Carpet

Alternative NOW

Above left: Woosie Above: Play Studio

The flooring brand has rebranded

Alternative has spent 26 years exploring what its world will look like. Today this British brand – formerly Alternative Flooring - is built on the three pillars of people, product and planet: people are those who make Alternative alternative; products champion craftmanship and design, and planet means giving back with what it calls smart sustainability.

For Alternative it’s never ‘just a carpet’ but design-led flooring that gets as much attention and adulation as any other interiors feature. Carpets, rugs and runners are made from the finest wool, natural and faux fibres where texture, colour and pattern surprise and delight: expect quirky patterns in British wool, eco undyed wools and exotic natural fibres.

The shift to simply Alternative sees this award-winning brand embrace interiors in a more sustainable, lifestyle direction,

Tartan with plenty of fun along the way, as a series of films online demonstrate.

The new Play Studio stand is the result of years of adventurous brand building, serious product investment and total commitment to retail and service culture.

‘We inspire people to express their personality with our designs and want everyone – retailers, clients, designers, suppliers – to feel happy about our work together. We’re unconventional, playfully disruptive. Choosing flooring should be fun,’ says Lorna Haigh, Alternative creative and marketing director.

Play Studio has two parts: Play Wall shelving and a Play Table. The Perspex chrome-finished shelves make selecting simple, with carpets displayed with backlit graphics. It provides more than 40 carpet ranges in a tactile, easy-to-use system. The Play Table provides space to use the Design Workshop for interior schemes. Each of the product sections has its own QR code for customers to interact with and view online in detail. Every product has linked lifestyle imagery.

Alternative’s investment in innovative collections and influential collaborations continues. Woosie is its first wool sisal blend. Fresh from Alternative’s student competition with Glasgow School of Art and The Campaign for Wool is a modern tartan, celebrating young British design and championing British wool.

A pillar message is Alternative cares about treading lightly. Every sample delivered involves carbon emissions so its partnership with Ecologi sees a tree planted for every sample order placed online. So far almost 9,000 have been planted.

Alternative At Home is a new section on its website where real people welcome us into their spaces. Richard Hackett, Online tools Alternative sales director make choosing flooring enjoyable. Make Me A Rug lets shoppers create a personalised rug, which ordered online can be delivered to their nearest Alternative retailer with the Click ‘n’ Collect option. The Show Me My Room visualiser now works for stairs, giving customers confidence in choosing carpet and making a purchase.

‘It’s clear to me that Alternative’s heart is bringing people together and delivering great products. Our brand is committed to retail, to buying locally, to making sure our beautiful products look their best by being fitted perfectly by our selected professional retail partners,’ says Richard Hackett, recently appointed sales director.

‘We want to be part of a progressive interiors brand that has strong values and does what it says: delivering with outstanding product, bright marketing and superb service. It is an exciting time for both our customers and people. We continue to find the best ways for people to fall in love with our “manu-crafted” characterful floors, making them the life and soul of any interior.’ Visit: www.alternativeflooring.com

For those ‘iconic living’ moments.

les iconics.

Now, more than ever, the spirit of aged parquet brings an extra level of depth to a modern interior. Created from oak, Les Iconics echoes the parquet floors in grand manor houses of old. Beneath the genuine charm lies a prowess that leaves nothing to chance. Appearance, colour and texture have all been taken care of in order to lay the very best, ultra-resistant, aged parquet at your feet. Les Iconics fulfills your greatest wood floor desires, a floor with true soul.

rustic oak

historic and timeless parquet

oiled

authentic and traditional charm

aged parquet

distinct character and craftsmanship Get in touch with us North: Richard Comboy T + 44 7496 293150 richard.comboy@berryalloc.com

Midlands & South West: Ross Tooth T + 44 7949 151269 ross.tooth@berryalloc.com London & South East: Guy Ferguson T + 44 7940 455917 guy.ferguson@berryalloc.com

Riva time

Riva is available in 16 shades including Arcadia

A soft deep-pile is Cormar’s latest range

This month, Cormar Carpet Company is introducing its latest range, Riva: a deeppile carpet in a modern palette of plain colours.

Building upon the ongoing popularity of its Sensation ranges, Riva brings a new dimension to the family of soft deep-pile carpets, providing a balance between the practical living qualities of easy-clean polypropylene and the sumptuous feeling of a soft deep-pile.

The range will be available in 16 plain shades including a strong collection of popular greys and warm neutrals, alongside some bolder colour choices: giving home-owners outstanding choice to complement any interior design.

‘We are living in a time of high inflation, so Riva is perfectly timed for the market. It offers fabulous value in the soft deep-pile market sector and has great consumer appeal. The combination of the firmer handle of our easy-clean carpets, together with the softness of a multi-filament yarn makes it a real winner,’ says David Cormack, Cormar Carpet Company marketing director.

Riva is a manufactured from two-ply yarn and is both bleach cleanable and stain resistant. It also includes a 10-year stain and wear guarantee. Also, due to its resilient properties, Riva is suitable for use all around the home, although targeted at bedrooms and nurseries – spaces in the home where extra softness is desired.

Cormar Carpet Company is proud to produce all its extensive range of carpets at its two Lancashire mills. The company delivers across the UK and Republic of Ireland from its distribution sites in Hemel Hempstead and Bury, using its fleet of more than 70 vehicles to ensure a fast, reliable service.

With an industry-leading online trade portal and dedicated, experienced sales and customer service teams, Cormar Carpet Company offers retailers 24/7 access to ordering, tracking and online account management, as well as servicing its retail customers through a team of over 30 sales representatives. Visit: www.cormarcarpets.co.uk