Euparal, an international organization of parquet importers and distributors, recently changed its name to Global Flooring Alliance and added three members: BoDeWo (Switzerland), Polimpex (Russia) and Woodpecker B.V. (the Netherlands). With these new members, 14 wholesalers/distributors have joined the Global Flooring Alliance.

“We are very happy with our three new associates,” said Carlo Cavinato, GFA’s president. “Woodpecker was one of the founding members of our association and has returned after an absence of more than five years, Switzerland is an interesting market which makes it important to have a member like BoDeWo present in the GFA and the Russian company Polimpex is a major player on the market in Russia.”

The association, previously known as Euparal, officially changed its name to Global Flooring Alliance at the Domotex Fair in Hannover, Germany, earlier this year. “After twenty years of existence it’s good to reflect. Markets have changed but also the Association has changed within this period,” Cavinato noted. “With Global Flooring Alliance we want to make a statement: We see ourselves as a global organization which welcomes new members from countries worldwide. And I dare say our new members have immediately proved that point.”

The aims of the association are to promote parquet and to exchange product, market and technical information. GFA consists of fourteen parquet importers and distributors representing fourteen different countries: Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. The board is represented by Carlo Cavinato (President/Cavinato S.p.A., Italy), Matjaz Stefan (Treasurer/Alpod d.o.o., Slovenia), and Jos Krijnen (Secretary, The Netherlands).