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Carpet News
Carpet Prices Going Up Again!!
Forget the news about inflation being low. They are lying to us. Carpet Prices are going up! Yes for the tenth time in three years, carpet prices are going up once again. The usual suspects are in play; higher latex cost, higher labor cost, and now China is being blamed for drivng up the cost of the rare element Caprolactam (a main ingredient for making nylon). So don't be shocked by the price of carpet come February 1 st. 2011. The sad part of any increase is that dealers will try and sell lesser quality carpets to keep cost down. This is not the way service your customers.
New SmartStrand "Rhino Tough???"
Mohawk has taken all the doubt about the durability and cleanability of its new SmartStrand carpets made with Triexta fiber. Chip Wade, a HGTV personality from "Desinged to Sell" has become a spokesperson for Mohawk's new Smartstrand carpet. Mr. Wade recenlty helped Mohawk run the ultimate performance test of this new fiber. The test involved having Ricko the Rhino from the Birmingham Zoo, "live" on the carpet for two weeks. Just use your imagination to see what a six hundred pound Rhino could do to the carpet in your living room. (OMG) The carpet has been taken up and cleaned. The results are available on Youtube under "Smartstrand Challange". You will not believe you eyes. UPDATE!! I just returned from a Mohawk mini road show where I got to see an acutual piece of this Rhino stained triexta carpet. This piece felt clean and soft and looked new. However, it did not pass the smell test. I guess if a Rhino urinated on my carpet it would smell too. I am not easily impressed, and the more I learn about triexta the more I am impressed.Carpet May Even Be Helpful
Multiple studies found that carpet my be helpful to humans. An 18 nation study of nearly 20,000 people found a statistical relatonship between carpeted bedrooms and reduced asthma symptoms and bronchial responsiveness. It seems that carpet actually keeps allergens out of the air. More allergens are delivered to humans from furniture and mattresses than any type of carpet. Must be that our nose and mouth do not spend much time on the carpet. To learn more check out Dr. Sauerhoff's carpet and asthma report at www.flooringsciences.org.
The Battle of the "Jolly Green Giants"
The battle is on, Mohawk vs Shaw. Who can be the "greenest"? All the ad men know that consumers are becoming more aware of global warming, air quality, etc, and they want consumers to feel they have a hand in making the planet safer. Enter the giants of the carpet industry, Mohawk and Shaw, each with their own solution to the environmental problem. On the Mohawk side we will see the introduction of carpet made from corn, and on the Shaw side, we are going to see recyclable carpet and carpet fiber. Each of our giants is going to spend millions to convince you that their contribution to saving our planet is significantly better than the other.
I am most happy to see our industry headed in the direction that puts less carpet in our landfills, and that is able to begin to break the connection to petroleum. At this early point in the battle, I'd have to say the Shaw has a lead in the rush to be "green". Right now in major cities there centers where dealers can take used carpet to for recycling. The first one that was opened up in the Portland Oregon area was overwhelmed at the response of local dealers, and was not able to keep up with processing the mass quantities of carpet. The problem is being addressed, and with some guidelines, will reopen in the near future.
Each of these efforts is to be applauded, but the consumer should understand that performance of these new products has not yet stood the ultimate test; which is years of wear and abuse by you in your home, however, Sonora PTT seems to be winning consumer confidence each year. Mohawk's new "Smartstrand" brand of Sonora PTT fiber by DuPont uses corn sugar to make Bio-PDO (chemically known as propanediol), and is one of the ingredients used in the fiber making process that ordinarily would use a petroleum base. Mohawk has tested the new Sonora product and says it is as good as the old petroleum based product. PTT has recently won reclassification with the FTC, and should not be confused with PET or old fashion polyester like Dacron, Kodel, or Tirvira. (trademarks). The new class of fiber is called "Triexta" .
Shaw's N6 nylon is recyclable, and is currently used in a great deal of their nylon products. The percentage of recycled fiber in these carpets is not publicized, but I am guessing somewhere between 2 and 5% at this time. We are talking nylon here, still the strongest fiber used in making carpet. In the next ten years if Shaw keeps moving that minimum figure up and up, they will indeed be making a huge contribution to making our planet greener.
Lowes to Feature Stainmaster Carpets
Lowes scored a huge victory in the carpet war between the big boxes and many dealers across the country. Lowes has made an agreement to feature and advertise the stainmaster brand of carpets. While this decision may upset some dealers who have invested money in advertising and promotional programs, it will most certainly boost carpet sales for the Lowes corporation. There has already been some ads depicting other big box stores as "inferior" because they do not carry Stainmaster.
However, in most cases, consumers are not aware that Stainmaster does not make carpet. Stainmaster is a chemical treatment tied to a type 6.6 nylon. The Stainmaster technology is available to all the major carpet mills, and they all made some stainmaster treated carpets. The consumer must understand that there are other stain treatments and technologies that are as good or better than stainmaster when it comes to cleanability. One such technology can be seen on youtube under the search "smartstrand challange". Consumers should remember that just becasue the stainmaster lable in on the carpet, does not guarantee long lasting performance in your carpet.
Is the Teflon on your Stainmaster Carpet Harmful?
It must have been ratings week at ABC because the entertainment program 20/20 is trying to scare everyone who may own a Stainmaster Carpet. The ABC Nov 14th, 2004 broadcast showed how the fumes from heating your Teflon coated frying pad up to about 660 F. will potentially kill your pet parakeet. This is supposed to lead us to believe that anything that contains Teflon (like Stainmaster Carpet) will harm you and your family. Rest easy all you carpet owners, as the chemical used to make that cookware coating (C-8 or PFOA) is not used to make Stainmaster Carpet. The fluorinated polymers used in all stain resistant carpet are applied at low concentrations and are not easily absorbed through the skin. The U.S. EPA believes, as part of its PFOA investigation, that there is no reason for consumers to stop using carpet or any other textile treated with Teflon or similar products. So unless you want to set your carpet on fire and take deep breaths of the fumes, I would not worry about the health effects from your stain-resistant carpet.Soft Nylon is the New Trend
Three years ago Du Pont first introduced Tactesse (pronounced TACK-tess) a new BCF fiber, and there were four styles in the first introduction. This year at Surfaces 2004 there were over 550. This new fiber, while softer feeling, will stand up better against traffic and wear. This is because the individual fiber cross-section has been altered to obtain a tighter, more densely packed fiber bundle with fewer air pockets, which increases the fibers resistance to matting and crushing. Also, cut pile carpets made from this fiber have sharp pin-point tufts, and a crisp, clean-looking pile surface. Of course the other fiber makers have introduced their own soft nylons. Honeywell has Anso Caress, while Solutia has Dura Soft. By the way, DuPont is no longer in the fiber business, and the brand names of Stainmaster, Tactesse etc. were sold to Invista Inc.
Is Shag Back?
This year, in some parts of the country, Shag carpets are the hottest selling item in dealers showrooms. After all, there is a generation that has never seen shag. Smart dealers are not using the word "Shag" due to the bad rep shag received in the 70's. The shags of old were often poorly made. They where made with much air in the fiber, i.e. puffed up polyester, or way way too long of a pile. The "new" shags are more of an outgrowth of some super friezes. These newer shags are much tighter twisted, and made from advance nylons that were not available in the 1970s. I like to call these new shags "super textures" or long friezes because I do remember shags, as do many of my customers. Thus, I will continue to sell friezes, but in the months to come the pile height of these carpets may continue to get longer and longer.
Fewer and Fewer Mills
No longer are there 200 plus mills making carpet like there was in the 1970s. Nowdays Mokawk owns Horizon, Galaxy, Aladdin, World and Image carpet mills and more , plus Congoleum. Beaulieu owns Coronet, Columbus and Caladium, and Hollytex. Shaw bought out Queen, Philadelphia, Cabin Crafts, Evan & Black, Tuftex, Sutton, Salem, and just recently purchased part of the Dixie Group and the plant that made Formica Brand Laminate flooring. . Even the small mills got in the act, with the most recent being the transaction between Royalty Carpet Mills, and Camelot Carpet Mills.
All I know is that ten years ago I carried, Queen, Cabin Craft, E&B, Salem, Mohawk, Galaxy, Horizon, Cumberland, Aladdin, Patcraft, and Philly. Also I had a mill rep from each of those mill that called on my business. Now I am lucky to see one or two reps, and I make my checks payable to Shaw or Mohawk. Someday I may just skip all that, and make my checks directly payable to Warren Buffett.
What is sad is that all this is not good for the consumer. Someday you will not have that small independent dealer to guide you through making one of your most important home improvement decisions. The fact that four mills will control 95% of the carpet manufactured is a sign that the carpet business is likely to go the way of the car business. In the early 1900's there were several makers of automobiles. Today we have Ford, GM, and Mercedes (Chrysler). Presently we have many small and medium sized floorcovering dealers. Tomorrow we most likely will have just the Big Box retailers, and a few buying groups like CarpetMax and Carpet One.
I am thankful that the floorcovering business is still a people business; especially when it comes to retail sales. Bob Shaw's people discovered that being in the retail floorcovering business involved more than acquisition of physical properties. In the end, if Mrs. Consumer does not trust the salesperson who is trying to solve her floorcovering needs, all the mill name recognition, all the fiber brand name recognition, and all the advertising will not sway her to part with her money. The retail floorcovering business needs qualified sales people, not clerks. This is essential; especially for the smaller floorcovering retailer. There are many mistakes the consumer can make when buying floorcovering, and unlike a car, you can't take it back.
What's Going on in the Laminate Flooring Business?
Just as I predicted in 1998, the Laminate Flooring Business as deteriorated into who can make it the cheapest. We are seeing retailers offer "glueless" laminate flooring for .89 cents a sq. ft. This is sad, as there are many quality laminate floors being made, however, many retailers are convinced the consumer just wants the cheapest price. This is so wrong, as what consumers want is FASHION; especially in their selection of hardwood, and laminate flooring. My advice to consumers is to not just visit your local home center, but also take a look at some floor specialty stores that offer selection, expertise, and quality installation. With Mohawk acquiring Quick-Step (2nd largest seller of laminate), laminate flooring is here to stay. Just remember you get what you pay for.
Square Foot Price vs. Square Yard Price
The debate is heated and diverse. I've heard of retail salespeople using this debate to try and convince their customer that their competition was crooked for using misleading methods of figuring how much a job will cost. If one were selling by the sq. yd., they would say that the business selling by the sq. ft. was trying to "pull a fast one". This is an easy out for small dealers who wish to fight the cheapo depots and the large dealers who have made the change to sq. ft. pricing. However, if the salesperson works in the state of Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont or Virginia, is making these statements he had better wise up and realize that the commitment has been made, and square foot pricing is the standard. In other States, for a time, a business may avoid confusion, and post or quote both methods of pricing. This change over is , according to industry experts, being made in order to align carpet with other floorcoverings that are sold by the square foot, i.e. ceramic tile, hardwood, etc. This is supposed to make carpet appear like a bargain compared to these other floorcoverings. Carpet has always been a good value, but most salespeople have trouble convincing their customers of this fact. Now that most mills think that the average consumer can't do the 4th grade math, and have given us the miracle of sq.ft. pricing, it may be easier. Just remember that every inch in length off that twelve-foot wide roll of carpet is a square foot. If your installer runs the carpet up the wall an extra three inches, that's three square feet.
By the way, back in Jan. 1, 2000, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Handbook 130, Uniform Laws and Regulations, stated carpet must be sold by the square foot instead of the square yard. The regulations are enforceable by state Attorneys General with consumer fraud divisions or other agencies that have enforcement authority. Some States require individual ratification before it becomes law. This could take some time. I know that Oregon is one of those States that require ratification by the State Congress before this becomes law. I don't look for that to happen anytime soon.
New Fiber Class by FTC
On March 23, 2009 the FTC approved Mohawk's request to re-classify the PTT DuPont Sonora fiber from polyester to the new classification called Triexta. This means Mohawk will no longer have to label their SmartStramd carpets with the polyester name. This will help remove the negativity associated with polyester . This may lead to Mohawk being the only mill to feature carpets made with PTT.
Does Your Carpet Smell?
According to a recent flyer published by Shaw Industries Technical Services Dept. the carpet from the same run that was installed in the 1988 EPA building incident in Washington DC, and was featured on a famous TV news magazine, was later installed in another government facility. No complaints were filed during the following five years. To me this means the carpet odor was NOT making the people ill. The report, written by Carey Mitchell, director of technical services for Shaw Industries , also states that the VOC's given off by carpet where over a thousand times LESS that those given off by painting the walls. It would be my guess that most carpet pads give off more fumes that 90% of the carpet made in the USA.
Better Padding a Good Idea
Many dealers are looking to stop installation problems by using better padding. The industry could be headed towards 8 lb. 7/16 inch rebond padding as a standard. This would eliminate many restretch complaints currently being fielded by dealers all over the country. I suggest a frothed densified foam under most quality carpets, especially the ones with woven backing.
Qualified Installers Needed
Jim Walker, president of the International Certified Floorcovering Installers Association, has certified over 30,000 installers to date according to my interview with him at Surfaces. Way to go Jim! Jim says the mills need to make carpet that is "installable". This means a carpet has to have the right mix of latex, and backing, and so on to make the carpet workable and stable. Short cuts that reduce the quality of the product in order to save time end up being the reason a carpet fails. Often this failure results in a symptom that is blamed on the installer. This business needs qualified installers much more than another buying group. Keep up the good work. Check out the CFI website
What is the Future of the Carpet Business Post 700 Billion "bail out"??
I am not the guy with the degree in economics, but I am aware that during the next two or more years, only the businesses that planned for a possible downturn in sales will survive. If a floorcovering business obtained most of its income from sales of new homes, then it is most likely that it will be closing its doors within the next year. There will be attempts by those types of floorcovering businesses to "buy" their way into the replacement/remodel market. This is going to make it more stressful for those dealers that have always specialized in that market.
We are also going to see the closure of some of the carpet mills. I cannot say here what ones, but when it happens, don't be surprised. The carpet mills that survive will have to restructure their sales forces, and shorten their product offerings. They will also have to deny credit to marginal accounts. This will result in closing of marginal carpet businesses.
Our business survived the last long recession of 81, 82, and '83. I saw ten of my competitors close their doors, and that was just in my local metro area. I am prepared to survive this one thanks to our business model and our past customers.
Back to TOP This column updated January 10, 2011 and is copyrighted.