June 5, 2013—Tom Borders, Business Director for carpet Backing, and Rick Moon, Account Executive, discuss Propex's recent announcement that they are expanding their backing facility in Hazelhurst, Georgia to satisfy the increasing demand for their Isis primary backing. Isis is a woven primary backing that is specifically designed as a tufting foundation for modular carpet. Listen to the interview for more details.
May 30, 2013—Robert Forrest, Director of Operations for Cobble USA, discusses this week's acquisition of Cobble by Belgium firm Michel Van de Wiele. Cobble, founded in Chattanooga, TN, was the original producer of tufting machines and has grown to have manufacturing locations in the U.S., the U.K., and China. Listen to the interview for more details about Cobble and Michel Van de Wiele.
May 29, 2013—Aaron Pirner, CEO with Cap Carpets, Inc., and Kemp Harr, Publisher of Floor Focus Magazine, discuss the grand opening of cap's two new pilot retail flooring stores. These new stores, called the Floor project, were created following some detailed consumer research that helped them change the format of the way consumers shop for flooring. Listen to the interview for more details including types of flooring, private label branding strategy, and technology enhancements.
May 24, 2013—Seth Arnold, Brand Director for Mohawk's residential carpet business, and Kemp Harr, discuss Mohawk's decision to allow consumers to give honest feedback about their brand experience via the internet. Listen to the interview to hear more details about how Mohawk uses this information to improve.
May 22, 2013—Amy Jaekel, U.S. Style Leader at OW Hospitality, and Kemp Harr, Publisher of Floor Focus Magazine, discuss OW's Watercolor Axminster carpet introduction at the Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas. Listen to the interview to hear more about Watercolor and about Amy's background in textile design.
May 20, 2013—Don Coates, Managing Director for Brintons, and Kemp Harr, Publisher of Floor Focus Magazine, discuss Brinton's turnaround from a family-owned, bankrupt company who is now recovering and growing with the help of the Carlyle Group. Listen to the interview from the floor of the Hospitality Design show in Vegas to hear more details about how the company turned itself around.
May 17, 2013—Lee Blair and Mark Page, the Global Head of Hospitality and Sr. Director of Color and Design at Durkan respectively, and Kemp Harr, talk about market conditions and carpet trends in the hospitality market. Listen to the interview, recorded earlier this week at the HD show in Vegas, for more details.
May 16, 2013—Sam Barry, Director of Marketing with Shaw Hospitality, and Kemp Harr, discuss the recent market trends in the hospitality market as the economy recovers, and Shaw Hospitality's award winning booth space. Listen to the interview, recorded the first day of the HD Expo in Las Vegas, to hear more details.
May 14, 2013-Patty Miller, Area Sales Manager with Premier Distributing, and Kemp Harr, discuss her perspective of the Coverings expo. Listen to the interview (recorded at Coverings 2013 in Atlanta) not only to hear Patty talk about the show but also about how she interacts with her retailer customers in the field.
May 13, 2013—Ralph Grogan, President and CEO of Bentley, and Kemp Harr, Publisher of Floor Focus Magazine, discuss the strategy behind the decision to change the company's name from Bentley Prince Street to Bentley. Listen to the interview for details and to hear more about Bentley's personnel additions.