The company is also riding the shaped accent-rug trend wave with its newest line of
doormats including flowers and animal-related motiffs.
According to a recent focus group study sponsored by Mohawk,
doormats with sayings such as "welcome" or "home sweet home" are losing ground.
"They're too hard to look at," explained one consumer who was participating in a focus group on
doormats here in June.
Mohawk Home is adding two new
doormat styles to its line at the New York Home Textiles Market, according to Pat Moyer, vice president of sales and marketing.
Doormats are finding their way into every retailer, from home and garden stores to high-end department stores, even grocery stores at the mass level, said Barry Kelley, vice president of advertising and merchandising for Mohawk Home.
Surprisingly,
doormat sales have held steady at several catalog, department and specialty stores.
In coir
doormats, Boston Warehouse is introducing a style from the Debbie Mumm Snowman Collection, as well as transitional, Americana and shaped novelty styles.
Company C offered its Welcome Home collection of 12 colorful
doormats made of bleached coir printed with whimsical designs in fade-resistant pigment dyes.
The 15
doormats in Company C's whimsical and cheerful Welcome Home collection are made of bleached coir and have non-skid latex backings.
The
doormats are the most evocative of the Williamsburg aesthetic.
But the market for more traditional-style
doormats remains strong, said Jeannie O'Leary, director of marketing for Company C.
In the days before coconut matting, period homes had cast-iron bootscrapers or intricate cast-iron
doormats like this one (pounds 49.95) from the Dibor mail-order catalogue.
The supplier's new 2003 Soft Goods collection of accent rugs and
doormats conjures up images of a July afternoon with motifs such as bumblebees, palm trees, birdhouses and a starfish.