[Las Vegas] As SmartStrand celebrates its 10th birthday, Mohawk challenged itself to create the next generation of product while addressing some of consumers’ biggest issues with carpet. Born is SmartStrand Forever Clean, featuring a proprietary system that promises greater cleanability.
“The reality is that when you lead and innovate, you can’t sit still,” said Tom Lape, president of Mohawk residential. “How do you make the best product better? We looked at how to make the product easier to maintain.”
Lape said that next generation products create the best brands in history and that SmartStrand is in fact the most important franchise in Mohawk’s history. With that in mind, the manufacturer has developed the next generation of carpet cleaning protector and it is specifically engineered for triexta, the fiber of which SmartStrand is made. Mohawk reported that it has spent millions in fiber technology over the last 10 years and will continue to do so.
SmartStrand, which is currently in more than 7 million homes, already has built in protection. That, in fact, has been but one of its selling features. Consumer feedback reported that, “If my carpet feels dirty, my whole house feels dirty and I feel stressed,” explained Lape. “In essence, we looked at the consumer and asked the question of how to make the product easier to maintain and make it easier to clean, and then how to maintain the hand of the product?”
Tommy Hughes of Kelly’s Carpet in Omaha, Neb., said that the most meaningful part of the event here in Vegas was the actual product development. “It’s something we will be able to market but with the Forever Clean, it is going to be a huge benefit. They took a product I felt was the best in the marketplace and made it even better,” he said.
SmartStrand Forever Clean is being joint marketed with Tough Mudder, the four-and-a-half year-old, $100 million company that is all about extreme challenges. SmartStrand Forever Clean is billed as the “Toughest, easiest to clean carpet on the planet.”
The chemistry
No protection system to date has been compatible with triexta until now. While SmartStrand already has a permanent built-in stain and soil protection, this new layer, technically called Nanoloc, was designed specifically to make triexta easier to clean and maintain.
Nanoloc, according to Mohawk, will make the carpet three times easier to clean than other nylon and polyester carpet. And, the formula adheres to the fiber but allows flexibility so that it keeps its soft, plush hand.
“Nanoloc is an advanced spill-resistant shield made from nanoparticles that seamlessly lock together, which prevents dirt and spills from settling into the carpet,” said Lape. “With SmartStrand Forever Clean, soil is released at three times the rate of other carpets. To say it another way, a consumer would have to vacuum her floor three times versus just one time with SmartStrand. It shows a higher level of effectiveness with steam cleaning and from the standpoint of traffic. It is not about stain resistance but about ease of removability.”
Mohawk’s Jim Williams is a chemical engineer by trade. He explained that triexta has low surface energy making it difficult for things to stick. “So,” he said, “We had to come up with a material we could coat on it. This material moves with the fiber — it’s more like a rubber film that moves than a hard protectant. This protectant stays with the fiber and moves with the fiber.”
The carpet continues to have a soft, plush hand and a good weight to it. Mohawk developed a new yarn system that provides better bulking characteristics. The technology is based on innovations in the extrusion processes for making yarn.
Marketing muscle
How do you package this message to the consumer so they know how great this product is? That is the question that Lape said Mohawk gave a great deal of thought to. “Innovation is more than just products, it’s marketing,” he explained.
SmartStrand has always been put to the test and SmartStrand Forever Clean will be no different: SmartStrand Forever Clean is more than a simple layer of protection, Mohawk emphasized, it’s a selling story. The challenge for 2015 is the Tough Mudder challenge.
“I could not think of a more endurance, torture test than more than 10,000 of the biggest enthusiasts of a grueling and muddy course testing,” Lape said.
FCW asked Steve Hendricks at R.C. Willey why, without knowing what it was about, he agreed to travel to Vegas for a secret reveal. His answer? “They told us they had a new innovation. That motivated me,” he said.
Indeed, Hendricks said that the SmartStrand Forever Clean story gives him a story to sell and it changes the conversation from consultant to sale.
And SmartStrand Forever Clean is added value for retailers as the product price will not change as a result of the new benefits.
Through Mohawk’s partnership with Tough Mudder, the company has the opportunity to incorporate its SmartStrand Forever Clean brand, and the carpet itself, on the obstacle course. Mohawk is able to participate in 14 of the 35 U.S. and Canadian events held by Tough Mudder throughout 2015 and is still finalizing plans.
Hughes said Kelly’s Carpet has always used the national marketing of SmartStrand in store on video loops starting back with Ricko. He’ll do the same with the Tough Mudder connection, he said, adding that he is most excited about the new upcoming Kid Mudders for kids which will draw an important demographic — active households.
“Mohawk is sending every Aligned Retailer a Tough Mudder in-store kit, which includes a 3-D standee, posters and floor stickers that promote the SmartStrand Forever Clean challenge,” explained Elise Demboski, vice president, creative services for Mohawk. “In addition, Mohawk is making special event kits available to Aligned Retailers with everything they need to participate in local events or hold SmartStrand Challenge events at their store.”
Another big advantage of this new SmartStrand Forever Clean rollout is that the product is ready right now. It’s been in production since the beginning of the year. “The most exciting aspect of this changed product is that we have been making it since early to mid last year,” announced Lape.
Hughes said that is impressive. “When they announced it, it’s happening — we can hit the ground running,” he offered.
SmartStrand Forever Clean launches officially Dec. 5 and on Monday, Dec. 8, the market will have product full steam.
David Duncan, senior vice president of marketing for Mohawk, said, “What this is really all about is how to take the best product in the world and make it even better. We think we did it. We don’t like to do demonstrations in a laboratory. We like to do things live and be intense and we wanted to put it up against the most extreme event ever.”
Mark Tollefson of Tollefson’s Retail Group
is flanked by Mohawk’s Tom Lape and Jim Williams.
David Duncan
Tom Lape