If the last month is a barometer of what’s happening in flooring, then one thing is absolutely certain: hard flooring is not a passing trend, it’s here to stay. A visit to January’s Domotex, regarded as the world’s premier exhibition for flooring, confirmed it. The Hannover trade fair saw three halls devoted to hard flooring this year, compared with one last year. And European exhibitions make the NEC look like a warm-up act.
Laminate flooring has enjoyed massive and sustained growth, with volumes doubling almost year on year. Technical innovations in click technology, bevelled edges and ever more sophisticated print definition continue to drive the product forward and, frankly, make it almost impossible sometimes to tell the difference from the real thing – and that from a timber man!
This growing authenticity of laminate, coupled with the rise of cheap imported products, could in theory cause concern to the timber trade. But the reality, I think, is very different – they stimulate greater awareness of hard flooring and encourage people to buy more. The clear progression is that customers look to trade up and buy more expensive products such as hardwoods.
Other great news is that the emerging flooring trend is the ‘hand-scraped cottage’ look with emphasis on the natural character of knots, resin pockets and irregular graining. Timber has never been more alluring to the consumer; it is an established part of the material mix ethic within domestic and commercial interiors.
The hard floor market is not well developed in the UK and its growth is creating opportunities within our sector for supply, distribution and fitting. It’s a great circle of opportunity. Come back to carpet? I don’t think so.
