ShawMark’s Anything Goes! Carpets Celebrate 25th A

Dalton, GA, May 25--After more than 38 million square yards and approximately one billion dollars in retail sales, Anything Goes! turns 25. Shaw Industries’ ShawMark Floors division has announced plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its venerable line of carpets this fall with an eight-week sale and other promotional activities. Originally developed by Armstrong in 1980, Anything Goes! was designed to offer retailers a product with real value that would differentiate them from their competitors. Since its inception, Anything Goes! has earned a reputation as the best-performing carpet in the industry, and the products have undergone a series of "torture tests" to demonstrate their incredible texture retention capability. The first torture test, in August of 1981 at the Hershey Chocolate Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, subjected Anything Goes! to the foot traffic of 880,685 people. More than 2.25 million people walked on an Anything Goes! style installed for the second test in 1983 at the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, and other tests have followed through the years. In every test, the Anything Goes! carpet maintained its original twist and showed no signs of matting or crushing after cleaning. A new torture test is currently underway at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. "Anything Goes! was the first carpet to offer a 10-year no mat/no crush warranty," says Duane Goetze, ShawMark director of marketing, "and it’s still the only no mat/no crush warranty that includes stairs and hallways and is transferable." In addition to the fall sale, ShawMark will hold a contest for the oldest Anything Goes! installation. Participants will submit photos and proof of installation date and Anything Goes! style, with the winner being chosen based on longevity and appearance retention. "We’ll pick the winner for overall performance and age of installation, not simply on how long it’s been down," Goetze says. ShawMark recently introduced its new line of Anything Goes! Elite carpets to retailers. The products are constructed of Stainmaster Tactesse nylon and made to the same exacting standards as the original carpets. The new collection features 13 styles and includes friezes, textures, loops, patterns, and saxonies. A compact display in rich wood tones was created based on Shaw’s research into women’s buying habits and preferences. Anything Goes! Elite styles will carry the 5-Star rating in Shaw’s Star Assurance system and the same 10-Year Anything Goes! No Mat/No Crush Warranty as the original. In addition, these products will offer an extended 15-Year Quality Assurance Warranty and 60-Day Customer Satisfaction Guarantee. All Elite styles will also feature Shaw’s SoftBac Platinum backing system. The current torture test is being conducted with an Anything Goes! Elite style. "We feel that the new Anything Goes! Elite collection gives our longtime ShawMark customers all of the features and benefits they’ve come to expect," says Goetze. "These new styles not only offer the same remarkable performance, but the Tactesse yarn system allows us to create a wider variety of styles."

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