Unleashed: New Pet-Friendly Flooring by Anderson Tuftex
Pet ownership has displayed a consistent upward trend over more than two decades. In fact, more than 68% of all U.S. households now include a pet as a member of the family, according to the American Pet Products Association’s 2017-2018 National Pet Owners Survey. Most of those households, 48%, are dog-friendly, with cats in second place at 38%. Answering that call of the wild, Anderson Tuftex unveils Unleashed—a pet-friendly flooring collection that features beautiful soft surface patterns that are paired with sawn-face and distressed white oak engineered wood floors.
“We did a lot of research and found there is a need for that pet-friendly carpet with a durable story,” said Amelia Tritico, manager-design and innovation, Anderson Tuftex. “We’ve had our Stainmaster Pet Protect collection for a while, since 2014, and we wanted to bring it to life again in a more design-centric way.”
The team refreshed the initiative by taking a more creative approach to blending fibers into 10 carpet styles that use cut pile, cut and loop patterns and pattern loops—emphasized by pet-friendly style names like Pawparazzi, Pawnache, Faux Paw and Purrsuasion.To further the story, the team paired the carpets with two 5/8-inch x 8-inch ply core engineered white oak floors: Kensington, in a coordinating cooler palette, and Buckingham, in a warmer palette.
“When we tested with consumers, we found they do not think of pet-friendly products as pretty—but here, we are creating a product that is about performance and design.” said Katie Ford, director of brand strategy, Anderson Tuftex.
Visually, the brand is also taking a different approach in marketing and merchandising of the products by pairing carpet and hardwoods together.
“We want people to love their floors and their pets.”
– Katie Ford
“I love the line and can’t believe it is a pet-friendly product,” said John Paul of Paulson’s Floor Coverings in Portland, Ore., who saw a sneak peek of the line at a dealer preview in November. “I love the patterns and color options, and the mix of solids and twists is going to be great. Pet Protect has been huge for us.”
“We want people to love their floors and their pets,” Ford said.
Funny enough, Ford revealed that during focus groups invariably only one in 10 people in a group was cat lover. Maybe not all love is created equal.
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