistic looks of concrete, Rolley said. Rectified with a Tru-Edge, City View allows for smaller grout joints, creating a clean, distinctive look.

This floor/wall tile is available in four sizes, plus an interlocking, random linear brick-joint is also offered in all colors and is mesh-mounted on a 9X18-in. sheet.

Two stones have been added to Daltile’s Natural Stone Tile Collection: Napolina and Emperador Light. Napolina is a limestone that recalls the ancient hearths and historic archways of Portugal and is available in polished and honed 12- and 18-in. sizes. Emperador Light is a tumbled marble that coordinates with many of today’s most popular colors.

Finally, two new stones, Golden Art and Vitoria Regia, have been added to Daltile’s offering of more than 200 stones available in its slab collection.

Crossville introduced the Journey Series, a collection featuring an aged appearance reminiscent of Africa’s rugged topography. Available in three earthen tones, it combines the best in nature with the most advanced manufacturing technologies to create a level of realism never before offered in stone looks, noted Jim Dougherty, Crossville’s vice president of marketing and business development.

The collection includes a range of design options, from the soft beige of Savanna Breeze to the warm gold of African Sunset to the rich noce of tribal Path and is designed for residential and light commercial applications.

“The look of the Journey Series is so realistic, you can almost feel the cracks and crevices—even though the tile itself is smooth,” said Dougherty. “The Journey Series has taken the roto-color or roll print technique to the limit of what is technologically possible.”

Barbara Schirmeister, Crossville’s color and design consultant, explained, “Homeowners and designers will love working with the Journey Series; its appearance is soft yet sophisticated and its tonalities reflect the color trends we’re seeing today in cabinetry, kitchen and bath fixtures, and paint colors.”

Crossville’s other new products included Now, a porcelain tile featuring a crisply refined stone look perfect for minimalist designs, noted Dougherty. Available in Rust, Lead, Moss, Sand and Amber, the Now Series is 3/8-in. thick and comes in six sizes: 18-, 12X24-, 6X24-, 6-, 3X12- and 3X6-in.

The company also showed its new Character Series of porcelain tile, an urban minimalist look with a slight hint of stone, offered in a giant 24-in. tile, a first for Crossville, plus an 18- and 12X24-in. While not introduced officially to the market yet, Crossville displayed Character at the show and received “an overwhelmingly positive response,” Dougherty said.

Laufen introduced two new series at Surfaces—Bergamo and Murano. Bergamo is a 13- and 17-1/2-in. glazed porcelain tile with a coordinating 10X13-in. wall tile. It comes in three colors—Haze, Cashmere and Fawn. Trim includes a 3-1/4X13-in. floor bullnose, a 3X10-in. wall bullnose and a 3-in. bullnose corner. A 2X10-in. listel and 2-1/2X13-in. border that coordinate with all three colors and complete the package is also available.

Murano is an 18-in. double-loaded, soluble salt polished porcelain. It comes in three colors—Noce, Beige and Light Grey. Also included in the series is a 12-in. mosaic in each of the three colors.

Mexico-based Vitromex launched Artemis, a brand of Impervious Glazed Porcelain products at Surfaces. Five series made their debut, including Milano, Roca del Sol, Sierra Madre, Tuscany and Cotto Real.

Artemis replicates the beauty of natural stones from around the globe. “There is tremendous consumer demand for high-quality porcelain tile,” said Sergio Cardenas, president of Vitromex USA. “Vitromex conducted extensive research throughout Italy, Mexico and the U.S. before producing what we believe to be the gold standard of impervious glazed porcelain tiles in Artemis.”

“We’ve had many customers come through our booth,” said Neal Gray, vice president of sales and marketing for Vitromex USA. “Our customers, new distributors in open markets, as well as retailers, builders, contractors who are very excited about the mix. The colors are being received very well, the styles, the designs, and also the fact that everything has a package. Its modularity in sizes plus the trim package which includes surface trim, quarter round and a full mosaic package. So, it’s a turnkey product. We sell it to the distributor, the wholesaler puts it in the marketplace and everything is in place.”

During Surfaces, Spanish tile manufacturers once again joined together to present their newest wares, technological savvy and world class design sense. Tile of Spain branded mills showcased designs that appealed to a broad audience, especially the minimalist, the naturalist and those who like a more fanciful design.

Tile of Spain manufacturers encompassed about 5,000 square feet of exhibition space at Surfaces. Exhibitors included Adex, Alcalagres, Ceramicas Del Foix, EMAC Comp-lementos, Pamesa, Peronda, Peris Y Cia, Porcelanosa, Roca and Tau.

“Spanish tile manufacturers are always trying to be on the cutting edge of design and technology,” said Javier Soriano, director of foreign trade and export promotion for ASCER, which oversees Tile of Spain. “Markets like Surfaces give the Tile of Spain manufacturers the perfect venue to show their design savvy.”

Adex presented the Urban series with its diamond and taco design. The white bodied tile meets ANSI specifications and is designed to be a good solution for bath, kitchen, interior living spaces and the swimming pool. The series offers 27 types of tacos, three forms in nine colors, along with hand painted listelos and reliefs.

The Lifestone collection from Alcalagres-Estilya offers a practical natural look in wall and floor coverings. It is available in 12X24- and 18-in. sizes and two colors. Twelve-inch meshed mosaics are available along with a line of decorative compliments and accents.

Constructed for the minimalist and modernist was IKOM-Compacto Pedra from Pamesa. The through-body porcelain presents a cement look with all the benefits of tile. It is available in 12-, 16- and 20-in. formats and five colors. Meshed complimentary tiles as well as bullnose compliments are available. The tile comes in polished porcelain stoneware and natural finished stoneware.

The Museum collection from Peronda is a polished, rectified porcelain tile with a crystal effect finish. The newest series in the collection is Zar, available in 17-1/2-in. Listelos and borders are also available. The tile comes in polished porcelain stoneware and enameled porcelain stoneware.

Porcelanosa continues to refine the wood-look with Woodtec. It is part of the Roble Antico collection. The enameled stoneware features a complete line of compatible and decorative tiles such as Shanghai Antracite and Listel Inox by L’Antic Colonial. Anti-slip finishes are available in some series allowing for outdoor installation.

The Natural Fuego series is the newest addition to Roca’s popular Rock & Rock collection. The natural finished porcelain stoneware is frost-resistant and can be used on facades, exterior and interior spaces and the bath. Decorative mesh mosaics, mesh link, mesh brick and listels are offered as compliments to the series.

Hudson, from the Tau Empire collection, is a through-body porcelain inspired by the Saturnia stone. The enameled porcelain stoneware features natural shade variations in every piece. Tau makes this series in 18- and 24-in. formats and in four colorways.

Who says Shaw Industries wasn’t at Surfaces? Anso, recently purchased by the mill, had several introductions at the market, including Visions, a luminescent collection of products featuring some of “the most stylish looks and richest colors in carpet,” noted LaShon McGinnis, advertising manager, Shaw Industries External Fiber Sales and Marketing.

The collection of 18 core styles, as well as Berber and jewel tones, is made with Anso Caress, she said. The cornerstone of Visions is a sense of luxury, offering consumers a full range of constructions such as “Always Remember,” “Elevate your Spirits” and “Functional Elegance” to name a few. The 18 styles included in the collection range from well-appointed cut-pile textures and cables to subtle cut-and-loop patterns.

“Visions is a collection dealers and their customers will fall in love with,” McGinnis added. “The idea is to captivate customers and satisfy visions of what the home’s design scheme can be. The styles are distinctive and different with a sense of wild luxury.”

All styles in the Visions collection feature Shaw’s patented R2X Stain and Soil system and are made with Shaw’s SoftBac flexible carpet backing system. Products are available in 12- and 15-ft. widths and carry Shaw’s 4- and 5-Star Assurance warranty ratings.

A cash rebate incentive is available to retailers who purchase the Visions display before April 1. In ad-dition to a dealer rebate, salespeople can earn up to a $1 a yard spiff on sales of any style in the collection.

Anso ColorSolutions nylon also debuted in Wexford Town & Country styles from C.W. Industries. Combining the look of luxury with the performance of commercial carpet, McGinnis said it meets the ever-growing needs for today’s “resi-mercial” trend among American home buyers looking for a highly-styled, performance-driven carpet. ColorSolutions is also “a great fit” for Main Street.

“ColorSolutions is a technologically advanced fiber developed specifically to meet the resi-mercial trend,” she said. Carpets made with ColorSolutions contain inherent stain re-sistant characteristics as well as built-in static resistance. In addition it features “outstanding color fastness since this is a solution-dyed nylon fiber system.” It comes with a 10-year colorfast warranty against permanent color change due to exposure to sunlight or atmospheric contaminants.

Consumers who purchase ColorSolutions products will have access to Anso Smart Lines, a consumer hotline that provides live, personal assistance for care and maintenance solutions.

McGinnis said even though ColorSolutions is classified for Main Street, products are included in Anso’s various dealer and salespeople incentives.

Michael Leary, director of external fiber sales and marketing with Shaw, concluded, “We’ve got a lot of products to showcase, and not just Shaw, but C.W. Industries and Blue Ridge continue to support us. We’ve also got new introductions with Kraus and Couristan that give continued viability to Anso as an external brand. This stands as recognition that external brand support is viable for thousands of dealers and retail salespeople.”

New mill partnerships and premium products made the Solutia booth a hub of excitement. Partnerships with Mohawk, Gulistan, Royalty and Tuftex brought a wide variety of new Wear-Dated offerings to the show floor.

Royalty had four new products constructed with patented Prismatic technology. “Prismatic is a proprietary over-dye system that provides ultimate color flexibility,” said Mike Hamlin, manager of product development. “It allows customers to dye any type of color on top of a pre-dyed accent yarn without ‘washing out’ the accent colors. All the colors remain sharp and clean.”

“Our debuts offer more sophisticated options to help consumers mix carpet with other interior finishes such as silk, marble and exotic woods,” said Marianne Cone, marketing manager for Wear-Dated carpet fiber. “The most exciting product on the market right now is the new Tuftex ‘My My My.’ This 100-oz. shag has already gained acceptance in markets from the West Coast to Midwest and beyond.”

The new partnership between Solutia and C.W. Industries yields six new Wear-Dated grades in C.W.’s Easy Living collection, and two new styles in the Vesantri line. “The C.W. fashion-oriented products will be a nice addition to the Wear-Dated product portfolio,” said Keith Barbaree, commercial director for Wear-Dated and contract carpet fiber.

Invista’s Stainmaster carpet business debuted a new silk-like accent fiber at Surfaces. Carpets manufactured with the new yarn will mimic the look of natural fibers with the performance benefits of nylon, said Steve Griffith, vice president of residential flooring.

“The new silk-like carpet fibers will add a sleek yet subtle luster to our wool-like Tactesse nylon, simulating a wool and silk aesthetic seen in clothing and rugs,” he explained.

Mills will use the new silk-like fiber as an accent with Tactesse. Currently, Custom Weave, Fabrica and Tuftex are developing styles with the new fibers.

The start of this year’s annual broadcast and print advertising campaign for Stainmaster carpet was also announced. New print ads will convey a strong fashion and style message and will appear in publications beginning in March. The campaign will incorporate the new Stainmaster carpet logo, redesigned to illustrate a greater focus on fashion and style (FCNews, Jan. 23/30).

“This year’s schedule includes a package of print and broadcast advertisements that will aggressively reach our target audience, the style-conscious consumer,” said Griffith.

The print ads will appear in publications such as Cooking Light, InStyle, Shop Etc., Real Simple, Vanity Fair, Martha Stewart Living, InStyle Home, Traditional Home and Oprah at Home throughout the year. The TV schedule includes advertising on cable networks such as Bravo, Food Network, A&E, HGTV and the Hallmark Channel.