Mohawk's Lichen Earns Living Product Challenge Petal Certification

Seattle, WA, May 22, 2017-Mohawk Group has become the first flooring manufacturer to achieve Living Product Challenge Petal certification for the company’s new Lichen modular plank carpet system. The certification, which presents the most rigorous standard for sustainable manufacturing, was officially announced today at the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) annual unConference in Seattle.

The ILFI’s Living Product Challenge is a product certification program, advocacy tool and philosophy that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in product manufacturing today. The Challenge is comprised of seven performance categories called Petals: place, water, energy, health & happiness, materials, equity and beauty. Petal Recognition is given to products that satisfy the requirements in three categories of the Living Product Challenge, when at least one is water, energy or materials. Lichen met the place, water, and health & happiness Petals.

“Mohawk has significantly raised the bar with their new LPC certified Lichen Collection by launching a product that is 3rd party verified to be non-toxic and net positive for water through an incredible partnership with Morehouse college to create water Handprints. The product is a perfect marriage of sustainability and design, and is a concrete example of how companies can create positive change in the world through the Living Product Challenge,” said James Connelly, living product challenge director for ILFI.

Mohawk Group commissioned Jason F. McLennan, of McLennan Design and founder of the Living Product Challenge, to design the Lichen Collection. Inspired by the idea of “Nature’s Carpet,” the design team looked at natural assemblages of rich multi-hued, multi-textured lichens from extreme climates as the foundation for the collection. Just as lichens play a regenerative role in their ecosystem, the Lichen Collection gives more resources back to the environment than it uses during its entire life cycle.