Solutia’s Insert Technology Products

Hicksville, N.Y.—With hardwood and ceramic gaining market share in recent years, broadloom manufacturers have had to offer different looks, features and benefits to attract customers back to the category. So, what are some of the new developments in fiber the industry has come up with to help the cause?

“The competition from hard surfaces has been good for carpet design,” said LaShon McGinnis, advertising manager, Shaw Industries, external fiber sales and marketing. “In recent years, the industry has seen ‘niche’ mills such as CW Industries and Blue Ridge Home come on the scene with beautiful, innovative designs and colors. Furthermore, the larger mills such as Shaw have debuted more LCLs (level cut loop), unique colorations, and constructions than we’ve ever seen.

“What’s been truly encouraging is that dealers are accepting this new wave of carpet creativity,” she explained. “They are accepting the fact that consumers desire design—even the mainstream consumer is looking for ‘affordable luxury’ and is willing to go beyond the beige textured Saxony for something more fashionable. Consumers are more experimental these days with their home environments thanks to the influx of consumer magazines, home centers, the Internet, and home design shows on television.”

“Beaulieu recently introduced a new collection of products called Fashion Essentials ( FCNews, April 3/10),” said Venissa Grant, marketing manager for The Beaulieu Group, parent company of Beaulieu of America. “This new offering features a new fiber type for Beaulieu called PermaTwist. This new technique allows engineered loops to show subtle to bold colorations in the same tuft. The overall result is a braided look to the finished product. It is very unique in this product category and gives the consumer an alternative from the norm.

“In addition,” she added, “the Fashion Essentials collection also offers a selection of LCL products which boast many new graphic patterns that lend more design options to the consumer.”

“Fiber is endlessly versatile,” said Solutia’s manager of new product development, Mike Hamlin. “We’re promoting that versatility via our ‘Road Show ’06’ in which, using just two yarn counts and three fiber systems, we have created a mix-and-match grid of new carpet concepts for Wear-Dated. And, we’ve done so without requiring the mills to make major changes to their existing manfucturing and production setup. These concepts create new possibilities for nylon staple carpet products. In fact, our practical building block approach to product devleopment has yielded 16 potential new carpet styles and patterns.

“More specifically,” he explained, “we have two exciting developments—Insert technology and Prismatic dye technology. Insert technology allows our mill partners to expand their use of existing spun yarn and Prismatic is a proprietary over-dye system that provides ultimate color flexibility. It allows our mill partners 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. It’s a beautiful carpet and applicable for both commercial and residential products.”

Mike Leary, director, external fiber sales/marketing for Shaw, believes fiber needs to “innovate or die. Whether it’s business or fiber, the mantra applies. If you look and touch broadloom today versus a few short years ago, you realize why it offers a viable alternative to hard surface products. From a fiber perspective, we feel we’ve been a key ingredient to the renewed viability. Our developments have been under three broad umbrella categories of aesthetics, tactile and performance. Most fit in at least two of the three.

“When you think of fiber, you often think of the Cross Section,” explained Leary. “In addition to the normal selection of conventional fiber shapes that enable Anso CrushResister and Anso Caress to be in the diverse styles of BCF and staple, we have several unique shapes as well generating specific properties. Our Fox cross section has been around for years providing tremendous bulk while delivering performance. New this year is our Sparkle technology seen in several of the new Visions fabrics from Shaw. As the name implies, colors pop from this fiber giving the consumer striking fabrics and several sophisticated styling options.

Steve Griffith, vice president, residential flooring for Invista, said, “We now have 16 different Tactesse fiber systems all using our patented cross section fiber. The fiber systems give carpet mills flexibility with dyeability levels and lusters. We debuted a silk-like accent fiber at Surfaces 2006. Carpet styles manufactured with this new accent fiber mimic the look of natural fibers with the performance benefits of nylon. The new silk-like carpet fibers add a sleek, yet subtle luster to our wool-like fiber, Tactesse nylon, simulating a wool and silk aesthetic you currently find in clothing and area rugs which is very popular now and will interest a fashion-conscious consumer.

“The advent of soft fibers, specifically Tactesse nylon fiber, has transitioned the carpet industry back into the fashion arena,” he explained. “Consumers now have stylish carpet selections with incredible durability and high performance. Long gone are the days when solid color cut-pile carpets were the only choice for consumers interested in carpeting. The soft floor covering industry also has been able to differentiate itself with highly fashionable carpet styles.”

“At NeoCon, for the commercial business,” said Bobby Berrier, vice president, commercial/transportation flooring, Invista, “we will be launching Antron Brilliance carpet, an innovation in fiber engineering which delivers richer, more vibrant color along with the soil-hiding capability of a hollow filament fiber shape.”
—Louis Iannaco