October 4, 2006—Werner Braun, President, Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) offers retailers and retailer salespeople fact-based answers they can use to help field consumer questions about asthma and allergy. Braun discusses specific testing methods and procedures to help promote understanding of how carpet acts as a trap to keep dust and allergens out of the breathing zone and away breathing passages.
October 3, 2006—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the fourth part of a five part series looks at the changing landscape in the hard surface sector of the floor covering business discussing pricing in the laminate sector and his expectations for the future. Torcivia also talks about the vinyl sector, its current state and his take on the future of the product category,
October 3, 2006—Tom Rennie, President, TLR Consulting and Editor of the Commercial Carpet, in the second part of a three-part series evaluates the current state of the carpet segment, discussing how consumers in today’s environment view carpet and what actions will be necessary for carpet to begin regaining markeshare. Rennie also the effects of the Stainmaster campaign 20 years ago and the residual effects since.
October 3, 2006—Frank O’Neill, co-publisher Floor Focus discusses Armstrong’s emergence from Chapter 11 and the company’s plans going forward; Mohawk’s appellate court ruling in its RICO case; The slowing growth in August in the office furniture market; New Jersey’s decision to tax floor covering installation; The expansion of Honeywell’s caprolactam capacity; Invista’s acquisition of a yarn processor in Germany and; Faus naming of Melmart as its Canadian distributor.
October 3, 2006—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the fifth and final part of a five part series looks at the changing landscape in the hard surface sector of the floor covering business discussing consolidation of the laminate sector and his expectation of how the sector will look in years to come. Torcivia also talks about the effects Shaw and Mohawk has had in the hard surface sector.
October 2, 2006—Tom Rennie, President, TLR Consulting and Editor of the Commercial Carpet, in the first part of a three-part series, evaluates the current state of the carpet segment comparing its health today with that of October of 2005, discussing carpet sales in 2006, how the slowdown in housing has effected the sector and compare sales of the hard and soft sectors of the industry
October 1, 2006—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the third part of a five part series, looks at the changing landscape in the hard surface sector of the floor covering business discussing the laminate, hardwood, and ceramic sectors, the uniquenesses and his expectations for each category. Torcivia talks about the high-end of the flooring market and his expectations for this market segment.
September 29, 2006—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the second part of a five part series looks at the changing landscape in the hard surface sector of the floor covering business discussing the laminate sector, European producers and the manufacturing facilities that many have opened in the U.S., the need for these players to be vertically integrated. Torcivia also details his list of the most significant developments in the hard surface sector over the past five years.
September 27, 2006—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the first part of a five part series, looks at the changing landscape in the hard surface sector of the floor covering business discussing the hard surface verses soft surface clash in the marketplace and some of the reasons behind carpet’s market share losses. Torcivia discusses growth among the hard surface product categories over the last several years and the reasons behind this growth, focusing on growth in the ceramic sector and the expansion of ceramic manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
September 26, 2006—John Davis, VP of International Sales at Shaw Industries in the final part of a two-part series talks about the international floor covering marketplace focusing on areas of prime growth and some of the problems that have occurred in some international markets. Davis discusses growth in the some of the Middle Easterns markets, Shaw’s plans for launching new products at Domotex 2007 and his expectations for growth in 2007 and beyond in the international marketplace.