When it comes to combating shrinking sales, there is a beacon of hope for those in the laminate business. The high end of the category continues to attract consumers who are searching for products that can give them the most for their money.
Why? For the retailer, they generate a significant percentage of profits due to higher margin structure; for the consumer, they provide the latest product styles, looks, innovations and technologies, assuring the best floor possible. Despite the downtrend in business there are still consumers seeking to spruce up and redecorate their homes. With that in mind, here are a sampling of the latest high-end offerings from some of the category’s leading suppliers.
Armstrong
When it comes to the mill’s top-end Grand Illusions lines,
Milton Goodwin, vice president of laminate and ceramic products, said the success is no fantasy. “This has been the most successful laminate product launch since Armstrong got into the category, which is why we will added more SKUs this year as part of our largest laminate launch ever.”
Why has Grand Illusions been so successful? “It is the most compelling and realistic looking laminate on the market,” Goodwin said. “No other laminate compares in terms of clarity and realism to actual wood without any of the potential drawbacks of the natural material. This is truly a case where ‘seeing is believing.’”
Featuring the company’s latest in technological advances, a number of exotic wood looks have been recently added, including tigerwood and afzelia. They join products such as walnut, cherry, Brazilian Jatoba, cabrueva, cherry bronze and Melbourne Acacia.
In terms of innovation, Armstrong has incorporated a number of exclusives into the line, Goodwin added, such as its new Hydra-Core Plus layer, MasterWorks Technology and VisionGuard.”
Bruce
Combining the powerful Bruce brand name with Armstrong’s innovative manufacturing and design processes, Park Avenue has quickly became part of its best selling launch. Goodwin said Park Avenue “cuts through the sea of standard wood visuals with premium, piano-finish striking wood visuals that capture the look and feel of real premium solid exotic wood for the value of a laminate floor.”
This piano finish, he added, “replicates the look of filled-face exotic wood for a highend visual that is among the most compelling and realistic looking laminate floors, putting affordable luxury beneath consumers’ feet.”
To obtain this realism, the company uses Bruce’s Hi-Definition Print Technology. This “fine arts” technology allows for the reproduction of premium exotic woods at a fraction of the cost. “The colors are vibrant and natural with intensified depth and realism,” Goodwin noted.
Columbia
Fresh off a rebranding initiative, the company has put together a lineup of wood and tile visuals featuring its latest technological advance—SuperiorShield and PureBond.
Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing, said SuperiorShield surface technology “is built into the floor during the curing process and lasts the life of the finish, helping to improve gloss retention while protecting against stains, germs and grime.”
On the product side, he noted Columbia offers a number of top-end lines, including Castille Clic, featuring realistic and “highly detailed textures” in four woodgrain patterns with rich colorations “to distinguish this state-of-the-art embossed laminate planking.” In the ever-expanding world of tile looks, there is Cascade Clic, which features “the grand look of a slate floor but with the ease of installation and upkeep in four desirable colors.”
FormicaBellafina and Bellezza, are the two latest examples “of our commitment to be a leader in style,” said
Ken Peden, COO of
Kronotex USA, Formica’s parent company. “People haven’t seen products like this before.”
He noted the selling point for both of these lines—“and what makes them special”—is the highly polished mirror finish. “They have a very distinctive gloss to them which creates an unmistakable elegant brilliance.” Peden said Bellafina’s wood grain patterns create the look and feel of exotic timbers, such as merbau, koa and pear, while Bellezza’s brick-like format features two natural stone looks in four designs.
These products are fresh off Formica’s successful introductions of Cordelia and then Mirabella, a 10mm thick microbeveled product in a narrow single plank with a flat and slightly pitted lacquer finish that comes in eight exotic species.
“Everyone is chasing the rustic and handscraped finish,” Peden explained. “However, there is still a major part of the market out there that is interested in the casual elegance setting, where Mirabella will fit in nicely.”
Mannington
When it came to expanding the company’s upper-end Revolutions Plank collection, Mannington used several new technologies to achieve “an incredibly realistic hand-sculpted hardwood look” in the new Time Crafted Maple line. These innovations include Mannington’s exclusive Optic Edge technology, which provides a digitally printed bevel; irregular edges that are “truly unique” on every plank; embossing in registration, and individual plank formats— versus plank-within-plank.
Those familiar with Mannington’s Inverness hardwood collection will recognize Time Crafted as it was modeled after the popular wood.
PergoBilled as “the next generation of super, premium laminate flooring,”
David Small, marketing director, said the new Elegant Expressions collection “combines the very best performance in terms of wear and scratch prevention with the most realistic wood and tile laminate flooring designs.”
With 28 SKUs, he said the collection is offered exclusively to specialty retailers and features “a comprehensive line of high-end laminate flooring that includes some of our best selling and most popular décors.”
Elegant Expressions is the best of the very best, he added. It was created by taking the most popular designs and features of Pergo’s former Vintage Home traditional strip, Vintage Home planks and World Traveler collections and morphing them and some new designs into Elegant Expressions.
Along with all the bells and whistles associated with a high-end product— a premium attached underlayment, embossed in register textures, beveled edges and so on—Elegant Expressions features Pergo’s new ScratchGuard Advanced. Small said the patented technology provides 30% greater scratch and scuff resistance and improved clarity for richer colors and more realistic floors.
Quick•StepRoger Farabee, vice president of marketing, said Quick•Step’s Linesse line is “an industry-first collection that allows the consumer to ‘customize the stagger of a 3-strip plank’ achieving a beautifully realistic hardwood strip look.”
Linesse, the first product to include the company’s patented UniLink technology, is composed of three-strip planks. One of the strips, known as the stationary strip, stays in place while the other two moveable strips are shifted to create the desired flooring pattern. “The revolutionary new technology produces the incredibly realistic hardwood strip look,” he explained.
The six-décor collection also includes Quick•Step’s Softboard attached underlayment that creates a natural hardwood sound and is significantly more authentic than competitors, Farabee said.
Linesse is Quick•Step’s latest premium collection, adding to its growing high-end offerings that also include the Perspective and Elegance lines. “Linesse was modeled on the most popular 3-inch hardwood strip flooring on the market today,” he added, “and was introduced to meet the consumer’s desire for an alternative to the high cost of hardwood strip flooring.”
TarkettCreated by the company’s North American residential design team, Tarkett’s high-performance laminate flooring “beautifully reflects the look of real wood while holding up to extensive wear and tear,” said Gary Finseth, residential marketing director.
All collections, such as the latest New Frontiers and Journeys lines, incorporate Tarkett’s exclusive Laminate Performance System, which includes an AC4 rated commercial wear layer to protect against wear and fading, and stains 60% better than ordinary laminate flooring.
Next is the inner core board, AmeriCore. Made with only cherry and oak chips, Finseth said it is the only 100% hardwood core in the industry and provides superior indentation resistance and is IC3 rated, “the highest industry commercial rating.”
New Frontiers comes in four exotic wood patterns in wide 6-inch planks and includes micro-beveled edges for a realistic look and feel. “And high-gloss finishes add elegance,” he said. Journeys is a mix of woods, concrete and metallic designs in narrow 4- nch planks and beveled edges.
Put simply, he added, Tarkett’s laminate floors offer residential consumers the beauty and styling to fit today’s homes with the comfort of a commercially rated product for superior performance and durability.
WilsonartThe company’s high-end Red Label Collection continues to be all about style—and selection, noted Tammy Weadock, marketing manager. From handscraped, distressed and natural slate textures in formats that include 31/2-, 51/2- and 71/2-inch planks and oversized 151/2-inch tiles, Red Label offers consumers one of the widest selections from which to choose, she explained.
Available in 23 wood and three tile designs, Weadock said Wilsonart floors are created to withstand the daily abuse of today’s active family yet still maintain their elegant appearance. Features such as ScuffSchield high performance wearlayer and high pressure laminate construction mean Wilsonart floors can withstand the force of a 14-ounce can of soup dropped from a standard countertop height.
Throw in Wilsonart’s Tap-N-Lock installation system and “consumers can use their floor immediately after installation, so there’s less disruption to their household.”
