Brand Focus: Karastan – December 2024

By Darius Helm

The journey began in 1926, when Marshall Field, the department store founder, perceived a need for affordable machine-made rugs. He built a facility in Eden, North Carolina and purchased Axminister machinery. Eugene Clark, an engineer for the firm’s Homecrest Rug division, modified the machinery to create a hand-knotted look. And by 1928, the firm had started producing rugs, the 700 series, and come up with a name for the new enterprise.

A BRAND IS BORN
Karastan, an invented name evocative of Oriental rug culture, sounds like a stamp of design authenticity, of quality and legacy-identifying characteristics of the brand since it displayed its Wonder Rug on the show floor of the 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair. Not only was the machine-made wool rug unlike anything people had seen before, but after at least five million people walked on it over the course of several months in 1933, the firm took it up, cleaned one half of it to look new again and displayed the rug at the event the following year. A modern machine-made rug with sophisticated visuals, remarkable durability and cleanability, and a price point well below that of handmade rugs-that message quickly became Karastan’s identifying brand character.

BRAND ENDURANCE
“Karastan has always been one of the only recognized brands in the flooring world,” says Jackie Dettmar, vice president of marketing, design and product development for Mohawk Group, who actually started her career at Karastan in 1988 as its first female manufacturing management trainee. “Quality, luxury and timeless design is what Karastan has always conveyed to me,” she adds, noting that the brand “has had some amazing products and marketing campaigns through the years and was ahead of its time in understanding the connection between fashion design and home interiors.”

According to Jamie Kim, senior vice president of fashion sales, Karastan and Godfrey Hirst, “As a consumer, I think a brand is a promise, and the promise of Karastan is products that will endure for the home, the family, that will stay beautiful and also perform at a high level.” Kim notes that, because it has stayed true to that promise, “Karastan has enjoyed strong brand equity in the market.”

And Jason Randolph, senior vice president of residential sales for Mohawk, points out that what distinguishes the brand from other lines is its focus on premium fibers-mostly wool, Kashmere nylon 6 and SmartStrand triexta.

Sustaining the brand has also meant keeping up with trends, including incorporating hard surface programs. In addition to carpet and rugs-including a growing custom-cut broadloom rug offering-the firm now offers laminate, luxury vinyl and engineered wood.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
“We’ve tied the brand with strong retail partners and limited distribution of the brand,” says Randolph. He notes that retailers have exclusivity in their markets, which allows those retailers to advertise effectively. “We’re gaining a lot of momentum with that dealer advertising at the local level, because they’re confident in the brand, and they know they have protection in their geographic area.” He adds that it’s the only brand with that kind of distribution strategy.

Kim points out that, as populations have moved and stores have changed, the firm is less rigid about what it requires from dealer partners-no longer does it require that retail partners devote at least 700 square feet of their showrooms to Karastan. He says, “We’re still looking to get out our Karastan Gallery, but we’re just more flexible.”

“We enjoy the semi-exclusivity in our market,” says Chris Cosentino, president of Naples, Florida-based Hadinger Flooring, a long-time Karastan partner. “There are other stores in the market with Karastan but not many and they are good competition.” He adds that Karastan carpet is still among its best sellers, and customers increasingly think of Karastan when it comes to hard surface flooring, and he expects this demand to increase as Karastan expands its hard surface product offering.

Another longstanding Karastan partner, R.C. Willey, has several locations in Utah, Nevada, California and Idaho. Steve Hendricks, the retailer’s carpet buyer, notes that Karastan’s emphasis on the quality of flooring dealers that it sells to is hugely significant. He says, “In my markets, Karastan looks to build up their current dealer by looking for ways to grow with them to offset any downturns instead of opening new accounts. It’s less about quantity and more about quality.” The result, he notes, is that “when the dealers who sell Karastan believe in the value of the brand, they are less likely to devalue the product by selling it cheap. This allows our RSAs to sell with confidence.”

Noting that Karastan reps rank as the top reps for each of his locations, Hendricks adds that the brand’s hard surface offering is a growing part of the retailer’s competitive hard surfaces business. “It instantly had credibility among the RSAs,” he says.

MEETING THE MARKET
Kim reports that Karastan will launch its premium Black Label Collection later this month at the Mohawk Edge Summit and at Surfaces in January. Designed to further elevate the brand, the soft surface collection will include hand-knotted and Tailored Loop constructions, about 40% domestically produced and 60% sourced from high-end overseas partners. The collection is a homage to the types of products that originally elevated the brand, and it will use the same naming device-this time, it’s the 9000 color series.

Copyright 2024 Floor Focus 

Related Topics:Karastan, Mohawk Industries, The International Surface Event (TISE)