Matthew Spieler

Flooring industry, take a bow; you deserve it. For what? For an amazing display of leadership in the construction industry’s green building movement.

Writing about the goings on in the industry as I do has given me a good understanding of the numerous efforts already made and continuing to take place to make flooring a lean, green machine. Even with this knowledge I, along with more than 22,000 others, was blown away by what I saw at Greenbuild ’07. And, like myself, these were not just people coming off the street, they were leading professionals from all sectors of the building industry as well as a large contingent of international media, including MSNBC, The Los Angeles Times, The Discovery Channel and others as far away as Shanghai.

Just an aside, anyone who has been shrugging off the whole green movement and not paying attention to what the industry has to offer, you had better open your eyes and ears and get on the bandwagon before getting left behind. Whether you believe in it or not, green building is a legitimate avenue and one whose lanes are growing. During this rough stretch of economic development it would behoove you to take advantage of this fast-growing movement.

Back to Greenbuild: Within the throng of 850 exhibitors packed into McCormick Place, the flooring industry stood out like a beacon—not only in sheer numbers but in overall booth space, activity and educational offerings, the latter being one of the main draws of this international gathering as many attendees spent as much time in classes as they did on the show floor.

Shaw and Mohawk had arguably the show’s largest spaces and stood out like goal posts as each anchored the front left and right corners of the exhibit area. Then there were the various spots that made it feel like you were at a flooring-only show. In certain areas, a simple glance would reveal Armstrong, Mannington, Bentley, Milliken, Invista/ Antron, Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI), Forbo…

It was an impressive display and showed the building sector why flooring has been given the leadership title when it comes to sustainable development.

I ran across groups of people who weren’t even responsible for specing flooring but were nonetheless enthralled with what they were seeing. Whether it was Armstrong demonstrating the added strength of its new bio-based polymer, Shaw’s visual journey of its Evergreen recycling facility through projectors that more resembled coin-operated telescopes you’d see on some observation deck, Nora giving away live rubber trees, Fritz Industries tantalizing onlookers with its recycled glass floor display, Expanko showing how cork flooring can be contemporary looking, Bentley’s life-size carpet collection bin, Mohawk’s station-to-station learning environment, LG showing it was not only an electronics company but a major player in eco-friendly resilient flooring, ECOsurfaces personnel decked out as hippies while attendees browsed the booth, and so much more.

Have you noticed I have not mentioned anything about product? Unlike the smaller booths from other industries, the flooring world did not concentrate on products, recognizing this market was more about educating the attendee on why its products and services can help them build environmentally friendly commercial and residential structures.

“Most people here want to know what kind of value we add to a project or are curious to learn more about something they may have read, such as a particular standard or certification,” commented one official who has been attending trade shows for more than 30 years. “We don’t have a single product displayed. This is about learning.”

Here’s the thing: As with most others, even though no orders were placed he was excited by what transpired, understanding it makes it easier for the local rep, contractor and/or retailer to get in the door down the road and sell products.

The point to all this, if you are in the industry, you truly have something with which to feel proud. Sure, the industry may not be perfect—show me one that is—but when it comes to being environmentally conscious no one does it better than flooring. And, in this day and age, that is an important peg on which you can hang your hat.