Hi. Welcome back to The ProSource Podcast. My name is Mollie and on today's episode we are discussing the comforts of carpet. We are all familiar with carpet, but today we are going to dive deep into why people are still holding onto carpet, even as the hard surface categories continue to innovate and grow. We'll also learn from one of our trade pros and a couple of industry experts. First up will be Shannon Figaro. She is a designer and trade pro member from Prosource of Madison.
She has over a decade of experience and being a designer. After starting her company, Figg Interiors. Then we will invite on Tray Times Vice President of sales at Stanton and then to finish up the episode. Jared Coffin, senior vice president of product and marketing at offers, will hop on. Let's explore the comforts of carpet. Today we have a special guest on. We have one of our trade pro members from ProSource of Madison, Shannon Figaro.
She is the owner and principal designer at Fig Interiors, an interior design firm located in Madison, Wisconsin that specializes in residential remodeling and new construction. Thank you so much for coming on today and sharing some of your thoughts and, just talking about carpet with us. Thank you for having me. First, I want to ask you, before we dive into the questions, I want to ask you what made you want to open up your own firm, and what was that decision like? What led you to to do that?
Well, my background is, I started my career in commercial design, so, loved that world. And I still do some commercial design projects, but I really, I bought my first home, and as a personal homeowner, I just started becoming more interested in residential design. So, I moved by use my experience with the commercial world to translate that to the residential world. And, you know, the more and more kind of referrals I started getting word of mouth, really was how I started.
I decided to open my own firm to be able to service, you know, as many individuals as possible in the residential world. So that's awesome. How long has it been going on? It's been 11 years now. I and you asked what the decision was like. I mean, the decision was was easy because I really wanted to do it, but the process was, you know, not easy. It's. Yeah, it's it's really challenging being an entrepreneur.
But I have enjoyed it and, you know, loved, loved doing it so much so that I've been doing it for 11 years just on my own. Yeah, I'm sure like those first few years are really hard getting it started up. But hopefully it's gotten easier the longer you've been doing it. And I think working for yourself is also just very beneficial in the long run to rescue your own boss. Yeah, it's really rewarding.
And I mean, to your point, though, design is very different each day, you know, really brings a new challenge, which is awesome. You know, it's why I love I love challenges and and problem solving for people and kind of finding the best fit for my clients. So, you know, there are some consistent things. Obviously I have processes that I use, but each day is different, which makes it fun and interesting.
This episode is all about carpet, and with so many homes across the country, there's some level of assumption that there's at least one room in the house that has carpet. Why do you think carpet such a staple in the home? Carpet is comfortable. I mean, that's really the most important thing about it. And that's what people ask for. If they want carpet beyond the features of, you know, things like good sound of absorption and durability.
So really holding up well in a home, I think it's comfortable and that's why people ask for it. Would you say that, like in recent years, it's become a little bit less trendy or like people are moving away from carpet maybe in the last like ten years than previously? Yes. Because of the introduction of LVP, LVP competes with carpet in spaces where, you know, someone might have allergies. You know, that's, carpet holds the most allergens in the home.
So someone who might be super sensitive to to things like dust, or they might have a lot of pets in the home, we might go in a different direction and recommend a different product. I wouldn't say people are moving away from carpet, but there are other products that take its place. In some cases, there's nothing more comfortable than carpet like waking up in the morning, even if it's like a for a rug. So we just kind of touched it.
How about this a little bit, but can you think of anything else that might, build that association between carpeting and comfort? You know, I came up with the word nostalgia. It really like.
Yeah, like like you said that that feeling that when you are getting out of bed in the morning and your feet hit the soft carpet, I feel like people think of their childhood bedroom, a closet that they have when their feet hit the floor in the morning, or when they, you know, snuggle up with their dog in front of a fireplace or the TV. Sometimes people just they just want that feeling of carpet. So it's nostalgia. It was the word I came up with for that question.
No, I love that because it really is nostalgic. And we were just talking about how maybe like 20 years ago, carpet was, much more popular to see in a home than it is now. So that goes back to, yeah, when I was a kid, I feel like almost every room in our house, you know, besides, like the kitchen, and the bathroom had carpet and now it's maybe just, like the bedrooms have carpet, and then our living room has hardwood.
So, yeah, it is very nostalgic to think about how it used to be, whereas now it's more maybe not so much popular. From your experience, what goes into the carpeting selection process for homeowners and how has transfers helped make that process easier? Yeah, so definitely the style of the home comes into play. I would say that's the very first thing I would consider when selecting carpet. Obviously color. So color palette that we're going with on the interior, is a huge factor.
And then pattern and texture, you know, carpet has come a long way from just plaster cut tile. So, seeing the different selections now that are it's just fun for me as a designer to see how people are playing around more with pet, with pattern and texture, rather than just having a neutral. But, Prosource is is has been a great partner for me over the past, you know, my entire 11 years being a business owner. And they have a great selection of materials and really a knowledgeable staff.
So I rely a lot on my sales person to help me kind of see the new things that are out there. Sometimes I might not even know something is new to the market. So I really rely on them to, to help me with that process. Yeah, absolutely. There's so many options for carpet, like when I go into the showroom here in Saint Louis, sometimes I'll like look at all the different samples there are from, any of them.
To be honest, there are so many different styles that I'm like, are people actually buying that? Because this is so like niche. It's like a, like a space theme or there's like a leopard print, print. But I'm like, I'm sure somebody out there is, pushing the boundaries and being bold with their choosing of what they want. Carpet replacement doesn't always need to be part of a full room remodel. How often have you seen that happen, and why do you think it stands on its own as a separate project?
So I think, carpet can be really neutral and timeless. So, and because it's so durable, you know, it may not need to be replaced if we're remodeling the rest of the room. I've had a lot of clients say, you know, the carpet is in good shape. I don't need to replace that at this time. And it really can last longer and work with a with a myriad of different phases of the home and styles.
So if you choose something more timeless and classic, that's where when you know, when you make a little bit of a bolder choice, like the leopard print, that might not, I mean, not that it wouldn't survive the test of time, but it would probably want to crave replacement a little sooner. Yeah, something a little bolder. But, yeah, those are the reasons why it doesn't always need to be part of a full room remodel. What patterns and colors have you seen thrive in 2024?
Well, you mentioned animal prints, so that's one I've seen. Yeah. Which is super fun. I have, I have like an antelope behind me on my, one of my inspiration boards in my office. I also have seen a huge resurgence of plaids, because I think plaids are really appealing to a lot of different demographic picks and, you know, gender neutral, really classic, but also
feels fun. So, I've seen a lot of plaids kind of coming out, and they're really fun and easier to use without, you know, being too far, too far in one direction or another. And then also just, pattern. So monochromatic neutrals. So a lot of carpet companies will have like a cotton loop combo that is, you know, the same color, but it might have a cool pattern or texture that isn't necessarily color. Those are really fun to use. Which ones have you seen maybe decline over the last year?
While grays cool color tones are going away, they are kind of nostalgic though. I'm going back to the nostalgic. I feel like we we grew up with so many like neutral colors, and now I feel like the new generation is pushing the colors and the textures and like the leopard print and like you said, being a little more bold with color and and definitely warm neutrals. Why do you think the style of mixing textures and thicker carpets are trending right now?
I just think just what we had just said, like people are being a little bit more bold in their design choices. You know, mixed mixing textures is one of my favorite things to do in a project. I just think it adds so much layer and dimension to a space, even if you're not changing colors. I love to mix textures, thicker carpets. I think thicker carpets are cozy. Use the word shag loosely, but yeah. No, I know what you mean.
Now they are more comfortable, they can feel more cozy and just kind of be a little bit more fun. So that's probably why they're trending right now. Have you seen more people lean into, maybe you're not having all carpet in a bedroom or a living room, let's say, but having hardwood or laminate or whatever it is and then have like a big area rug, instead, that way they can change it out a little bit more easily since we are moving towards like the more trendy.
Yeah. Of styles. Yeah. So mainly the clients that I work with, we'll do hard surface some, some kind of a flooring in their main spaces. So whether it's hardwood engineered hardwood or LVP and we just do a big cozy area rug over that.
And yeah, I would say, you know, that's what my clients do more often I think about, yeah, we were going back to the trendiness of some of these styles, and that seems like the more safe way to do that, because that and, you know, a couple of years, once that trend goes out of style, they can replace that a little bit more easily. It also helps the space be feel more cohesive.
You know, when you're when you're seeing carpet that is just defined in one, you know, living room space and then you switch to hardwood in a hallway, for example. It just it just can the space can feel a little bit, disconnected sometimes. What innovative features are homeowners looking for a new carpeting?
Sustainability is great because I remember, don't know if we're allowed to talk about manufacturers, but people who use, you know, the companies who use, corn byproducts and, and sugar, you know, those those things are interesting to clients. I feel like they love to hear that that sustainable materials are being used when they manufacture the carpet. And then also stain resistance.
That's always a huge one for people, you know, with carpet, they want the stain resistant without the harsh chemicals. So I think it's a challenge for carpet companies to find that happy medium and then comfort. I mean, carpet carpet is more comfortable than it's ever been. I feel like it's softer. It's not that, like, hard, you know, kind of nylon that we've been used to in the past. So. Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned like, toxins being, in carpets.
I know that's been like a big topic of discussion in the last ten years, just with the general public being concerned about like what is and what's in their food that they're eating, what's in the detergent that they're using with their clothes. So yeah, I imagine that carpet is also a discussion to of I want to make sure the carpet is made out of sustainable, products, and they're not using any harsh chemicals that will hurt me in the long run.
And whether that be scatter, you know, inside my body. So I don't even think about that until you just just mention that. That's probably why it's, also a trending topic with carpet and I think, you know, Covid really brought that to light for everyone because we we thought about our interior Hvac systems in our homes and how we could make those safer for our for ourselves, in our environment.
So I think all of those things go hand in hand with the whole conversation when you're talking about what materials we're putting into their home, how can trade professionals stay on top of the patterns, colors, and features of what's happening in carpeting? Visit your local ProSource. Yeah, that's a great answer. I do a lot of continuing ed as a designer. I feel like I'm always looking to learn more about what's out there, and so I do a lot of that on my own.
As an entrepreneur, I carve out, you know, a few hours a month for that for sure. But I think attending trainings, new product launches, and then visiting showrooms often. So I know showrooms have reps that come in and introduce new products. And I think just staying on top of what's what's current, it's those are ways we can stay on top of all of the new things that are happening.
And installers, general contractors, can collaborate with designers like you to learn more about that, because I know for those other trade pro categories, that's not always top of mind, right? They have a lot of jobs to get to. And so they're not always thinking about what's trending. They're just kind of doing the motions. Right? Right. So I think contacting a professional is the safest way to make sure you're like staying trendy, but also, doing everything correctly. That's what I say.
I mean, we are here to save you time and and money. Yeah. For because we are experts in these product categories, you know, rather than you kind of spending your wheels or a homeowner spinning their wheels, not sure what they're what they're looking for, going to your local, you know, your trade professional for sure to, save you time and money really on any remodeling project or even new construction too.
We talked about this a little bit already, but, with sustainability being a feature for many carpet brands, how have you found homeowners embracing AI when selecting carpets? So they love knowing when it's made from sustainable materials, and I feel like they feel better about it. Having about having it in their homes when they're down on the floor playing with their kids. Yeah. Or even just, you know, any anything that feels like it's a little more thoughtful.
And in the process, by the manufacturer and then by the designer to deliver that, that news to them, like, oh, by the way, this isn't only soft and beautiful, but it's also made from a sustainable material. I mean, it makes people really feel better putting it in their home, especially like, I'd say the newer generation coming up. That is always something that's top of mind. And luckily I've seen a lot of, the brands that are making these carpets.
That's been top of mind for them too, because they've seen that that is top of mind for people. So they're staying on top of their sustainability efforts. As a trade professional who's partners with Prosource, how do you rely on Prosource to meet clients expectations when it comes to product quality and variety? I rely on Prosource this is an entrepreneur and I'm a solo entrepreneur. Their prosource is a partner of mine.
You know, I rely on them for a lot of information, you know, being timely in their delivery and accurate in what they tell the clients. Also kind of their logistics of getting things, and when they when they say they're going to arrive, and then also when the product arrives that it's free of damage or, you know, anything like that.
So they're just a very good partner for me for kind of all touch points of the project from start to finish heading into 2025, what carpet trends are you predicting or honestly what like overall home trends are you thinking is going to happen in 2025? Well, there's a theme I'm hearing over and over again, which is, you know, coming to light in all aspects, which is wellness.
It's just you know, incorporating wellness into the home when we kind of, you know, again, not to mention Covid, but during Covid, people wanted professional experiences at home. So they wanted commercial grade appliances and spas like steam showers and really kind of beefed up their, interiors for those professional experiences. And I feel like now, you know, we're going out again to do things.
And then when we come back into our homes, we want them to be the retreats, for us to really recharge our batteries at the end of the day. And, wellness is a huge factor of that, just kind of that, you know, mental, physical and holistic health, kind of incorporated in all aspects of the home. Those are the trends that I'm noticing as far as color trends. So that that would be like the overall, you know, aspect of the home.
I know we already talked about color trends going a little bit more warm. People making bolder color and pattern decisions just on a whole, just because, again, we're getting more adventurous again after the pandemic. We're like, okay, we can we can really go a little bit bolder again. So, just having a little bit more fun and not not taking everything so seriously now, which I think is it's a nice change.
And I still think even though we are going back out and doing things outside of our home, we still have that sitting in the back of our head. It's when we go home we want to enjoy it and really take in our space. So I totally agree with you. See you there with what you just said. I appreciate you coming on today, Shannon, and sharing all of your expertise. Anything else you want to share before we have off now? This has been lovely. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Well, thank you so much.
Have a great rest of your day. Thank you. You too. I am welcoming Trey Thames on to The ProSource Podcast. He is the Vice President of Sales over at Stanton Carpet. Thank you so much for coming on today, Trey. Sure glad to be here. And before I do dive into the questions that we have here, we are going to be focusing on carpet, of course. How long have you been with Stanton and how did you get started in this industry?
So I've been with Stanton now for just over five and a half months, but I've been in the industry for 31 years. So I was at Shaw for 25 years, Mohawk for, six years. And then just, just recently at Stanton and the Shaw, sales training program in 1993. Oh. That's awesome. So quite a while. You know, the ins and outs of the industry, what made you, when you were getting out of college? What made you want to go in this path? Well, I was I was somewhat familiar with it. My dad was in the industry.
So I was familiar with, somewhat familiar with the industry, but honestly, Shaw offered me a job at the time, so, I knew the industry, and I was very impressed with the Shaw trading program. And those two things, led me into it. Absolutely. Yeah, I know how that is. When you're getting out of college, sometimes it's as simple as where can I get a job? And then it kind of just takes off from there, right? Yeah. For sure. There was a sense of urgency to, start making money. So it worked out well.
Exactly. So, yeah, we are talking about the comforts of carpet today. And, having you on representing Stanton as perfect for this episode as someone who is in the carpet industry, what do you think makes carpet so comforting in your words? Well, I think first and foremost, just the feel, I mean, soft, and that certainly helps. So the, the tactile nature of it, it's warm, it helps with sound, and it's beautiful. Especially, the Stanton products.
So it adds not just warmth and softness to the home, but also beauty, and a design aspect in the home. So I think all those things add up to, to comfort. Absolutely. Yeah. You talked about the style of Stanton Carpets, and I know whenever I walk into the press or showroom in Saint Louis, there's always so many options with Stanton. And there's options from like neutral colors that are a little bit more comfortable, to view.
But then there's also some of those, like luxury type of looks and maybe looks that are a little bit more niche to someone. So there's definitely a wide variety of those options there. How does Stanton continue to elevate that level of comfort? As you know, years go on as technology evolves. What are some ways that, Stanton is always improving?
I think the biggest thing is we're a we are a product driven company, and focus on style, design, and beauty and not just, a functional thing that goes, you know, that covers a floor, but but really focused on the style and design and quality of it and doing so at a value.
So, those are things that we're doing every single day, and experimenting with, with new looks, partnering with our, our, our manufacturing partners, and really trying to innovate and stay in front of, style and design and continue to, to make, you know, carpet as a decorative aspect in the home. And again, not just, you know, a functional, thing that you cover, a cover, you know, wood or plywood up with and you talked a little bit about the style again.
How does that balance luxury and creativity so seamlessly? Well, I it's, we have a great design team that have been doing it for a long time. And we've got great partners that we work with, but, but really, it starts with our team. And, we've got a diverse team. We have people in Europe, we have, people in Long Island, and we have people in, in Calhoun. So. But anyway, that's, it starts there. I mean, they're they're really talented at what they do. We design are patterns.
Obviously, we make, lots of trips overseas to work with our partners, and also our domestic partners as well. So, all those things add up to, you know, to making the products. Beautiful. Absolutely. And just diving a little bit into that design, sector of the company. How do you guys determine which areas of the world you want to, I guess, recruit designers for your team? That's a good question. I mean, we have we have a designer overseas that does all of our patterns.
So part of it is just expertise. And what they're familiar with with, the machines. But then we also, you know, have a lot of stuff in India with handloom, goods. So we really have partners all over the world, and, we have a, you know, team in, in Calhoun that works a lot with our domestic manufacturing. And so it's, and then the team up in Long Island, I think touches it all, to an extent. So, pretty broad, base of expertise across the organization. That's awesome.
So what do you think inspires the passion within the carpeting designs that Stanton produces? I think it, it starts with our chairman, and founder, Cy, who's started in 1980. Really the first to do do these things and has been, passionate about it ever since and still leads our, our product development team and like I said, is our chairman. And then, his son Jonathan, who's who's been with them, I think almost, quite the entire time, but, a big piece of it. So, they love product.
I mean, we love I mean, it's all about product, and it's, it is fun. Like you mentioned, in our new Calhoun office. But every time I go in the showroom there, I'm just, you know, I'm still learning and seeing new product. And when I travel, and there is a lot of passion around it, about making nice product and quality product and, but certainly if you've ever met side eye he loves, I would say he loves carpet as much as anyone I've been around.
So he loves making, and trying new things and, and looking at things differently so that that kind of permeates throughout the culture. Now that's great to it. You're getting that family business type of feel to. So I'm sure that feels very welcoming. You're not just getting that like kind of cookie cutter corporation type of feel. Same person that started the company is still making decisions. Yeah. That's awesome to hear. Yeah it is.
And we don't have to make, you know, millions of yards of something. You know, we have the we we have the ability to have a lot of nice products and we don't have to, it doesn't have to be tonnage. So it does enable us to take more risk and do things differently and continue to innovate and push the push the boundaries. I think with sound design. So as the years go by, I touched about this a little bit earlier. Installation technology is always evolving.
What have you learned from trade pros that has inspired innovation within carpet installation technology at sound? Yeah, I think that's that's something that continues to be an industry challenge is, you know, installations, not just carpet, but other categories as well.
But I think one thing that we that we have, which helps is, you know, wide widths, we have a lot of our products are 13 to 13, six, 15, 16ft wide, which in many cases eliminates the need for a seam, which certainly helps from a speed of installation. And also, probably the type of installer you can use. So that that certainly helps. I think the other thing that's a big opportunity that, is a big part of our business, is the, custom rugs, room size rugs.
So, you know, if you can, if you can use a room sized rug, that might be six, eight inches, you know, from the wall. There's no installation. There are other than just, you know, rolling it out and getting it, you know, aligned perfectly. So, again, it's just another avenue to sell more flooring, and not tie up your, you know, your carpet installation. Absolutely.
And with, custom area rugs, do you see that more people are moving towards getting those large area rugs rather than doing like an all carpet in one space? I know with trends lately people have been moving towards like laminate and just hard flooring. But a lot of people still want that comfort of carpets, so they're getting the big area rugs. Are you seeing that's the case? Yeah we are, we're especially with, hard surface being so dominant in new homes today.
We're carpet might just be in bedrooms, in some cases not even in bedrooms. So but people still want the warmth and the comfort and the sound and the esthetics and the beauty of, of, of carpet. And I think it's just, it's an awareness that you don't just, you know, you don't have to settle on a standard nine by 12 or 8 by ten rug. You can get, the perfect size rug for your room, and whatever pattern you want, you know, no problem is a great option, a great opportunity to sell more carpet.
And to get it perfect, and get what you want and not just settle and get high quality to, not just settle for, an expensive online, you know, standard size rug that may not, you know, be the quality you're looking for. Absolutely. And while we're on the topic of customization at Stanton, you also have the ability to select, a custom pattern as well, right? Correct. Okay. Perfect. So really any anything we make, we make into rugs. That's awesome. Yeah. I think yeah.
Like, you guys probably think customization is so important. And especially in today's world where everybody wants exactly what they want. Like if they're going to spend the money on something they want it to be exactly what they want. Yeah. So it's definitely important for stand to offer that I would say stairwells as well, stair runners and custom stairs. I mean, it's, it's gorgeous.
Some of the visuals I see, that are sent in unfinished jobs from our customers, and I think the, I think it's an awareness issue, a lot of, a lot of consumers don't even just don't know it's an option until they see it. Then they see it. They want it. Absolutely. Yeah. I didn't even think about the stair runners. That's definitely overlooked. And people probably don't think about it. Maybe until they have their remodel done and they're like, you know, oh gosh, my stairs are hard
and I'm going to slip and fall. Yeah. Because that's usually the concern with that. How have features like the Stanton Shield and waterproofing been received by homeowners that are looking to make their new carpets last? And how did the how do those features work? Yeah, those are more hard surface oriented, on that. But I would say the big the big new thing I would not it's somewhat new in the last few years has just been kind of pet, pet performance. And soft, and carpet.
And that's really, you know, solution that polyester. And so this year, we, we're launching a new pet, guard. Display program with, 24, actually, 31 styles will be part of that, that program. And that's all it's all focus in the higher end part of the, of that market. In the polyester market, all heavy ounce weights, some really, unique fiber systems, in solution, dyed very soft, and trying to do some things that are just unique, and different than what's out there today.
There's a lot of different pet, programs out there. And so we're trying to differentiate and make it, Stanton ask and so that will be something we're launching IT services. But some of the products are already out today and we're having a lot of success with those. But, they all carry the pet, pet warranties, you know, all pet issues, all pet related issues. Yes. Absolutely. I, I've talked about it before on this podcast, but yeah, having, like a dog or really like any kind of pet.
That's the main concern and probably why a lot of people do move away from carpet and into the hardwood or the laminate. Or specifically is because of pets. But if they can get carpet and have the best of both worlds, that's definitely more ideal. Yeah. What patterns and colors have you seen trend for Staunton in 2024 pattern wise? Seen a lot of, stripes and variation of, stripes. So that's that's a big category for us. But really, I mean, geometric still herringbone a lot of animal, prints.
So I think all those things and color wise, green, seems to be extremely popular. Everywhere I go, people are especially the design community is talking about green. So we have fortunately, we we have some, a lot of neurotoxins that have green in there, but also some reds. You know, Burgundy. So combination, those are probably the two biggest that we're hearing out there. Yeah. I feel like color, especially those rich, like, Burgundy colors. Maybe the of community.
Yeah. Yeah. Those are obviously huge right now. Not even doing this podcast. Not even just in flooring. But, when we're talking about cabinets too, those have been the topic of discussion. I feel like, and I would say very balanced. I mean, not overwhelming green or Burgundy, but very, you know, very tasteful, very,
you know. Yes. Not overwhelming. Yes. And with, custom rugs that makes people feel the, comfort of, like, not necessarily having to stick with a neutral to be their permanent flooring, but with the rugs, you can get, like, kind of, like you said, animal rug. Yeah. And then in a couple of years, switch it out when it's maybe not in trend anymore. So that's definitely a bonus with doing that. What has inspired the move toward outdoor rugs and what's trending for sounds, outdoor rugs?
I think, you know, I think the, the whole outdoor living, which has been going on for for a while now where people are, you know, spending a lot of money on their outside areas with, you know, kitchens and, you know, just, just an extension of, of the house outside. And they want nice things and, no different than their inside rugs. They want high quality design and fashion outside or products that can work outside as well.
So I think it's just it's just it just, addressing a void in a market where traditionally indoor or outdoor I think was considered, you know, inexpensive or in a lot of cases was inexpensive. So, addressing a need that's out there, which is, you know, like I said, higher quality, for nicer spaces. And we have products that can work and we have some products that are can go outside, but people use them inside. So we have a lot of products that can work in both, both areas inside or outside.
Is there any specific trends that you're seeing or that you know about for Sam's outdoor rugs? No, I think, you know, I think it's trying to, you know, still pretty new. Yeah. But I think it's it's, again, focused on some of the things that are working inside and just making them and fibers and constructions that will work outside. So people will, you know, they, they pretty much want the same type of thing, but they want to build you know, withstand the elements if needed. Outside. Absolutely.
So carpet thickness and blended materials have been on the rise lately. How have you seen that trend evolve for Stanton lines? You know, it's interesting with us, we we have, I would say the best of both worlds as far as we have a ton of flat weaves that are very popular that are very, very low pile, and Wilton's, but then we have some really thick, you know, handloom, wool products that are just stunning.
So we, I would say we've got a spectrum and then we have some of our new, Pet Guard products, really soft, thick polyester, gorgeous products. So it's really customer preference, a love is can be driven by where it's going, like upstairs. Obviously people want something that's, you know, it's flatter and lower pile. And then they might want a thick, you know, wool rug, you know, in their living room in
front of a fireplace. But, we've got, we have, a lot of, you know, I guess from, from A to Z as far as that goes. And then fibers, same thing. I mean, a lot of different blended fibers. And we'll blend fibers for a number of different reasons. Some of them might be performance driven, some of them could be esthetics. It could be a luster, combination that we're trying to achieve or a color.
So there's just a lot of, a lot of different reasons why we would use different fibers and even, you know, we've had products now with, with leather, woven into them, which is, really, really cool looking. So something we can take to to, yeah, to, to to innovate with. Yeah. Are you seeing, like, different regions of the United States, for example, they have maybe like people in California are trending.
Are you using carpet trends a little bit more differently than someone in Michigan, for example? Like, are you seeing that this type of carpet sells more here versus there? Like you have some of that. But it's interesting to me that, there's a lot of consistencies with some of our products, too. You know, I mentioned grain earlier. And I've heard that from the West Coast. I've heard that in the East Coast, and it's a very similar thing.
So, but certainly some of the patterns, luster levels are different in different areas, parts of the country than, than other parts of the country and colors, for sure. You know, you always have the West Coast and the coastal colors, which are slightly different than some of the things you might see in the Midwest or Northeast. Okay, cool. We're moving towards 2025, which is insane to think about, but what can we look forward to in 2025 from Stanton?
A lot a lot of really cool, gorgeous products coming out. And, we've got a lot of product that's coming out January, surfaces. We have another, you know, incredible launch coming out. Submitted of we do have some, some new fiber, that will be coming out with this year that, that we'll, we'll show it surfaces. And outside of that, just, some, merchandizing and rebranding, things that you'll see, it surfaces as well. And then, I know this is a soft surface, segment, but hard surface.
We have some amazing new products coming out, and, WPC and hardwood and some updates with laminate and SBC. So there's there's a broad range of really, high style, good looking product coming out, this coming year. Now, that's that's exciting. And even with the hard surface part of that, I mean, we just talked about rugs going on top of hard surfaces. So those do come into play too in this episode a little bit. Yeah. For sure.
Ideally we get the hard surface down and then we put a nice, custom rug on top of it. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, we're definitely looking forward to everything. That comes from Stanton in 2025. And I appreciate you coming on today and sharing a little bit about that. And just about the comforts of carpet in general. So thank you so much, tri, for coming on today. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. We are welcoming Jared Coffin from the Dixie Group.
He is their senior vice president of product and marketing and the Dixie Group does have a few different subbrands. But today we're going to focus mainly on the floor side of the group. So thank you so much again, Jared, for joining us today. Of course. Thank you, Mollie, thanks for having having me. Yeah. How long have you been with the Dixie Group and what made you interested and going into this industry? So I've been with the Dixie Group.
It's pushing 17 years, which is amazing and hard to believe it's been that long and kind of two stints. So I started with the company, with the Amazon brand as a sales rep up in the Boston, Massachusetts market and kind of covered New England. I was up there for about seven years. And then I've been working, an adult and corporate lead for about about ten years and have had a number of different roles. So I kind of moved through things. What got me interested in joining flooring?
You know, I have no idea. I guess graduating college, going through the career fair and got hooked up with the Shaw Industries Group. They recruited out a lot of college to put people into the training program. So I went through Shaw's training program, and started in the industry as a tough tech sales rep and then found my way over to my house and in the Dixie group. So, over 20 years in the industry, like I said, I can't I can't believe it's been this long. But I just kind of fell into it.
I went into it and it's been good. You know, it's one of those, you know, everybody does a joke like you can't leave the industry. And, it's been a happy home for the last bit. And, I mean, do a deep enough that I think this is my, this is my career for life. So here we go. So as someone who is in the carpet industry, what do you think makes carpet so comforting? I mean, it's soft, right? Like, and you think about, especially today where carpeting goes like it's going in the bedroom.
It may go in some play areas, or it's, you know, an accent piece going in, you know, a rug going in the foyer upstairs. But when you see more comfort, you think about a master bedroom. It is that is like that is our sanctuary. When we think about going home, that's the place where we want to relax. And that's what we want. Kind of a comfortable, inviting space. And that's, you know, white carpet still dominates that room. It is clearly the, the comfortable floor, product.
And that, you know, just just really does kind of go hand in hand. So, yeah, I mean, I think comfort simultaneous with soft floor comfort is why it's called soft. No, absolutely. I think, when you wake up in the morning, you don't want to step on something like hard and core. You want it to be soft and, you want it to be a nice way to wake up, right? You don't want to be jolted into the day. Exactly right. Exactly right.
And then, you know, finish your day is you're exhausted and tired and work is beat up, and the kids would beat you up like it's a nice, smooth, comfortable, casual way to kind of, you know, end the night as well. So yeah, absolutely. So how does age Flores continue to elevate that level of comfort and a that, you know, I think it's one of those like very basic elements that's just ingrained with the product in general. So we talk about comfort.
But we also try to, you know, I think our spin on this is about like the style and fashion elements that go along with comfort as well. So I think understanding that comfort is foundational to this, and that's kind of one of those like 1 to 1, you know, you know, you know, human draws is to something that's comfortable, but then you want it to look good and, and perform and, you know, be visually appealing as well.
I think that's our spin on it as well, not only for the physical aspects of softness or comfort, but also like the psychological, like you just feel good when you kind of enter that space. So the Dixie group as a whole, in dollars, you know, our brand messages are all about fashion.
So, you know, our, you know, our next step beyond comfort is about, you know, colors and having unique and different colors that will appeal, whether it's patterns or design elements that, you know, set us apart from, from the rest of the industry as well. So yes, comfort is there. And we certainly speak to that, but that's just foundation with soft flooring as well. So, you know, the specific messages we get with the floors are more about kind of that, that fashion side.
In addition to the comfort elements. Yeah, I totally agree. I go into the Saint Louis, presser showroom a lot. Yeah. Just to film content. And I'm always amazed at how many different selections, different textures, different styles. There are, for your guys's carpet choices. There's, I mean, anything you can think of, like leopard print, anything that you do. You didn't think that would be on a carpet? It's it's available in case there's someone that needs it.
And I think that that that's the whole point. So we're trying to provide selection. You know, we've got an industry that in sort in soft foreign is going to a sea of sameness. It's beige, it's gray, it's solution dyed. And a lot of its solution that polyester or so we're trying to do something a little different. Yes. We have not polyester. Yes we have beige and gray. And those are instrumental colors to the industry.
But having those blue accents, those trendy and green and terracotta accents, it's really important in it. And it's part of what sets us apart and hopefully also sets apart the, you know, the prosource showrooms where they have something that not every, you know, other store, you know, in the neighborhood of, you know, may have.
So, you know, we're trying to create differentiation, which helps our brand but also helps our customers create something different for and for the end consumers coming in as well. So hopefully it's a nice, you know, you know, set up that that really does work for, for the whole value chain. No, it it does. We put together, a space themed design board a few weeks ago or a few months ago now for our TikTok page.
And I was looking for something that was space themed and I can't remember exactly which card. I think it was Naslund carpet, but there was a like there was like a space kind of to have like stars pattern on a carpet. And we were able to use that immediately. And I couldn't believe that I read into that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, to your point, like we've got we've got couple's, we've got loops, we've got striated products.
I mean any, you know, pattern you want when you talk about the whole corporation, we go from 35 ounce cut power polyester in VH up through Pam tufted. You know, one of a kind, wool rugs for fabric. There's a wide breadth of product content between the three brands. Awesome. So moving into the Envision Nylon side of it for us has been able to create ultra soft products without compromising that style.
We were talking about how does the edge force balance that level of innovation and creativity within a selection? So it's all about innovation and creativity, and I think there's a technical aspect to innovation. And there's also like the style design side of it, we're always trying to push that style of design and do feel like, you know, one of the leaders in the market doing that.
We do a lot of mixing and matching yarns and fiber types, where we get little luster yarns and high lace to yarns put together and combined. So you'll just get different textures and esthetics out of the product. And on one hand, like it is innovation, but it's also just kind of like our development process, like we're always trying different things. And weekly there are samples in our product development group, you know, is putting out on the table for us to look at.
And, you know, that development process, sometimes some of the mistakes end up being some of the great products. And it's not like, you know, you're trying to drive innovation per se, but it's just like a continual development process, to speak specifically to the to the Envision fiber. So, the story all ties together. Right? So the industry is driving towards polyester. We're still while we have a good chunk of polyester, we're still really, you know, primarily a nylon, house.
We made a large investment into nylon extrusion, which is up and running this year. And it drives white, durable nylon, which is kind of the foundation of the envision my, platform. So you've got a piece de nylon process. It's nylon. It's not polyester. So you do have an embedded higher quality, story as a result of that. It's piece dyed rather than solution dyed. So you have color flexibility. So you're, you're driving a quality product with a color story.
It's the antithesis of what the rest of the industry is doing. And it just fits so well. To kind of our, our spot on the market. We do more style, we do more color. So a dark horse is known for what it's what mouse made fabric are known for. And frankly, it's what our dealers seem to be asking for. It's like there's a little bit bubbling up where we're it's like enough of the Bayesian gray. We're looking for some color.
So it's just like I said, it's just this full circle thing that's kind of come in quite recently. That's been a nice, you know, just kind of nice convergence of events and the lines up really well with what, what we try to reach for sure. That was actually going to be my next question was, what inspires that passion within the carpeting designs that for us produces it.
It seems like your product development group or your team in general, they are looking at trade pros and partners to get feedback on kind of what move they should do next. Yeah, all of the above. Right. So our product development team I'll say is frankly quite small. We've got a couple of really good experts. But they're always looking for unique and different constructions and fabrics. And we're always taking products out. I'll do it. Others in the product group, our president team will do it.
Our sales managers will do it where they'll be out in a market and they'll be bouncing products off of, you know, dealers and retail sales professionals that kind of said, do you like this one? What do you think? How's the color line? So we'll get that feedback from our customers. Our designers go to go to trade shows like High Point. They subscribe to, some of the trends, organizations, color marketing. There's both some, some trade groups that we'll do and some professional things.
But then it's also just kind of that organic feedback you're getting from customers, showing them new development, and then also talking about things that are in the line, you know, that work or don't work. There's things to learn from both sides. But so it's like all the above, it's a continual learning process and taking any feedback. Good or bad, you end up getting better as a result. How have lives inspired by innovation like and vision?
As the pet solutions have been received by homeowners looking to make their carpets last, and how do they work? Yeah, really, really well. So the whole like animal performance marketing has really connected with the consumer. And, you know, one of our former suppliers in Vista had their Pet Protect brand, which probably was one of the first and leaders in it, and it resonated.
We've since then seen every you know, manufacturer or company entity come up with their version of, you know, at proof or animal. You know, focus marketing from a marketing concept really resonates with the consumer. And there's, we all most of us, not most of us really do like animals and have pets, cats and dogs and even some exotic animals out there. So there's a there is a good connection there. So from a marketing perspective that works, then you back it up with a quality product.
So something that is solution dyed, frankly, whether it's polyester or nylon, it's going to perform really well from a stain perspective. We like both. There's places for both the pet solutions. The envision as the Pet solutions brand has been a really good one to carry a quality story, both from, you know, the durability of the nylon fiber, which is going to outlast anything outside of wool. And then from a solution type perspective, clean ability with stains and things like that.
It is just a it's a great technical story that matches with the marketing content. And consumers have really taken off with us a very successful, fiber, product for us. So what patterns and colors have you seen be trending for floors in 2024? We're seeing like dramatic, large scale, high contrast patterns. Step back a little bit. And so small scale, and then almost more texture than pattern seems to be growing.
So some of these blue clays and sisal looks and, you know, just where there's real texture to the product, it seems to be growing where we're patterns almost seem to be stepping back a little bit. I will say from a pattern perspective, it was that tree bark look for years and then it was that crosshatch. Now we're seeing these kind of overall linen or fabric type patterns that again, just have that nice little overall effect or not a real strong pattern.
Seem to be growing a little bit from a color perspective. Things are warming up, so, you know, grays or go and topia and even seeing some gold accents come in, in the neutral field, on the high end, we all we we really white colors and off whites are really, really strong. So on our higher end brands, you know, we do sell our white, and then from an accent color, we see in the trends, greens, sages and then kind of the terracotta and you know, that that evolution of red. It's in trends.
I wouldn't say that we're necessarily seeing that in sales yet. But we're seeing it in trends and you start seeing those greens and terracotta is infiltrating some of our newest color lines. It'll be there from an accent perspective. But it's foreign. So we certainly do sell a lot of neutral. But you got to have those pops of, of color in there to keep everybody excited and cover some of those area rugs as well.
Yeah, I feel like this the last couple of years, the trend of bold colors has really been at the forefront. And I feel like with every brand, every trade pro I've talked to that's been top of discussion is to the point, the bold. And it's even exiting just the industry. So the Wall Street Journal had an article about color room carpeting. Vogue had an article. Wow. It's starting to hit like like, you know, outside of the industry, which is neat to see.
I mean, they weren't to your point, it was really bold, strong colors that they were, that they were commenting on. Yes. So yeah, totally. There does seem to be something here bubbling a little bit. That's awesome. So with the or carpets, having the ability to select a pattern as a rug has added to their versatility. So why is it so important for Gage for us to offer that feature? Yeah, I mean that, rugs is an important part of the business.
So the carpeting over the last whatever is 25 years has just lost so much market share of a hard surface. And you think about today's home. You got a hard surface on the first floor. Likely you have it on the second floor, basements for the parts of the country that have basements, they'll have it, you know, in LVP product likely down there. There's just so much more hard surface in the home. That wall to wall carpet is not as dominant as it used to be.
There's still soft covering going down and on top of those, those hard surface. So having rug fabrication, an important part of the, the business we have a more fashionable product line. So a lot of our products to lend themselves, to some beautiful rugs. So there's a nice little fit there. And then what we found is the consumer that's upgrading from, like, the $99 Wayfair or Lowes rug. They want some customization to it. So they don't want an eight by ten.
They want an eight six by 12 because that's what actually fits the dining room. So working off a brand name is the perfect fit for that. And then just having a a product line that orients itself towards, towards, you know, pretty esthetics and pretty colors, that's where it works. Yeah. It's an important part of dollars as well as mouse and and fabric is having a rug fabrication business. We do it. We've had multiple fabrication operations.
We make the rugs right there and try to have an easy process, you know, for our customers to, to facilitate that rug purchase with carpet thickness and blended materials that have been on the rise lately and loop carpet being such a prominent line, how have you seen that trend evolve for the for us as a whole? We've had actually two products launched last year that were solution while they were nylon solution and polyester blend products.
And we view it as a little bit of the best of both worlds. So you get the general performance characteristics of nylon. So you get a nice, durable, long lasting product because of the nylon, the the accent of a polyester in there. That's a solution to polyester. When we put the nylon through the dye process, you get some good variations in in color esthetics because of that accent yarn.
So it allows us to do a really long nylon color line with these accents of high contrast, color fleck because of the polyester. So we used it as much for, esthetic, you know, design esthetic perspective as for anything else. And again, kind of viewed as the best of both worlds. You get by one color line now durability but some some design versatility because of that polyester in there. So two launches. It was the first couple of blends we did last year.
We've got a couple more in the works for 2025. So it's a different way to look at it that that we view as being successful going forward. And that was my next question was what can we look forward to in 2025 from Ditch Flaws? What a good question decides that. Exactly. Yeah. So so a couple bland products. We're going to do another kind of super heavyweight, polyester cut pile.
So, you know, again, as we've been growing our polyester business on a couple side, a couple of things that we've learned is one is these these are multi-color low contrast color combinations and compile that give you those real natural, colors. So whether it's, you know, a stone or granite, or wood type of look where you get really kind of low contrast mottled colors, almost, is a good color visual and then go on heavier and face weight.
So basically we have a 90 ounce polyester cut pile that was launched big, huge, comfortable as we started our conversation. Big comfortable product. Great for a bedroom. So so that will just highest and highest weight product we've put out. We're going to do a couple other loops that are blends, some more patterned content, continue to try to push on that fashion side, for the eight floors.
And again, it's a mix of some nylon content under the envision branding and then some some Durso polyester products. So good, a little good, a little assortment of things across the board. That's very exciting. It seems like there's floors, and the Dixie group as a whole just continues to keep growing. Yeah. So there'll be a lot of growth in 2020. So there is I mean, you know, our carpet business is probably our most stable business. We view the decorative side.
So the wall of decorative products and the masking fabric brand a lot of growth opportunity. There are hard surface business again being a little bit of a younger business growth growing where you know, on our carpet side, our core carpet business, we're certainly growing, but we're following the market a little bit more closely then then those other two categories for serving. Yeah. Always looking to grow our business.
And, you know, one of the ways we see that is through very good partners like ProSource it's a good fit with our product content and what all the stores represent. And so kind of we see some of that growth just kind of riding with our partners out there as well. That's great. Thank you so much for coming on today, Chad. Yes. The Dixie Group has been a great partner of ProSource and we look forward to continuing to partner with you all.
We really enjoyed having you on today to share your expertise and insights with the force. Awesome, I enjoyed it. Thank you for having me and I'm look forward to seeing everybody at shows and things this, this winter. Thank you for joining us today on The ProSource Podcast. Please like and subscribe to us wherever you get your podcast.
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