Europeans have been enjoying its features and benefits for several decades. Laminate flooring grew out of the laminate countertop business. It was once was a secondary production line to help increase plant production rates and use up left over materials now, it has grown into a multi-billion pound worldwide business.
Introduced mostly in Scandinavian countries the growth of laminates in Europe was tremendous. Laminates continue to garner a larger share of the floor covering market each and every year. Pergo has achieved household name status and has generally created consumer confidence in a new flooring product category. Laminates have taken market share from carpet, hardwood, ceramic tile and primarily vinyl flooring. With continued market share predicted for the laminate industry, other floor covering producers have decided to get on board. Bruce Hardwood, Shaw Carpet and Armstrong Vinyl all now have laminate brands within their portfolios.
Introductions of glue-less laminates revolutionised the floor covering industry. Unilin Industries of Belgium introduced Quick-Step into the UK market. Quick-Step utilizes the patented Uniclic joint system. Several other manufacturers such as Pergo etc have bought licenses to use the Uniclic joint thereby acknowledging Uniclic as the industry standard for Glue-less technology, two thirds of the laminate flooring industry is glue-less.
As laminate floor producers continue to expand colors, styles and increase quality, the incredible growth of this product will continue. As growth increases, even more will be funneled back into research and development to continually raise the bar for laminate flooring. Ultimately it will be the consumer who will judge whether or not laminate floor is all that it says it is. Nonetheless, it is clear that laminate flooring is here to STAY.
