Rigid LVT Producer Update: A strong residential market from the spring through year’s end sustained rigid LVT momentum in 2020 – Feb 2021

By most accounts, the quality of PVC-free products is im-proving. Plenty fall through along the way-that’s part of the process-but they pave the way for more effective and afford-able innovations, and that’s what we’re starting to see in the market. Volumes are still low; there’s no mass production of this category, at least not yet. PVC-free is still priced, by some estimates, at least 25% to 30% above comparable vinyl flooring, but that delta used to be a lot wider.

And it’s not just about achieving PVC-like performance at competitive pricing; it’s about achieving it with a greener prod-uct. Whatever alternatives rise to the top will need to provide a clear path to recycling and reuse, so multilayered, multipolymer constructions could be problematic. The PVC-alternative that succeeds will have to be made out of separable components, or at best from a single thermoplastic polymer. INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS One of the largest LVT producers is HMTX, which is head-quartered in Norwalk, Connecticut with production in China. HMTX comprises the Teknoflor, Metroflor, Halstead and Aspecta brands. The firm makes a range of resilient products, from high-end WPC to PVC-free sheet goods.

HMTX has two specified commercial brands: Teknoflor, which used to primarily focus on sheet goods and now is split about evenly between sheet and LVT; and Aspecta, an LVT brand created about seven years ago that originally went through distribution. Aspecta’s LVT offering includes an hefty WPC called Aspecta Ten. Metroflor is the firm’s residential retail brand, though it also offers some commercial products that it sells through distribution. And the home center brand, Halstead, goes through Home Depot under the Lifeproof name.

Under Teknoflor, the firm offers two types of PVC-free prod-ucts. Naturescapes is made polyurethane with bio-based con-tent, and CS Sheet and Tile uses a mix of thermoplastic polymers with mineral fillers. Late last year, Aspecta came out with Natures Tile and Plank HPD, an expansive PVC-free polyurethane-based line for the American and European markets.

Rolling out this season across the various brands is QuikGrip, a glueless product with gecko-like suction cups for looselay installation-a crossover from a commercial product.

Metroflor’s rigid LVT offering includes the Engage Genesis line, with its proprietary Isocore technology, and its Attraxion line of rigid magnetic LVT that works with its MagneBuild underlayment.

Then there’s Armstrong Flooring, the resilient leader for decades until the large carpet mills decided to get into the game. The firm, with close to half a billion dollars in domestic revenues, produces just about every type of resilient flooring, from commercial VCT, LVT and sheet goods, both homoge-neous and heterogeneous, to a range of residential tile and sheet constructions. The firm manufactures VCT, LVT and sheet goods domestically (some commercial sheet products are made in its facilities in China), and it also sources some flex LVT and all of its rigid LVT.

On the commercial side, most of its LVT is flex, with the exception of Rest & Refuge, a rigid product targeting sectors like hospitality, senior living and multifamily.

Residentially, the firm offers a wide range of rigid LVT con-structions. It has two standard SPCs, Essentials and Vantage, along with a hybrid SPC called Pryzm, with its liquid melamine protective surface. Luxe with Rigid Core is its 8mm WPC of-fering. And it also has Empower, which uses a reinforced MgO core that is free of polymers, with the surface protected with the firm’s Diamond 10 Technology.

Just over a year ago, one of the leading LVT experts in the industry, Dave Thoresen, joined Armstrong as senior vice president, product and innovation officer, and he’s also on the firm’s board. Thoresen’s storied career includes positions at Mannington, LG Hausys, Shaw and Mohawk.

Another resilient specialist with a long and storied history is Congoleum, which finally emerged from bankruptcy late last year with the slate wiped clean on legacy debt and envi-ronmental claims relating to asbestos. The New Jersey-based firm has two sheet facilities and one for resilient tile.

In 2017, Congoleum launched the Cleo brand of PVC-free resilient tile, first on the residential side and then in commercial, where its Red List-free construction and fresh designs garnered a lot of attention. But financial constraints held back fully de-veloping the product line. Now, with its balance sheet cleared of debt, the firm is primed to reinvest in the Cleo brand. Products in Cleo Home, the residential division, are designed for gluedown installation and are also groutable, and it’s likely that ensuing iterations will offer locking systems.

Last year, Congoleum started rolling out Triversa Prime, an SPC construction that replaces the original Triversa, a WPC product. And the firm has expanded its ArmorCore sheet line with two LVT products, a traditional flexible gluedown LVT and an SPC called ArmorCore Plank Pro, targeting the builder and multifamily markets.

Due to growth in the RV and manufactured housing markets in 2020, Congoleum, which has long had a leading position in these markets, fared well last year, entering 2021 in a strong position.

Tarkett NA, a major producer of hard and soft surface flooring for both the residential and commercial markets, is the North American division of France’s Tarkett. The bulk of Tarkett NA’s resilient revenues come from the commercial market, where it has well-established LVT lines, a robust specialized sheet program, and rubber and linoleum programs, as well.

On the residential side, Tarkett makes glass-backed sheet goods in its facility in Canada (Farnham, Quebec) and LVT in Ohio and Alabama. It also sources some flex LVT and all of its rigid LVT. Its rigid LVT program comprises two SPC products: ProGen, a 5mm plank with a 20 mil wearlayer; and NuGen, a lighter-weight, more affordable product that is 3.5mm in glue-down and 4.5mm with a click system, and a 12 mil wearlayer.

On the commercial side, Tarkett announced late last year that all of the firm’s domestically produced LVT is certified Carbonfree through the Carbonfund Foundation. And it is also focused on expanding the use of its Techtonic polyure-thane coating and upgrading acoustic benefits. Also, the firm is expanding its customization capabilities. Most customizable is Collections Infinies, where it can print entirely custom carpet from virtually any source.

Karndean, a major global LVT producer, is headquartered in the U.K., with most of its product made in South Korea through a long-standing partnership, and it also sources from other manufacturing partners in the region. According to the firm, its U.S. business is split more or less evenly between residential and commercial, with LVT in gluedown, looselay and rigid core locking constructions.

This year the firm is expanding the rigid LVT offering in its 20 mil Van Gogh collection, which also includes flex LVT products. Last year it introduced Korlok Select rigid LVT in stone visuals, which it is expanding with a range of wood looks later this year.

Edison, New Jersey-based FloorFolio, which opened up its domestic EnviroQuiet LVT facility in 2015. The glue-down and looselay products, ranging from 4mm to 6mm, are designed for acoustical abatement. The fully array of the firm’s products also includes magnetic flooring and SPC, and its products are sold commercially in healthcare, retail, senior living, student housing and hospitality. On the residential side, it’s mostly sold to the builder and multifamily channels.

Recent introductions include two stone designs, a wood/stone hybrid visual and a midscale chevron design conveyed through planks with angled wood visuals. This year, the firm will come out with non-acclimation flex LVT and EnviroQuiet LVT. NOTABLE LVT PURVEYORS Domestic rigid LVT production is still in its infancy, with imports still accounting for well over 90% of domestic consumption, most of it coming from China. Every major floor-ing producer in the residential market has some sort of rigid LVT product. Hardwood specialists like AHF Products, Mullican, Johnson and even Provenza offer rigid LVT, as do carpet mills like Dixie and Stanton. Another well-established purveyor is Earthwerks, a division of Swiff-Train, a major distributor. Torlys is another. And there are many more.

And then there are newer firms, like Happy Feet, which was established in 2012 and sources rigid and flex LVT from a range of Asian producers. The firm has experienced huge growth in the last few years, with no end in sight.

Also noteworthy is Republic Floor, which has been growing its marketshare among retailers in the laminate and resilient categories in the last few years. The firm, which works closely with a Chinese manufacturing partner, has had huge success with its Pure SPC and beefier Pure SPC Max.

And there are countless others. Some flame out quickly; others find traction. Some don’t seem to physically exist beyond a phone number and an email. Many offer SPC at rock-bottom prices, impelling the market toward commoditization and often jeopardiz-ing the category’s nascent reputation with subpar products.