Contours and special ‘Shapes’
Gitty Gommers, Director of marketing with HMTX Global, explains how Aspecta tunes in to the special formats with its collections. She leads us around in how her company offers the market so-called special ‘Shapes’. Mrs. Gommers especially focuses on Contours, as this is the collection for the highest end of the market that contains special patterns. It offers LVT-flooring in iconic layout patterns such as chevron, herringbone and basket weave in different plank sizes. It does this as a robust Glue Down 55 or state-of-the-art ISOCORE Click 55 flooring, that is suitable for heavy commercial use.

“We launched our first, small range of herringbone on the market in 2018. We did this because we felt a need in the market of the old style coming back and started with a click and dryback”, Gitty Gommers explains. “We quickly felt how people picked it up and liked it. Now, special patterns are established on the market and it is common to have dryback and click in what we call Shapes.”

“Over the years, it became clear there was a need for different formats and that there was a tendency to go to larger planks. That is why we brought the collection Contours to the market in 2020, with a full book of only Shapes, and with click and in bigger sizes.”

Market changes
Mrs. Gommers details how, based on Contours, Aspecta noticed how not everything was suited for architects and designers globally. She sees how the market specifically changed in a short period of time: “If people choose a herringbone pattern in 2018, they now opt for chevron. This shift was already clear during the pandemic. The latest trend we pick-up is in the colours customers choose. In the beginning, there was a preference for light products with a whitewashed sheen, but now we evolve towards darker sheen, both in herringbone and chevron.”

“Contours was introduced in 2020 already and those materials were launched into the market, with their introduction at Domotex 2023. The reception is incredible, these special patterns make up one third of our entire full portfolio, both in small and big sizes.”

Cutting down number of SKU’s + greener future
Of course, we want to know why this is such a big success. Mrs. Gommers points out it is about more than just a lot of special products the competition doesn’t have. It is also the result of cutting down the number of SKU’s and offering the customer a clear choice.

“It was the right choice to end the previously separate brands, sales strategies, and market activities. Now, the customers get a much clearer image of what is available”, we hear. “Since the inception of HMTX Global in 2014, yearly new ranges were created and this grew enormously, up to 580 SKU’s. We downsized this to 260 SKU’s, making the overview a lot better. At the same time, we also refreshed the range and brought it up to trend.”

“In addition, I want to stress how HMTX Industries is at the same time very conscious of the fact we have to strive for a greener future. That is why we stress two central objectives: on the one hand, we aim to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and on the other we go for total carbon neutrality by 2035. To attain these objectives, both HMTX Industries and HMTX Global are investing heavily. HMTX Industries opened two new LVT factories in the US, in Pittston and Texas, while in the Netherlands, HMTX Global has moved to a totally new warehouse in Roosendaal. There, we also have a completely new showroom in which customers witness the look and feel of our products in a boutique-like setting.”