Article Number: 5292
At Mohawk, innovation is the name of the game
By Steven Feldman
UNCASVILLE, CONN.—If innovation drives growth, then Mohawk stands to see significant dividends in 2010. Whether it is hard or soft surface, innovation was the recurring theme at its regional winter markets, as was a continued focus on its fiber trinity: SmartStrand Sorona, Wear-Dated and Everstrand. And across each platform, soft was a common refrain.
SmartStrand’s success continues to be driven by a softness story backed by a performance story and a warranty package, according to Tom Lape, president, Mohawk Residential. “At the same time, it provides a high degree of value compared to other products in the market, which is what today’s consumer demands.”
Lape noted that Sorona has gained even greater acceptance among retailers and consumers since it became its own category— triexta (FCNews, April 6/13). “The validation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a new classification has helped in the industry’s eyes. But the most important aspect in speaking to most retailers is it is one of the most profitable products on the floor. So it’s a better product and more profitable.”
Rick King, product director, triexta, noted how major customers around the country immediately took on SmartStrand once the FTC issued its ruling. “Some retailers do not want to sell polyester,” he said. “So when the FTC gave us the classification of triexta and took polyester off, it validated our claim that it was a different fiber.”
Mohawk this winter showcased seven new Sorona products, including Sheer Ecstasy, a 75-ounce available in 40 colors. There is also Savilla Island, a 58-ounce causal freize in 24 solid and eight berber flecks with a very soft hand; a pair of soft loops, Soothing Manor in 20 solid colors and Campanello in 16 berber flecks; and three LCLs in “dramatic” patterns, each with its own 24-color palette.
“It’s all about fashion and Sorona’s new standard for softness,” King said.
On the Wear-Dated side, Mohawk took the wraps off its latest introduction: SoftTouch with SoftFusion technology, which the company is heralding as the softest nylon in the industry. “We found a way to incorporate the technology into a variety of textures,” Lape said.
In all, 28 new Wear-Dated products were introduced, the majority of which are SoftTouch with the remainder labeled DuraSoft. Products include textures, loops, tri-tonals, friezes and LCLs, all in a 25- to 60-ounce range.
“We know the Wear-Dated brand is strong at the dealer level and [recognition] also exists at the consumer level,” Lape said. “Our objective is to bring out those differences to the consumer.”
Also new is the Stylish Choice collection under the WundaWeve brand, a unique coordination of nine Wear-Dated DuraSoft and SoftTouch products in a variety of style options that share a 40-color palette. “We are actually drawing on the success of the SmartStrand color wall,” King said. “The response has been phenomenal.”
The key is simplification, said David Duncan, vice president of marketing. “Consumers pick a color, then find a style,” he said. “When we developed the Sorona color wall last year, it became the most successful launch of a Mohawk merchandising system. But Sorona is a large fixture and takes up a lot of space. Stylish Choice is a mini version of the color wall. It creates a focal point and is not a big investment for the retailer.”
Wear-Dated is also exclusively represented in the Perfectly Soft collection under the company’s Horizonbrand. The all-soft line features SoftTouch in a 24-pin display. However, unlike Stylish Choice, each style has its own color palette. “It’s about an assortment of design,” King said, “everything from freizes to shags.”
When it comes to the Aladdin brand, it is all about the EverStrand platform, and this year the focus is on green. Not only green, but certifiable green. All EverStrand products now contain at minimum 10% post-consumer recycled content and as much as 100% in 18 styles. What’s more, Mohawk is now providing on-demand certification letters to validate post-consumer recycled content. Duncan referred to it as PSA: proven, specific and authentic. “We don’t just say we’re green; we prove it.”
Laminates
Continuing down the innovation highway, Mohawk took the wraps off a pair: GenuEdge treatment and ScratchGuard advanced finish protection. GenuEdge is a pressed beveled edge innovation that creates what Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing, Mohawk Hard Surfaces, calls “the most realistic hardwood look ever seen in laminate. In the past, if we wanted to replicate a hardwood beveled-type edge treatment we would have to slice the edge of the product and decorate it.”
This new technology, he added,” “allows us to distress the overall board so the décor actually rolls over the edge. It’s a very subtle bevel, more of a true eased edge,” noting that the technology is proprietary and will differentiate Mohawk from the competition.
The first product to utilize GenuEdge technology is Barrington, which launches with four colors in hickory and three in a rustic white oak. Retail price points will range from $2.99 to $3.99.
Farabee is equally excited about the mill’s new ScratchGuard finish, which will be built into the surface of all laminate products 8mm and thicker. “ScratchGuard brings improved resistance to dulling and micro scratches caused by dust and dirt.” Products with the new finish will hit the streets sometime during the first quarter.
Hardwood
A “Made in the U.S.A.” theme takes center stage here. Brandymill is a 5-inch-wide, 3/8-inch scraped engineered hardwood with a random chatter effect. Housed in the Rustic Scraped display, the line features two species, hickory and maple, in seven colors.
New technology enables Mohawk to deliver a scraped visual at the attractive $3.99 to $4.99 price point. “The key is it is made in the U.S.,” Farabee said. “Until now, to achieve this type of visual at this price point you needed to go to China. We think domestically made is becoming more important to consumers.”
Mohawk is also rolling out two imported acrylic impregnated engineered products: Tescott offers a smooth finish while Novell is a scrape. “What’s interesting is we are able to use species that normally wouldn’t be appropriate for flooring, like poplar,” Farabee said. “The acrylic process makes it harder. You also get a different visual affect. In addition, with the top layer being acrylic impregnated, the color goes all the way through the veneer layer. The result is a deeper, richer, color effect versus a stain that is just sitting on top. This gives a performance and aesthetic story.”
Ceramic
The theme here is what Farabee refers to as a strong price/value story attributed to a higher level of visual. “It’s all about offering the right products at the right looks at the right price.”
Building on the success of 2009 introduction Gravura, Mohawk took the wraps off Cardenas and Novarra, a pair of products that also employ ink jet technology, which the company touts as taking realism to the next level. Cardenas is a glazed porcelain floor, while Novara is a glazed floor/wall combo.
“Ink jet technology allows for a wider range of design possibilities,” Farabee said. “That translates into more realism, more variation and higher print definition than you would get with traditional ceramic printing technologies.”
UNCASVILLE, CONN.—If innovation drives growth, then Mohawk stands to see significant dividends in 2010. Whether it is hard or soft surface, innovation was the recurring theme at its regional winter markets, as was a continued focus on its fiber trinity: SmartStrand Sorona, Wear-Dated and Everstrand. And across each platform, soft was a common refrain.
SmartStrand’s success continues to be driven by a softness story backed by a performance story and a warranty package, according to Tom Lape, president, Mohawk Residential. “At the same time, it provides a high degree of value compared to other products in the market, which is what today’s consumer demands.”
Lape noted that Sorona has gained even greater acceptance among retailers and consumers since it became its own category— triexta (FCNews, April 6/13). “The validation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a new classification has helped in the industry’s eyes. But the most important aspect in speaking to most retailers is it is one of the most profitable products on the floor. So it’s a better product and more profitable.”
Rick King, product director, triexta, noted how major customers around the country immediately took on SmartStrand once the FTC issued its ruling. “Some retailers do not want to sell polyester,” he said. “So when the FTC gave us the classification of triexta and took polyester off, it validated our claim that it was a different fiber.”
Mohawk this winter showcased seven new Sorona products, including Sheer Ecstasy, a 75-ounce available in 40 colors. There is also Savilla Island, a 58-ounce causal freize in 24 solid and eight berber flecks with a very soft hand; a pair of soft loops, Soothing Manor in 20 solid colors and Campanello in 16 berber flecks; and three LCLs in “dramatic” patterns, each with its own 24-color palette.
“It’s all about fashion and Sorona’s new standard for softness,” King said.
On the Wear-Dated side, Mohawk took the wraps off its latest introduction: SoftTouch with SoftFusion technology, which the company is heralding as the softest nylon in the industry. “We found a way to incorporate the technology into a variety of textures,” Lape said.
In all, 28 new Wear-Dated products were introduced, the majority of which are SoftTouch with the remainder labeled DuraSoft. Products include textures, loops, tri-tonals, friezes and LCLs, all in a 25- to 60-ounce range.
“We know the Wear-Dated brand is strong at the dealer level and [recognition] also exists at the consumer level,” Lape said. “Our objective is to bring out those differences to the consumer.”
Also new is the Stylish Choice collection under the WundaWeve brand, a unique coordination of nine Wear-Dated DuraSoft and SoftTouch products in a variety of style options that share a 40-color palette. “We are actually drawing on the success of the SmartStrand color wall,” King said. “The response has been phenomenal.”
The key is simplification, said David Duncan, vice president of marketing. “Consumers pick a color, then find a style,” he said. “When we developed the Sorona color wall last year, it became the most successful launch of a Mohawk merchandising system. But Sorona is a large fixture and takes up a lot of space. Stylish Choice is a mini version of the color wall. It creates a focal point and is not a big investment for the retailer.”
Wear-Dated is also exclusively represented in the Perfectly Soft collection under the company’s Horizonbrand. The all-soft line features SoftTouch in a 24-pin display. However, unlike Stylish Choice, each style has its own color palette. “It’s about an assortment of design,” King said, “everything from freizes to shags.”
When it comes to the Aladdin brand, it is all about the EverStrand platform, and this year the focus is on green. Not only green, but certifiable green. All EverStrand products now contain at minimum 10% post-consumer recycled content and as much as 100% in 18 styles. What’s more, Mohawk is now providing on-demand certification letters to validate post-consumer recycled content. Duncan referred to it as PSA: proven, specific and authentic. “We don’t just say we’re green; we prove it.”
Laminates
Continuing down the innovation highway, Mohawk took the wraps off a pair: GenuEdge treatment and ScratchGuard advanced finish protection. GenuEdge is a pressed beveled edge innovation that creates what Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing, Mohawk Hard Surfaces, calls “the most realistic hardwood look ever seen in laminate. In the past, if we wanted to replicate a hardwood beveled-type edge treatment we would have to slice the edge of the product and decorate it.”
This new technology, he added,” “allows us to distress the overall board so the décor actually rolls over the edge. It’s a very subtle bevel, more of a true eased edge,” noting that the technology is proprietary and will differentiate Mohawk from the competition.
The first product to utilize GenuEdge technology is Barrington, which launches with four colors in hickory and three in a rustic white oak. Retail price points will range from $2.99 to $3.99.
Farabee is equally excited about the mill’s new ScratchGuard finish, which will be built into the surface of all laminate products 8mm and thicker. “ScratchGuard brings improved resistance to dulling and micro scratches caused by dust and dirt.” Products with the new finish will hit the streets sometime during the first quarter.
Hardwood
A “Made in the U.S.A.” theme takes center stage here. Brandymill is a 5-inch-wide, 3/8-inch scraped engineered hardwood with a random chatter effect. Housed in the Rustic Scraped display, the line features two species, hickory and maple, in seven colors.
New technology enables Mohawk to deliver a scraped visual at the attractive $3.99 to $4.99 price point. “The key is it is made in the U.S.,” Farabee said. “Until now, to achieve this type of visual at this price point you needed to go to China. We think domestically made is becoming more important to consumers.”
Mohawk is also rolling out two imported acrylic impregnated engineered products: Tescott offers a smooth finish while Novell is a scrape. “What’s interesting is we are able to use species that normally wouldn’t be appropriate for flooring, like poplar,” Farabee said. “The acrylic process makes it harder. You also get a different visual affect. In addition, with the top layer being acrylic impregnated, the color goes all the way through the veneer layer. The result is a deeper, richer, color effect versus a stain that is just sitting on top. This gives a performance and aesthetic story.”
Ceramic
The theme here is what Farabee refers to as a strong price/value story attributed to a higher level of visual. “It’s all about offering the right products at the right looks at the right price.”
Building on the success of 2009 introduction Gravura, Mohawk took the wraps off Cardenas and Novarra, a pair of products that also employ ink jet technology, which the company touts as taking realism to the next level. Cardenas is a glazed porcelain floor, while Novara is a glazed floor/wall combo.
“Ink jet technology allows for a wider range of design possibilities,” Farabee said. “That translates into more realism, more variation and higher print definition than you would get with traditional ceramic printing technologies.”
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