Last month the members of the Global Flooring Alliance (GFA) voted Mr Carlo Cavinato (company Cavinato S.p.A., Italy) as their new President. He will succeed Mr Anibal Claudino (company Torlys, Canada) who acted as President for several years. Mr Matjaz Stefan (company Alpod d.o.o., Slovenia) stays on as Treasurer and Mr Jos Krijnen as Secretary.

Mr Carlo Cavinato was elected as president unanimously by the participants during the last GFA-meeting in Hannover on January 19th 2015. During the meeting several topics were discussed. GFA was impressed by the high standards and the quality of the products which were presented by the exhibitors at Domotex 2015. The quality in their view ranges from ‘good’ to ‘exceptional’. Marketing will therefore be the critical success factor in the trade, GFA expects. GFA noted again that, given the increasing number of exhibitors from that sector, LVT products continue to play an important role in the flooring trade. However the GFA was disappointed in the number of innovations that were presented at the fair in general.

25th anniversary
Last year marked the organization's 25th anniversary. Global Flooring Alliance was founded in 1989 under the name Euparal and had as its first president Robbert Otto from the Dutch company Woodpecker. The name Euparal was chosen as an abbreviation of European Parquet Alliance. In 1989, organizations, businesses and such were very Europe-minded. Euparal was therefore an appropriate name that matched that period. In January 2010, after twenty years, Euparal decided to change its name to Global Flooring Alliance. Most important reason behind the name change was to emphasize that the association considers itself as a global organization that welcomes new members from all over the world. GFA membership is open to one parquet importer/distributor per country to avoid conflicting national interests. Global Flooring Alliance organizes two meetings per year. One at the Domotex trade fair in Hannover and one in the country of one of the members. The aims of the association are to promote hard surface flooring products in general and to exchange product, market and technical information in the broadest sense. The members also give each other mutual assistance with strategic purchasing opportunities.

At the moment the association has 15 members worldwide from an equal number of countries: Torlys (Canada), AB Küpfer (Chile), Lincona (Estonia), Trio Floor (Finland), Chetham Timber (Ireland), Egill Árnason (Iceland), Cavinato (Italy), Woodpecker (Netherlands), Witex Ukraine (Ukraine), Listor (Portugal), Polimpex (Russia), Alpod (Slovenia), Exclusivas (Spain), BoDeWo (Switzerland) and Hanna Home (Turkey).

The next GFA meeting will be in Ireland, June 2015.

Photo: New elected GFA-President Carlo Cavinato

More information can be acquired via the website www.globalflooringalliance.com