Why laminate remains one of the pillars of Unilin
The flooring market is evolving dramatically. Innovative technologies are resulting in new flooring categories. For 40 years, laminate has been Unilin’s leading flooring product and it continues to reinvent itself. How? General Manager Laminate Herwig Bernaert tells us all about it.
In a nutshell:
- In 2023 Herwig Bernaert was appointed as Unilin Flooring’s new General Manager Laminate.
- Our laminate is sold in some 8,000 stores in 90 different countries.
- Unilin produces 50 million m2 of laminate every year. This is the equivalent of 12,500 football pitches.
How important is laminate to Unilin?
"Extremely important. We have turned laminate into an international quality product, with renowned brands such as Quick-Step and Pergo. Our expertise in the development, production and market approach of laminate also helped us successfully introduce other flooring products, such as luxury vinyl tiles and parquet. The Uniclic innovation - the click system that facilitates the installation of laminate flooring - signalled the start of Unilin Technologies, our division that manages patents and spreads our knowledge in the market by selling licences on those patents. The impact of laminate on the growth of our company cannot be underestimated."
What role did Unilin play in the breakthrough of laminate in the 90s?
"Unilin didn’t invent laminate, that was Pergo in Sweden. Later Pergo became a part of Unilin and to this day, Pergo’s product offering still includes a Perstorp collection. This name refers to the village where the concept of laminate flooring was invented. The launch of Quick-Step in 1990 was a groundbreaking move: we sold laminate directly to stores, developed our own brand and introduced our Uniclic system. This click system made it easy for everyone to install a laminate floor and revolutionised the flooring market. We democratised laminate and turned it into one of the most popular flooring products almost overnight."
What makes Unilin laminate a quality product?
“The basic composition of our laminate is the same as other brands but we set ourselves apart through the quality and aesthetic properties of the layers. Our R&D team places great emphasis on design, making it extremely difficult to visually distinguish our laminate from actual parquet. We market a top product that excels both in performance, quality and design - and at competitive prices. By constantly innovating, we remain relevant on the market."
Why do consumers still choose laminate when so many other flooring options are available?
“Laminate offers the greatest value for money. It is the best price-quality flooring product out there. It looks amazing and welcoming, it’s affordable, highly scratch-, wear- and water-resistant and also easy to install, making it accessible to everyone. Moreover, Unilin goes out of its way to make laminate even more sustainable, which is a deciding factor for many customers.”
What does the future have in store?
“We have great belief in the potential of laminate. That is why we continue to invest in additional production capacity in Belgium and why we are building a new production facility in Brazil. The new Brazilian plant will allow us to better service the Latin American market.”
Recycling and circularity are extremely important to Unilin. How far has laminate come in that respect?
“All the wood we use in laminate is 100% reclaimed wood, such as wood waste from sawmills. In collaboration with our colleagues from Unilin Panels, we are constantly increasing the percentage of recycled wood in our laminate. We can now even recycle the HDF core used in laminate. Our objective is to use up to 25 percent of material based on recycled wood in both our panels and laminate.”