By Sarah Zimmerman
Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) has continued to grow both residentially and commercially throughout the down market, and industry leaders say its steady climb will only increase in coming months.

“While still relatively small, LVT is one of the fastest growing categories in both markets today,” said David Sheehan, director of resilient and laminate for Mannington Mills. And, like Sheehan, professionals are pointing to aesthetics first, followed by maintenance, installation and durability as the product’s claim to fame.

“Consumers and retailers are excited by this category primarily because of the aesthetics— it just looks that much more like the real thing,” Sheehan said. He added LVT has superior scratch and indentation resistance compared to traditional sheet and fiberglass vinyls, and it overcomes some negatives faced by laminate.

Again aesthetically focused, Harry Brownett, vice president of sales and marketing for LG Floors, said LVT offers an economical alternative to many natural and bio-based flooring products and provides the “visual” of more expensive products such as wood, stone and marble, yet is much easier to install and maintain.

“In relation to other premium organic, hard surface and resilient flooring products, LVT yields one of the lowest total cost of ownership values,” he explained. “And, with some of the more advanced LVT visuals, the average person may not even realize they are not walking on ‘the real thing.’”

Michael Raskin, president of Metroflor, said LVT provides the most realistic looks when replicating natural or synthetic materials because “we have great flexibility when it comes to design and textures.” He also noted advanced wear layers and new finishes are increasing the segment’s life span and cutting down on both maintenance time and costs.

Reiterating LVT’s noted “visuals,” Michael Freedman, president and CEO of Floor- Folio, said luxury vinyl tile is special because it can create any look. “Being that it is film, it can mimic any visual imaginable, and unlike other products, where physical construction is limiting, when using LVT the design is potentially endless.”

Armstrong’s Dominic Rice, vice president of commercial resilient, and Allen Cubell, vice president of residential resilient, also commented on the category’s upward slope, noting it enables designers and end users to achieve the interior environment they want, with great visuals, usually at a lower cost and with greater performance characteristics.

Erica Hubbard, director of marketing for Nafco by Tarkett, mentioned installation as a key to LVT’s success. “Installation of individual or modular tiles and individual planks is far easier— takes one installer—than with resilient sheet flooring.” She also said there is less scrap and waste with LVT, meaning less cost, and repairs are faster and less expensive than replacing torn sheet vinyl, broken/chipped ceramic or scratched/discolored hardwood.

What’s selling?

Mannington’s Sheehan noted LVT is appealing to a wide base of end users, and therefore trends and advancements are abounding. “It’s a very diverse demographic. We encourage retailers to engage their local distributor reps for product knowledge training so their sales force can sell the category to every end user with confidence.”

He noted plank formats, floating installations and grouted options are hot right now. To appease consumers, Mannington’s most recent introduction is a new plank in the Distinctive Collection called Ashford Walnut, which encompasses the rich, hand-planed look and feel of actual hardwood. The mill also introduced Dynasty, a deep slate look, and will be launching the Adura Elements modular program, the Adura locking system LVT—Adura LOCnGo—and M-U-L, a unique underlayment to save time, money and effort in LVT subfloor prep.

As head of Metroflor’s design team, Raskin said he is always trying to keep ahead of the trends. “Living in New York enables me to be exposed to new and exciting colors, designs and textures daily.” He pointed to dark woods and exotics as popular right now, and said Metroflor’s Konecto—high-quality wood and tile looks with an innovative lock-connect technology— is probably the reason LVT’s growth has remained positive in a down market. “Customers are very comfortable with the product because its simple—cuts installation expense, mess and time—and looks great. For very little money and time you can have a fashionable floor.”

Rice and Cubell noted natural visuals that replicate the earth’s woods, stones and metals as well as textural patterns as high-sellers both commercially and residentially. Rice pointed to Armstrong’s Natural Creations as a “breakout line, with designs that embrace contemporary interiors.” Made up of three distinct collections— ArborArt woods, EarthCuts stones and Mystix trends— Natural Creations provides unique visuals designed to work together.

Residentially, Cubell noted MODe—offers more than 80 visuals replicating natural materials— as a product that extends a consumer’s personal style. MODe also offers a variety of installation options with Armstrong’s easy down/easy up QuickTac system.

Nafco’s Hubbard said LVT is an excellent investment for the consumer looking for handsome, natural visuals without the impractical aspect of the originals. To that end, the company recently introduced Kyrah, Valley Stone and Classic Slate as well as Urban Oak plank to its Better Living collection.

Brownett said there are several trends made possible by continued advancements in LVT: 1. Wider, longer plank dimensions; 2. More exotic patterns; 3. More rectangular patterns in stones and abstracts; 4. Adhesive-free technologies; 5. Better LEED values engineered into the products, and possibly 6. More PVC-free LVT products, which he said will cause the industry to call it something other than LVT.

Taking these desires into consideration, LG Floors launched Hologram—part of the Deco Stone collection—in April, adding glitter to the solid color surface to produce a new “3D effect.” Hologram coordinates with LG’s new homogeneous enhanced vinyl tile line Impression.

Similarly, FloorFolio’s Freedman said it’s all about pushing the limits today. “The latest trends include stretching the limits of design with the use of fresh, exciting new patterns.” So, FloorFolio will launch its Bamboo collection this month as well as a new Hybrid luxury vinyl tile that utilizes solid vinyl chips as the visual rather than a photograph.