By Louis Iannaco
SALEM, N.J.—With the popularity of ceramic increasing by the day coupled with the upswing in the luxury vinyl tile (LVT) arena, Mannington’s brain trust went into 2008 with the mindset of giving the consumer what she desired: as many offerings as possible utilizing its state-of-the-art technology.

“The porcelain tile category is booming,” said Zac Zehner, director of ceramic business. “What we have learned since we got back into the business in 2003 is North American tastes in tile are regional and not the same as the Europeans. More and more, we’re designing our own products from scratch.”

In addition to field tiles, Mannington added an accent program in 2007 featuring glass and metal mosaics, which has been expanded in 2008.

Tempest Fugit

New additions to Mannington’s porcelain tile offerings in 2008 include Tempest, a glazed product featuring a dramatic sandstone visual in four colors and three sizes.

“Color is coming back into the fashion end of tile,” Zehner said. “What we’ve done is a pretty significant departure from last year. It features a very dramatic color range. It’s off to a huge start.”

According to Terry Marchetta, director of residential styling, the main focus for Mannington with its porcelain tile for 2008 was a blending of color. “When we were developing Tempest, our goal was to create a realistic looking product with great character. It had to have a lot of depth, but most importantly it had to have a blending of color, which helps the consumer coordinate with today’s fashion trends.”

Del Norte, another glazed porcelain with a marble visual in three colors, is new to Mannington’s tile portfolio. It comes in two sizes as well as in two-inch mosaics.

Finally, Serengeti Slate, a through-body porcelain featuring a dramatic slate visual developed via the company’s exclusive Natural Variation Technology, debuts in three colors.

Authenticating Adura

Mannington’s 2008 focus for its Adura luxury vinyl line is to build on the brand’s Distinctive Collection with a 5 x 48-inch format while taking Adura to the next level of realism. “We are going to feed the Distinctive Collection,” said David Sheehan, director of resilient and laminate. “Our second driver is to raise the level of realism.

“We did well with handscraped looks a few years ago and followed that up with exotic looks last year. Now we want to raise the realism level throughout the line.”

In the Distinctive Collection, a design called Acacia with five new colors is now available, as is Ashford Walnut which comes in four shades.

Adura luxury vinyl tile now comes with V2 Technology, which provides twice the variation as compared to traditional LVT lines, Sheehan noted. This technology is used in the mill’s new Dynasty line, which features three SKUs. Seaside is also new and available in three SKUs. “You can install it with or without grout lines,” Sheehan said. “That’s the preferred look for us now— 100% of our line has a grout look.”

For more information, call Mannington at 856.935.3000.