Mirage, one of North America’s largest prefinished hardwood flooring makers, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. All Mirage employees received special commemorative items decorated with flames meant to symbolize the company’s spirit by evoking Mirage reopening for business just three months after being gutted by a fire in 1984, only a year after it opened. Pierre Thabet, the company’s president, joined employees for special activities aimed at honoring Mirage’s history.

“From our earliest days 25 years ago as a small shop with a workforce of three, we have grown into the most renowned North American prefinished flooring manufacturer, with nearly 400 employees,” Thabet said. “It is the dedication and commitment of those employees that has built this company and will keep us thriving through the next 25 years.”

Thabet created and developed the Mirage brand after purchasing a small Saint-Georges, Quebec-based woodworking company, Boa-Franc, in 1983. Initially a manufacturer of unfinished strips and stair components, the company began producing prefinished flooring in 1990, and introduced its first Mirage products in the United States two years later.

In 1997, Mirage built its first separate sorting facilities and became North America’s first hardwood flooring manufacturer to achieve ISO 9001 certification, the company says. The launch of Mirage Engineered flooring followed in 1999. In 2002, the company built a second manufacturing plant and, by 2007, the company had launched its third Mirage application technology, Mirage Lock.

Today, Mirage operates a manufacturing area of 565,000 square feet, the equivalent of 10 football fields. With more than $75 million in infrastructure investments, the company produces enough Mirage hardwood flooring to cover the floors of more than 64,000 homes every year, the company says.

Since the company’s early years, Mirage has also maintained a commitment to sustainable development. The company operates using a three-pronged approach of environmental integrity, economic efficiency and social equity. Specific steps include using only non-genetically-modified wood and legally harvested lumber from sustainably managed forests, as well as implementing a profit-sharing policy for employees and supporting various causes and organizations. Additionally, Mirage has achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification and has qualified products for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) credits.

“Our sustainable development efforts are at the root of how we do business, and also position us well to maintain the strength and stability to operate successfully in the years to come,” Thabet noted.