Hardwood Floors June/July 2019

AT THE SITE

Bell Bottoms & Blockbuster How Trends Affect Our Business

I also lived through the video craze that spawnedBlockbuster. I fondly remember going to the local video store on Friday night and renting amovie.That being said, I have blocked out the memory of forgetting to return it and paying $15 in late fees. Even crazier, Blockbuster once had 9,000 stores nationwide and nowhas been reduced to a single store inBend, Oregon. There has been a resurgence of vinyl record stores; maybe video is next? So how does this stroll downmemory lane affect my business? Bell bottoms and Blockbuster were trends – one from fashion, one from technology. Offering the right trends helps you sell your product. Having the right blend of color, distressing, plank size, and wood species sells your product. Being late to market or not having the right trends has the potential to send your customer to the competition. Much like the fashion side of the business, not meeting the latest performance technology for wear, stain, and scratch resistance can impact sales as well. It’s not too late to start understanding trends – not just the benefit of having the right colors and styles, but the financial benefits and environmental enhancements you can realize.

Being born in the late '60s, I was fortunate enough to miss the “bell bottom revolution.” Yes, I have pictures of myself wearing bell bottoms, but I consider that forced compliance. It was not my choice; I was a child. Thanks, Mom! Imagine my fear when I started seeing women wearing bell bottoms as I traveled. FASHION RULES Rule 1: Fashion is always first. Never inmy 20-plus-year coating career have I had a fashion designer come into one of our design centers and ask how to achieve a look like he or she saw on a floor, cabinet, wall, or piece of furniture for his or her latest clothing collection. Daily, interior designers and architects ask our team to match a look in a fashion magazine or the latest trend that was inspired by fashion.

and cost. Therefore, we have traditionally seen an 18-month to two-year lag from one segment to the next. Europe would be the first to adopt the trend and someone would see it while traveling and bring it to the United States. Today, the time is down to six months to a year thanks to the Internet. We can see trends from their infancy. Design teams are constantly researching color, attending shows, and scouring the market to stay ahead of the trends.

Fashion design leads to wall coloring and furniture design. From there it goes to cabinetry and finally trickles down to wood flooring. Think about your own home. It is very inexpensive to keep up with trends. You can paint a room in a weekend. Buy new furniture, and in a day or two, you have added the latest trend to your home with little investment. When we start to talk about a new kitchen or changing a floor or refinishing a floor, we start to get into major construction

Examples of how fashion design trends influence color trends in finishes.

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