Innovations in Resilient Flooring

Betsy Amoroso, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Mannington Mills Still Trendy After All These Years Innovations in Resilient Flooring

Like many other home furnishings, resilient or “vinyl” flooring has evolved over the past 100-plus years thanks to innovations in both technology and design. From its humble beginnings as linoleum, invented near Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in the mid-1800s, to its current incarnations as sheet vinyl and Luxury Vinyl (LVT), resilient has come a long way.

It sure isn’t your grandmother’s vinyl floor with its faux-brick design or avocado green florals. Today’s resilient floors are the height of fashion, showcasing realistic wood looks and minimalist tile designs that feature both beauty and durability all in one affordable product.

In the early 1900s, the United States was manufacturing a similar type of floorcovering, called oil cloth, which gave way to felt-base products (similar to today’s traditional sheet vinyl). Some of that floorcovering was made by the American Oil Cloth Company in a Salem, New Jersey plant managed by John Boston Campbell. Several years later, that plant manager founded the J.B. Campbell Mfg. Co., which today (after several iterations) is known as Mannington Mills, one of the world’s largest flooring manufacturers and a company that is widely known for its design and technological innovations in resilient flooring.

Throughout the 1930s and up to the 1950s, linoleum and felt-base floorcoverings were an integral part of home decorating. Many of these floorcoverings were made as ‘rugs’ so they could be laid down and taken up just as easily as today’s area rugs would be. Then, when the rug became dirty or a change of style was desired, all the homeowner had to do was roll it up and put down a new one.

In the 1950s, a company called Sandura manufactured and marketed a new type of rotogravure vinyl floorcovering. Other companies quickly followed and the product caught on in the marketplace. Rotogravure is, literally, “a printing system using a rotary press with engraved cylinders.” Though refined over the years, this process is still used today to print vinyl floorcovering.

Left: Manitex Rugs, 1950s; center: Thrift Rugs, 1960s; at right: sheet vinyl, c. 1970s

Technology is one thing — style and design are quite another. So while the technological innovations were important to the manufacturing companies, design trends were important to the consumer.

The early vinyl rugs were printed in bright, bold colors because they were used to accent a room, but later on, as flooring became more of an integral part of a decorating scheme, sheet vinyl patterns reflected the trends of the times.

● The 1950s saw products such as Mannington’s Manitex Rugs, which came in everything from bold geometrics to fancy florals; ● The 1960s gave rise to some psychedelic patterns; ● The 1970s offered bold color and pattern; and ● By the 1980s sheet vinyl was shiny and oh-so-modern.

Today’s vinyl flooring offers colors, textures, patterns, and other options that no one could have imagined, even just a decade ago. Besides sheet vinyl (which now is available in both felt-backed and fiberglass constructions), an entirely new category of vinyl has become mainstream: luxury vinyl flooring. Available in both plank and tile formats, this flooring offers incredible beauty and realism along with superior performance (it’s waterproof!) and easy maintenance. Often called “LVT” for luxury vinyl tile, it’s become the product of choice among many consumers because of its positive attributes.

One area that should not be ignored is the environmental attributes of resilient. Much of today’s vinyl flooring is manufactured in the USA, and much of it uses low-VOC water-based inks, contributes to LEED green building credits, and is FloorScore certified for good indoor air quality. Always check the manufacturer’s website for details on environmental attributes before purchasing the product. In fact, websites are a great place to start when looking into any product as they offer a glimpse into the company, its philosophy, and the products it makes.

As time goes on, undoubtedly more product innovations will occur, and the flooring choices available to consumers will continue to grow. Resilient flooring has a long and rich history, and thanks to product design and innovation, it seems it will continue to thrive for many, many more years to come. ■

At top: Hive (Swarm) LVS flooring; center: Adura Swiss Oak-Almond; at bottom: Dramatic black room with gray floor, all from Mannington