Hardwood remains an area of flooring where creativity abounds and boundaries are continually toppled. How else to explain the bumper crop of flooring creations vying this year for the National Wood Flooring Association’s coveted Wood Floor of the Year Awards? At the trade group’s annual meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, 232 entries were offered for consideration-the most seen in the competition’s 18-year history.

Retailers in the flooring business can be forgiven if they cringe a bit when they hear Green these days. They are not opposed to being environmentally responsible; it’s just that they keep hearing it over and over. It seems everyone touts it, embraces it and tries to leverage it to their advantage. Companies are bending over backwards to out-green each other and consumers love the concept-as long as it doesn’t cost extra. Meanwhile, with sales slumping, many dealers wonder if the whole saving-the-planet thing can wait until business picks up.   

Faced with a sharp increase in the cost of petrochemicals and other raw material, carpet fiber makers are turning to Plan B: Mother Nature. By including natural materials or recycled content, manufacturers are finding that the payoff reflects on their image and their bottom line. Still, suppliers note that, while “Green” is still mostly a commercial concern, the consumer mindset is beginning to shift to environmentally friendly products.

Armstrong is set to more than double the number of SKUs in its StrataMax line of loose-lay resilient flooring this month, and based on the favorable response to the product by retailers and showgoers at Surfaces, it’s not hard to see why. The company won the first place NFT Styling Excellence Award in the resilient category for its StrataMax floor.

Looking to expand its presence in the Chinese market, Anderson has signed a licensing and manufacturing deal with PowerDekor, the largest manufacturer of laminate flooring in China and a former Anderson supplier. Plans call for Anderson to create a hardwood flooring assortment of about 45 SKUs for China’s domestic market. The floors will be available in up to 2,000 retail stores owned by PowerDekor.

Say goodbye to the big red flying “B.” As Beaulieu reinvents itself as Bliss by Beaulieu, the old logo of Beaulieu of America is going by the wayside. The new logo, the word “Bliss” in a soft script, is part of an effort that stems from Beaulieu’s desire to become more female-friendly, according to Patricia Flavin, the company’s senior vp marketing.

Mannington Mills garnered five first place nods (and one runner up mention) to emerge as the big winner in this year’s NFT Styling Excellence Awards. Voted on by showgoers at Surfaces and online, the awards honor the best high-style products in flooring.

Mannington took top honors in areas including: Ceramic (Serengeti Slate), Laminate Floors (Time Crafted Maple), LVT (Ashford Walnut), Merchandising (Adura Elements display) and Wood (Stonehenge Walnut). “It’s an honor to know that we are making products that resonate with our customers,” said Ed Duncan, Mannington’s sr. vp residential marketing. “We believe that our continued success in this area is due to Mannington’s commitment to styling and design, in every category.”

While design innovation has long been a top priority for laminate makers, they agree that the focus on fashion is changing the complexion of the category. In a trend some manufacturers call “negative growth,” they note that interest in high-end product has been rising, though it has not been enough to offset sluggish market conditions in the overall laminate business.

Almost everyone uses the Internet nowadays. In a consumer study conducted by Clear Seas Research for the World Floor Covering Association last year, most participants noted they use the Internet to research flooring options and get an idea of the prices before heading out to the store.

The Internet also remains important to retailers. Increasingly, retailers are putting their store information online and corresponding with colleagues through e-mail.

Tarkett Wood recently sold the assets of its hardwood plants in Johnson City, Tenn., and an additional plant in Indiana to New Stream Capital, a private equity firm based in Ridgefield, Conn. With this move, Tarkett has bowed out of the hardwood flooring business in the United States. Additionally, a new company called ArborCraft has been formed and is set to relaunch the Harris brand of hardwood flooring at Surfaces.