March 10, 2009—Frank Hurd, VP and COO of the Carpet and Rug Institute, and Kemp Harr discuss the congressional meetings held last week in Washington with key CRI members. Discussions were centered on organized labor and the coalition for home furnishings tax credits. In the second half of the interview, Frank discusses the market performance for carpet in 2008 and the outlook for economic recovery.
March 9, 2009—John Baugh, the industry's leading financial analyst, and Kemp Harr discuss fourth quarter and year-end financial reports for Mohawk, Armstrong, Interface, Dixie and Lumber Liquidators. Listen to the interview to hear details about their businesses, their long term business health, and John's thoughts on the economy. (approx. 15 minutes)
March 5, 2009—Recorded at Surfaces, Jon Pierce, the leading independent retailer in Montana, and Kemp Harr discuss where he's finding business in this economy and the value he finds in attending Surfaces every year. Jon also comments on the annual National Floorcovering Alliance meeting held just prior to Surfaces. This select buying group, representing $1 billion in annual purchases, recently selected Shaw Industries to supply them with a 1500 roll order.
March 4, 2009—Recorded at Surfaces 2009, Chris Davis, President and CEO of the World Floor Covering Association, and Kemp Harr discuss the show traffic, the economy, benefits of membership in the WFCA, consumer outreach, the FCIF Foundation, the promotion around its 50th anniversary, and the new Gold Standard award. This year, the first winner of the Gold Standard award is Ike Gulessarian.
March 3, 2009—Recorded at Surfaces, Mike Riley, President, and Andy Brumlow, Director of Broadloom, discuss the company's entry into the broadloom category. Historically known for leadership in woven polypropylene area rugs for 25 years, Oriental Weavers now sells U.S. made, woven broadloom carpet in a wide assortment of fashion forward designs. More information on these products is available at www.owrugs.com.
March 2, 2009—Recorded at Surfaces, Piet Dossche, Owner and CEO of US Floors, and Kemp Harr discuss the company's new products, its environmental focus, its recent expansion in Dalton, Georgia, and its minority ownership by Amorim (the largest cork flooring manufacturer in the world). Watch this interview to hear more about US Floors and its new Eco-Design Center of cork and bamboo products in a color bank of 48 colors.
February 27, 2009—Recorded at Surfaces in Johnsonite's outstanding display, Karen Levey-Lynch, a New York design consultant, and Kemp Harr discuss the company's Science of Happy theme, Johnsonite's new website that will be rolled out in March, and the company's focus on solutions versus products.
February 26, 2009—Bridgett Kelly of the British Wool Marketing Board tells Kemp Harr about the unique characteristics of British wool fiber, why it's a good choice for high traffic areas like casinos and cruise ships, how the sustainability movement is helping drive sales, and why it's taking marketshare from synthetics.
February 25, 2009—If you are curious about trends in the laminate market, don't miss this interview with Roger Farabee, Senior VP of Marketing for several of Mohawk's hardsurface brands. Not only does Roger discuss strategic moves that Quick-Step is doing to take marketshare but he also explains in detail where the laminate market is going. Two new products that Quick-Step is introducing this year are Allustra, a high gloss laminate, and Sculptique, a rustic soft-scraped product, both of which are value priced and Made in the U.S.
February 24, 2009—Kennedy Frierson of high end carpet maker Masland tells Kemp Harr about the firm's new products, especially its Masland Avenue collection, as well as the firm's aggressive expansion of its wool product line that it introduced in late 2007.