By Matthew Spieler
While sales may be slow it doesn’t mean there are no sales taking place. And with the fall selling season just around the corner, laminate manufacturers are rolling out new products and styles that not only continue to capture the look and feel of real wood and tile but do so at prices consumers are more apt to buy as they search for value-added goods to spruce up their homes.
To help dealers get an idea of what some of the leading mills are offering this fall
FCNews presents this roundup of suppliers and products.
AllocA new top-end line is about to be launched featuring the company’s latest innovations and styles, noted Cindy Thornton, marketing manager. Coming in at more than 12mm thick, the Elite line “will be differentiated by a number of notable innovations, including advanced finishes in both piano—high gloss—and rustic looks.”
The extra thickness, she said, makes the floor as dense as real wood. Throw in the company’s “ultra simple” Lift-Lock-&-Drop installation system backed by a 30-year lifetime limited warranty, and you get “one of the most durable, yet stylish products on the market today.”
For more information on Alloc’s latest products, please call 877.362.5562.
ArmstrongWhen it comes to the mill’s top-end Grand Illusions line,
Milton Goodwin, vice president of laminate and ceramic products, said the collection continues to surpass expectations, which is why the company is adding some fresh designs for the fall.
“Consumers want realism,” he explained, “and the only way to get that is go after the high-end— embossed texture, wider widths, etc. But just because a product is loaded with the latest technological innovations and comes with all the bells and whistles doesn’t guarantee it to be a success.”
With Grand Illusions, Goodwin added, “We offer the most compelling and realistic looking laminate on the market. No other laminate compares in terms of clarity and realism to actual wood.”
For the fall, he said the collection’s new designs include Cherry-Bronze, “for a cherry color palette that saturates any room with ambience,” and Cherry-Natural, which offers “deep, rich cherry tones for a warmth and beauty that will be appreciated in any space.”
In addition to Grand Illusions, Armstrong is bringing out the Coastal Living Collection, which Goodwin noted “captures the rich hues of caramel-dusted sand grains with hints of chestnut brown and white wash in three distinct visuals.”
For more information on Armstrong’s latest products, please call 717.397.0611.
BerryNew for this fall is Mesa, part of the company’s Floor Tile & Stone collection. “Berry’s true stone-look tile options offer the popular styling of stone in an easy-to-install laminate,” Thornton explained. “Mesa offers very authentic shade variances and undulations of natural color to achieve a realistic appearance.”
It carries the Berry lifetime warranty and is suitable for residential and some commercial applications.
She noted when it comes to the new products being offered by Berry and its sister brand Alloc, the design and performance advancements are key to making them unique and viable for the market. “Alloc and Berry are focusing on substantive product advancements to really set them apart, and these products epitomize that effort.”
For more information on Berry’s latest products, please call 877.362.5562.
BruceThe brand’s patented Park Avenue collection, introduced last year, has quickly become one of its best-selling products since getting into the laminate flooring category in the mid-1990s.
To keep the momentum going this fall, Goodwin said three styles have been added to the initial offering. Fruitwood Select “gives any home an uptown chic appeal with planks of fine-grained wood, each with a unique visual; rare Wenge is luxurious and dramatic, in deep chocolate tones with near-black veins, and Mocha Maple’s carefree café au lait flair stands up well to spills and scratches.”
He said Park Avenue “cuts through the sea of standard wood visuals with premium, piano finish and striking realism that capture the look and feel of real premium solid exotic hardwood for the value of a laminate floor.”
For more information on Bruce’s latest products, please call 717.397.0611.
ColumbiaFresh off a rebranding initiative the company has put together a lineup of wood and tile visuals designed to help retailers sell and earn more.
Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing, noted Columbia offers a solid lineup of collections to give consumers various opportunities to purchase a floor that meets both their styling and pricing needs.
Among the newest products is Cachet Clic. “Fine-grained texturing that imitates real wood is the hallmark of this collection,” he explained. “The wide planks offer modern appeal, while a slight bevel on all sides creates a sleek, streamlined look for the perfectly planned room.”
Featuring the company’s patented Uniclic construction, the product comes in six options—Plantation Oak (Pioneer and Natural), Hearthstone Cherry, Sunset Persimmon, Caramelized Claro and Homewood Walnut—for a variety of design choices, and comes “with Columbia’s limited lifetime residential warranty which takes the worry out of choosing the perfect floor,” he added.
For more information on Columbia’s latest products, please call 800.654.8796.
FormicaBellafina and Bellezza are the 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 these lines—“and what makes them special”—is the highly polished mirror finish. “They both 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.
He noted these products meet the demand for a major part of the consumer market “that is interested in more of an elegance setting” but cannot afford the more expensive and real exotic woods and tiles.
For more information on Formica’s latest products, please call 800.777.5145.
ManningtonVenicia is being added this fall to the company’s successful Revolutions Tile category, noted
David Sheehan, director of resilient and laminate.
Featuring a 12 x 24 inch rectified tile with embossed in register grout lines, he said this marble visual with a seamless look is one of the hottest trends in real tile. “It’s fresh and modern, and its realism is emphasized by OpticEdge—a new, exclusive technology that provides the industry’s most advanced design and beveling capabilities.” Venicia is available in three natural, neutral colors— Alabaster, Graphite and Baked Clay.
The Revolutions Tile collection is in Mannington’s Best category, and Sheehan said it showcases what the marriage of design and technology can achieve. “It’s created using proprietary technology which combines natural looks with state-of-the-art printing, texturing and finishing technology to create incredible realism in the product.”
For more information on Mannington’s latest laminate products, please call 856.935.3000.
PergoBilled as “the next generation of super, premium laminate flooring,”
David Small, marketing director, said the new Elegant Expressions and Commercial collections “combine the very best performance in terms of wear and scratch prevention with the most realistic visuals in laminate flooring.” And based on their initial success this summer, the company is adding Lenox Oak to Elegant Expressions and Branchport Cherry to the Commercial line for the fall.
“Elegant Expressions embodies the best-of-the-best in laminate flooring— offering Pergo’s latest performance innovations along with many décor options, including exotic, rustic and classic looks,” he explained.
“Pergo Commercial,” Small added, “which features a premium core and laminate surface, offers unbeatable durability and superior performance for both Main Street commercial and high-performance residential areas.”
Along with all the bells and whistles associated with a highend product—a premium attached underlayment, embossed in register textures, beveled edges, and so on, Elegant Expressions features Pergo’s new ScratchGard Advanced. Small said the patented technology provides 30% greater scratch and scuff resistance and improved clarity for richer colors and more realistic floors.
For more information on Pergo’s latest products, please call 919.773.6000.
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,” he explained, “produces the incredibly realistic hardwood strip look.”
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.
“True to our reputation as the leader in both style and technological innovation,” he added, “Quick•Step is again bringing another first in design possibilities to the industry. Linesse was modeled on the most popular 3-inch hardwood strip flooring on the market today and was introduced to meet the consumer’s desire for an alternative to the high cost of hardwood strip flooring.”
For more information on Quick•Step’s latest products, please call 866.220.5933.
ShawScott Sandlin, vice president of hard surface business development, said the company’s “commitment to design, innovation and fashion leadership in hard surface is evident in our latest introductions.”
Two “highly demanded” exotic looks have been added to Shaw’s Paradise collection. “King Mahogany and Malachi Koa are upscale exotic visuals that mimic some of the most beautiful species around,” he noted.
Malachi Koa is offered in two colors—Maui and Wailea. Both are “glowing and rich, playing up the beauty of the interesting Koa grain patterns,” Sandlin explained. King Mahogany is offered in three Mahogany looks—burnished, warm and rich.
Both products are offered in a dramatic two strip, 8-inch width and 479/16-inch length. Shaw’s LocNPlace technology, registered embossed Touchable Texture and 25-limited warranty “make these products truly stand out,” he added.
For more information on Shaw’s latest products, please call 800.441.7429.
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. “Our laminates allow families to live their lives without worrying about their floors.”
The latest New Frontiers and Journeys lines, incorporate Tarkett’s exclusive Laminate Performance System, which includes an AC4 rated commercial wear layer to protect them against wear and fading, and stains 60% better than ordinary laminate flooring.
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- inch 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.
For more information on Tarkett’s latest products, please call 610.266.5500.
