Our overly caffeinated product development staff is still at it. After their work on nine new products and the update of another they're shown here "developing" craft paper chains for the company tree. If they could throttle back for a few minutes we're sure they'd join us in wishing you the best of the Holiday season and a prosperous 2019.

This soon-to-be last year they've introduced one shaggy PetProtect cut pile, seven new wool broadloom products, one sisal, and one update of a classic, ten in all (with another waiting in the wings until 2019). 

  

Here are the results of their efforts this year;

It's Terra Bella, our latest broadloom introduction and it's a heavyweight multi-level loop in an understated "almost-a-pattern" texture. It's made exclusively for us in Belgium in 100% pure wool and is available in the six subtle color-ways shown below. It'll be available in a few weeks. 

 

Actually, just peaks. Maybe we'll discuss valleys another time. Back in days of yore when super thick plushes and flowing shags were wall-to-wall favorites, you could trim the edges with a chain saw and still end up with an invisible seam. Those days are gone. Today short dense cut-piles and loops are popular and invisible seams are not always possible. Here's one reason why: When carpet is installed tension runs uniformly across the backing until it comes to a seam. Then the line of tension drops down through the seaming tape and up again and continues across the backing.  This causes the seam to lift when stretched, resulting in a 'peak'. When we get a call regarding a 'side-match' issue, the vast majority of the time it's not a color variation but a shadow being cast on the 'downhill' side of the peak.  This is why we recommend that seams run perpendicular to a strong light source whenever possible as well as the use of wide seaming tape, (which limits or eliminates peaking at the seams). One of our customers makes sure consumers are aware of that and has them sign a form confirming that peaking has been explained. 

Click  HERE to check it out. Since consumers consume it infrequently, there are a lot of things about carpet they are totally unaware of. Accordingly, we think this is a great idea. 

Surfboards are made using a lightweight foam core and are finished with woven fiberglass and resin for structural integrity. We're pretty sure you never expected to read how to build a surfboard in a carpet newsletter. Oh yeah! We cover stuff! Anyway, track with us here for a minute dude! Fiberglass can be harmful to workers and isn't easily recyclable so another option would be nice. About ten years ago New Zealand surfer Paul Barron was laminating a board and spilled resin on his wool sweater which gave him an idea... what if he used wool instead of fiberglass cloth. 

Fast forward to today and Firewire Surfboards of Carlsbad California is initially making 500 of Barron's WoolLight surfboards to introduce the concept. According to Firewire, the process using a thin wool-and-bioresin composite reduces CO2 emissions by 40% and VOC's by half, compared to traditional construction. This technological advance has the potential to impact other products from yachts to cars among others. Pretty gnarly!