The Future of Hardwood Flooring
The future of hardwood flooring is sustainable. In this way the industry has been leading in this domain for a long time now. Long gone are the days where companies and consumers were willing to put up with illegal and non-sustainable practices. If companies want to stick around, then they have to show that they are practicing and not just preaching the sale of environmentally safe and sustainable products if they want to continue as a successful flooring business for decades to come.
The flooring industry relies on a natural resource that is renewable but that unfortunately to renew needs somewhere in the ballpark of about 75 to 100 years to grow to maturity. In order to maintain the public appetite for hardwood and ensure there is enough supply to meet the need, companies in not just the flooring industry but others like furniture and paper realized that the old business model would not work.
Change is hard however. Some companies saw that in order to ensure their business would be sustainable for years to come on a global scale they would need to change the way they operated. This meant more time and money to be spent on infrastructure, shipping, etc. — something companies in search of profits for their shareholders did not want to take part in. In North America, companies were given little choice to change their business practices as governments put in place measures to ensure the protection and sustainability of their forests. These protections meant companies had less access to lumber and therefore rising costs for consumers.
In order to get around this some companies turned to the global forest and lumber industries where laws were less strict or not enforced at all. Countries like China and Russia opened their boarders to lumber producers and sold them all kinds of wood products at rock bottom prices. This meant North American markets became flooded with cheap goods from China and Russia. While that was great for consumer’s pockets, the quality and safety of those products was extremely poor.
When purchasing hardwood flooring products sourced in Canada customers are guaranteed that companies have met National Standards when it comes to quality and safety of their products. With the products sourced from China and Russia, the quality of the product was less and, in many cases, put the health of the end customer in real serious danger.
In order to make a cheaper and more affordable product and to increase their profits, these companies were caught using toxic formaldehyde at levels that were way above Canadian and American standards.
Those companies, while they increased their profits short term were eventually called out for their practices and have since lost market share to the companies that have been building sustainable fair-trade businesses that provide high quality product to their customers.
More and more companies are jumping on this responsible corporation bandwagon. Recently the top CEO’s from companies like Apple, Google, JP Morgan Chase and others have said the future of business is to ensure they are meeting the needs of their employees, listening to the needs of their customers and ensuring they are practicing a sustainable business for future generations. This is an incredible shift in thinking from the worlds most powerful CEOs and should not be taken lightly. No longer is the all mighty power of the shareholder the sole reason to exist for a corporation.
Hardwood flooring is a purchase that should not be done lightly. Finding the cheapest flooring might save you money upfront but those floors will not last long and end up costing you more in terms of replacement and potential health risks as well.
When looking into hardwood flooring quality is always best. You want a product that is not only safe but that will last in your home for generations. This trend in sustainable practice is something that is growing fast and spreading to other sectors. The consumer of tomorrow will not make his or her decision based solely on price, but rather on product sustainability and the actual sustainable practices of the maker. The next economy will grow in their concern for how and where the product was manufactured and if that place is socially responsible.
Hardwood floors are built for the future. While it is not an industry that will have late breaking technology developments, with hardwoods floors integrated with Bluetooth; the flooring industry is looking ahead long term.
The Hardwood Flooring Store is a proud supplier of quality sustainable products that are certified and of the highest quality. We carry only the best brands available on the market and that are ensured to last in your home for decades. Visit The Hardwood Flooring Store and one of our knowledgeable associates will gladly work with you to help figure out the right Hardwood Flooring Product for your home.
