All things bright and beautiful

Sales may be slow right now but there’s nothing sluggish about the product developments in the sector which are looking increasing bright and cheerful – and upmarket. Let’s hope the buyers return in the Autumn to take advantage of these trends.

Colour is coming through more strongly across all sectors. Greys are less dominant and there's a sense that consumers have become bored with grey and that this is a motivator to drive sales to warmer, brighter ranges. So naturals are doing well and the warmer tones of greys are more popular but brighter, cheerful colours in golds, greens and blues are popular and apricot is being touted as the colour of 2024.

And there’s lots of positivity towards pattern – and especially if its small and subtle. Geometrics are becoming especially on-trend and abstract creations are doing well – definitely in the rugs department, but also in concrete, urban carpet designs.

The other unmistakable trend is the move upmarket to secure better margins in challenging economic conditions for consumers – getting the maximum value from those buyers who are still active and accepting that the budget, entry-level sector is performing very poorly at present.

"There's a move upmarket to secure better margins in challenging economic conditions for consumers – getting the maximum value from those buyers who are still active."

o carpet manufacturers are making more tenth gauge,denser, ranges and luxury collections, and even man-made market leaders are extending their wool portfolios. Wool is performing strongly and new product developments in both twist and loop – and the newer herringbone loops – is trying to keep pace with demand.

Vinyl manufacturers have curated their collections to create fewer, better options – increasing the margin where possible but also helping them manage the supply chain and stocking inventory more efficiently. Wood décor herringbone and chevrons continue to drive demand but there’s also several new introductions in stone and concrete tiles.

There’s increasing attention in vinyl to making sure there’s the widest range of matching accessories, again an approach that derives the greatest possible value from every sale.

Sustainability is rising right to the top of the agenda with a host of environmental commitments and the growing trend towards mono-polymer construction. The use of recycled materials in yarn production is increasingly widespread but the future belongs to mono-polymer, where the whole of the construction is based on a single polymer group, typically polyester, and without potential contaminants such as latex backing.

This means the carpet (or artificial grass) can be fully recycled after use into new polymer pellets to be re-used in the plastics industry or in man-made carpet production. LVT manufacturers are also looking to these developments with some success – but there is further development being done regarding adhesive contamination with glue down vinyl.

Check out part 2 of our company reviews from
Soilhull across pages 55–60 July issue - CLICK HERE
Part 1 is in our June issue – available online at www.thestocklists.com/back_issues