Laminated floors have made the most significant changes in the flooring industry in the last 25 years and continue to make huge changes, while improvements have made solid surfaces.
In Europe, they have enjoyed their own features and advantages for several decades, but not as laminated flooring, as we know today. Decorative laminate was really the source and beginning of what is now known as laminated parquet. Decorative laminate was widely used in kitchen worktops and furniture. As technology developed in the laminate industry with the lid closed, it was clearly invisible that with the infinite number of decorations that could be created, it was also possible to create and use on the floor.
The idea of laminated flooring appeared. There were many technical problems, the first of which was how you can use a simple laminate with a topcoat and create a flooring product, the flooring product would be much more cruel if it went and the wear layer was created.
In fact, the technical wave of improvements and ideas did not stop. Mainly from European countries, laminated flooring annually increased market share, no market experienced such rapid growth as North America. Mass marketing campaigns led by brands like Pergo, which are now synonymous with laminated flooring, brought laminated flooring to the American public in the early 1990s.
The actual history of laminate flooring is rather short in North America, because Pergo has been recognized by households as new floor products. Laminated flooring in North America was generally referred to as “Pergo” as the floor again of synonymous status and the holy grail, # 39; all brands.
In 2000, laminated parquet was a sticky product; even though the market share in the flooring industry in North America continued to grow at a double-digit rate. Many of the other American manufacturers of carpet and vinyl laminate flooring complemented their product portfolio.
Then a laminated like was born. Laminated floors were easy for a private label, you simply changed the insert or packaging, and then created another brand or line of floors. This was especially useful for hardwood and carpet manufacturers to get on board with this new product. Traditional carpet and hardwood manufacturers have huge distribution networks and with their own proprietary line of floors have been able to house thousands of new floor displays in a few months, and new brands have begun to appear everywhere. This continued to drive growth in the United States.
As traditional American carpet and vinyl manufacturers introduced themselves as producers of laminate flooring, advertised products, placed laminated flooring and led sales.
Time Line in the US market. The following growth stages were equally fast, and I will break them down in chronological order:
2000 It was especially painful for carpet manufacturers in Dalton, Ga., they were completely blinded by aggressively marketing laminate flooring against their carpet, and it was there that laminate took most of its market share from advertising Laminate Flooring hypoallergenic and showing close plans for ticks and bed bugs did not help domestic carpet manufacturers.
Benefit from all companies operating on solid surface. It has been an exciting year for laminate sellers, even with terrible installation demonstrations and floor gluing.
2001 Each year prior to 2000 included new, exciting, and innovative changes in the laminate flooring market. The first change really began in 2001 without laminate glue. It was first introduced with metal clips on the back and during sales presentations, when you tried to assemble them, you almost needed a sledgehammer, it was harder than the gluing method. Not very popular, but the concept was created, and all we needed was design and solution.
2002 A year later, the technology of varnished lacquer without glue appeared, the introduction of lacquer materials without glue began again, revolutionizing the flooring industry. Unilin Industries of Belgium introduced Quick-Step to the US market. Quick-Step uses the patented Uniclic system. Several other manufacturers have purchased licenses to use Uniclic technology, thanks to the recognition of Uniclic as an industry standard for adhesive-free technology.
Nevertheless, 95% of the US market used adhesive laminate, it occupied even more aggressive marketing, and this time it was mainly managed by home centers with such names as “Easy-Lock” and “Quick-Lock & # 39; Speedy-Lock & quot; and so on. To bring the consumer to extremely DIY-friendly adhesive laminates.
In 2002, it was predicted that the 2004 purchase of a 100% laminated flooring industry would be without glue.
2003 This again became a dynamic year in the laminate flooring industry, product sales per square foot continued to grow, but lawsuits regarding patents on the interlock system and who created and who could use it, surfaced and continued for many years. In addition to lawsuits, the technology is now satisfied with cell-free, free installation, and now a specially designed DIY product that focuses on making the product as realistic as solid wood as possible.
2004 This led to dramatic changes in the quality of the laminated product itself. The standard lamination product without glue was 7 inches by 54 inches long, and it had a light effect, the panels went along with a brushless locking system. Basically, all products were imported and mainly from Europe.
By the end of 2004, laminate factories (although not fully integrated and small compared to their European counterparts) began to appear throughout the United States. Large US carpet manufacturers invested in laminate, although they were not fully integrated (we can later learn the importance of vertical integration). But it showed the retailer and distributor of the United States that the product was here, and it was time to start supporting the horse.
This led to the emergence of new innovations abroad, the first - the texture of wood grain - the laminate itself had a heavier texture of wood, but it was random and not too realistic, in fact, a modest update, at first all manufacturers tried to sell this improvement for $ 0.20 United States for distribution, but the reality was that they did not increase the manufacturing cost to produce this texture - it was just another pressure plate.
2005 Claims on the locking system continued, by the way, the locking process is not connected with a light corner joint of the laminated flooring, all the requirements of the law are concentrated at the end junction.
The pursuit of creating an exact woody replica of hardwood floors continued, and this led to a technology called Registration and Dredging, or embossed and registered. The idea behind this was that the oak sample, for example, fit perfectly into the wood panel, so the grain of the oak or cherry was realistic to the touch.
All manufacturers soon pursued this technology, it required a relatively simple process, created the correct paper (pattern decor), and then had a press plate and the end of the production process in accordance with this type of paper, and then you had a stamping with grain.
There were legal arguments in favor of who invented this technology.
2006 Year of branding, distributors with own brand. tried to position themselves as producers - one of the largest producers of vinyl tried to position themselves as market leaders. The acquisition also followed; Mohawk Industries bought Unilin & # 39; Quick-Step & # 39; in 2006. This was also the year of the home business, where the ultimate goal was to have your branded product in one of the three main American home centers.
One of the main carpet manufacturers and distributors with a factory in Dalton has acquired a business with Home Depot. Pergo was well positioned with the vinyl manufacturer, which you privately called your laminated line at Lowes Home Improvement Stores. As a vinyl manufacturer and not a laminate manufacturer, you create a serious problem and critical weakness, since Lowes Home Improvement shifted its procurement policy only to # factory buying right away.
The largest Swiss group and manufacturer of laminate flooring. Also, with the world's largest factory in Heiligengrabe, Germany quietly built a factory in Barnwell, South Carolina and was able to replace the vinyl manufacturer as a supplier of Lowes Home Improvement at the right time.
2007 This really meant a legal problem at the end of the blocking system, since two legal systems appeared: one under the Valinge Innovation and Uniclic Licensees, each of which had about 100 partners paying royalties in the amount of 0.04 to $ 0.07SF. Licensees have been granted worldwide, and this has led to the re-emergence of Chinese laminate flooring.
In mid-1990, China was one of the fastest growing markets for laminate flooring in the world, and most of them were delivered in containers from Europe, in China there were huge distributors with a capacity of 100 containers per month - or 2,400 pallets per month. Chinese ingenuity did not take long to copy the process and buy in 2001. In China, there were many factories (with large government subsidies), some of this product returned as imports to the US, but legal problems with blocking systems and the potential freezing of stocks, stopping and abandoning the letter flying over the most scared distributors.
2008 China returned, this time the large factories had licensing agreements and were legal, the machines that made the laminate were from Europe, and the quality of the products was excellent.
There, the market tactics were equally excellent, instead of following the market for fighting dogs of 7 and 8 mm, they created a new look. Narrow board and beveled edges, this new narrow board was about 5 "wide compared to the standard 8" from Europe, 5 inches wide was one board and, in combination with bevel, register and embossed, they created the final floor,
That's it, over the past 25 years, the culmination of this moment was the floor, which had a narrow panel 5 inches wide, beveled or micro beveled on all four sides, a realistic textured surface and a lifetime warranty.
The Europeans are tuned, but they were at once on the back foot, instead of going to the low-price market, high-quality, high-quality laminate that you could make and make it affordable for the US market.
2009 It is not clear where we can go from here, but the same thing was probably said in 2005, laminated flooring is now so good in appearance that you cannot distinguish it from real hardwood, the only clue is that the laminate by The price is much less expensive than real wood with a large selection of colors. 2009 will be a difficult economic year, and so will be 2010. Consumers will focus on quality and price. The brand will become less important as the consumer becomes more educated. Huge price fluctuations of four-sided bevelled and narrow boards from one distributor for $ 5SF and from $ 0.89SF and at the same time absolutely no technical difference in the product. The consumer will investigate and the gap will be closed.
Laminated flooring in the US market is a wonderful story of growth and ingenuity. I do not think that several difficult economic years will have a significant impact on his future survival. This is a great product and with some effort and consumer research you can get incredible value.
