Bob Fish, VP/GM, retail sales, lounges in the Cali booth at Surfaces, which showcased the company's first
indoor-outdoor area rugs.
LAS VEGAS -- Surfaces 2022, which was held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Feb. 1-3, was missing several mainstream rug and broadloom companies including Nourison and Kaleen Rugs, who hosted buyers in their World Market showrooms this time around. Couristan and Stark also opted out of this winter's event.
In their absence, however, some non-traditional soft surface suppliers took the opportunity to introduce new rug programs or make commitments to the category. That list included Tarkett, primarily a hard surface supplier, and San Diego-based Cali, better known for bamboo flooring and luxury vinyl planks.
In addition, Stanton, The Dixie Group and Dream Weaver—traditional soft surface companies—made their presence known with rug commitments.
RugNews.com reports back from the show with a recap of rug activity at Surfaces.
Stanton CEO Jonathan Cohen said he was not bothered that several of his competitors chose not to exhibit. As he put it, “we’re not concerned with who’s not here, we’re here to focus on what we do, on what our task is.”
That task included a greater presence in custom rugs and fabrication. “We fabricate rugs every day in our distribution center in Georgia,” Cohen said. “For sure it is a growing part of our business. We were never whole house carpet anyway; with us, rugs makes more sense.”
The Crescent collection from Stanton—distinct carpet, custom rugs.
With carpet relegated to individual rooms, and with the growth of hard surfaces, more broadloom is being turned into custom rugs. That was evident at Surfaces. The Dixie Group, for example, introduced its 1866 by Masland (20 introductions) and Décor by Fabrica (10 intros) high-end brands for its decorative business. According to Len Andolino, vice president – decorative division, “we have lots of application in area rugs. In fact, 80 percent of decorative becomes a cut sized bound rug or runner.”
The majority of Fabrica's new high-end decorative Decor collection will become custom rugs.
Dream Weaver by Engineered Floors introduced a new area rug program as part of its DW Select collection. The program allows customers to choose a broadloom design from DW Select and have it cut into an area rug—in four of the most popular area rug sizes—and serged. DW Select products feature Engineered Floors’ proprietary three-ply TwistX technology and the stain resistance of its PureColor solution-dyed fiber system. Rugs are available in the following sizes: 5 x 7, 6 x 9, 8 x 10, and 9 x 12. In addition, Dream Weaver, the retail brand of Engineered Floors, does the serging internally.
Lexmark, a carpet brand known for style and design, is now incorporated under the Tarkett Home label, with rugs as a major focus. “All our products have a rug program—custom or standard,” said Laurie Springer, director of brand and channel marketing. Its Lifetime Style collection, for example, has 30 products in the custom rug program.
Laurie Springer, director of brand and channel marketing for Tarkett, at the Make the Cut rug display.
Tarkett Home also announced its Make the Cut custom rug program. Make the Cut lets customers select a style and then a size from its collection. All rugs are serged with a complementary color of yarn and attached non-skid backing.
Tarkett Home debuts its Make the Cut custom rug program, whichlets customers select a style and a size from
its collection. All rugs are serged with a complementary color of yarn and attached non-skid backing.
In November 2021, Cali parent company, Victoria PLC, acquired the growing rugs division of Belgium-based Balta Group. At Surfaces, Cali displayed its first line of indoor/outdoor rugs. Made of a high-quality durable flatweave polypropylene yarn, the rugs are UV-stabilized and said to be easy to clean. They will be available for shipping in late Q2 or early Q3. “Our goal is to create a scenario where we can capture that impulse buy—given that everyone who puts down hard surface adds a rug— which helps our dealer partners.” said Bob Fish, vice president and general manager, retail sales for Cali.