Check out one of our newest styles, Hanky Planky! This is one of 6 new styles that will be added to the Preview Collection on Nood Lab.
This posting is a follow up to our recent un-manufacturing entry. Nood is committed to a true on-demand or made-to-order manufacturing philosophy that has been evolving over the last year. We have endured some growing pains in recent months as we have introduced our Nexterra backing system for tile and have had to make some significant adjustments to our manufacturing processes and procedures. The reality is that those challenges have forced us to make overall changes that have created a more streamlined system that is more rhythmic and structured than ever before.
The net result is that we are proud to announce our standard lead times for tile will be 6-8 weeks and broadloom will be 4-6 weeks. This range is primarily due the fact that we are making and dying a textile and then applying a complex backing. It is not a simple process and there are a lot of moving parts and challenges. It is impossible to predict an exact lead time or ship date as there are essentially three major steps in the process that take on lives of their own. These lead times are well within the standard expectations in the industry. I would argue that being able to offer the complexity and customization that Nood stands for and do that with no minimums and up charges at competitive prices and lead times is pretty compelling. Nood looks forward to growing and evolving with you as we revolutionize carpet one client at a time.
Nood is thrilled to announce the introduction of Nexterra as a new backing system for modular products. After much deliberation, we have decided to partner with Beaulieu of America and endorse their Nexterra backing technology for all of our commercial products. We will be keeping Envirocel Modular Laminate as a viable option for future introductions of modular products for residential applications. The short term reality is that effective immediately, all modular tile orders will have Nexterra applied and will only be available in 24”x24” tiles. Briks(24”x48”) will no longer be offered on existing commercial styles.
We now offer a NON-PVC, traditional hard back system in 24”x24” tiles called Nexterra. It is commonly used in the industry and is also endorsed by companies like Bolyu and Cambridge with years of successful installations. It is 85% recycled content using plastic bottles(PET) and goes down with a common releasable adhesive from ParaChem (M5080).
It seems appropriate for Nood to choose the greenest backing available with a proven track record. This is probably the most significant news for the second half of 2009 and sets us up well to take off in the coming months with a comprehensive, well rounded offering. We are offering a premium, non-PVC backed product with 85% recycled content on patterns that a designer can have dyed in any color. My hope is that we have created a tile offering that is unique but stays true to our committment to be lean and green.
Do you offer tile? “Absolutely!”
There is a lot of green decisions that we made at Nood that get a lot of sizzle points. We only offer eco-preferable products and are committed to changing or upgrading the minute something better comes along. We only make carpet and samples when someone actually wants it. The natural progression was to encourage the designer to stop shopping and start designing which allows us to minimize multiple waste streams because we are making exactly what the client wants instead of trying to predict something as shifting as fashion. What does not get a lot of attention is the un-manufacturing philosophy that defines Nood behind the scenes.
When we proclaim that less is more, there are truly no boundaries. When we started Nood, it became clear that there was already way to much capacity to make carpet in the industry. Designers were not complaining about the availability of carpet, mills or the reps that visit their firms by the hour. The problem was that they all started to run together and that the experience often left a little bit to be desired when all the mud-slinging and price cutting was over. Nood did not set out to be another company that made carpet and then tried to sell it. Our goal was to completely rethink the process with the intention of being a green company that helped designers make the carpet that they actually wanted. The shift from supply to demand became clear early on, and it significantly impacted our fundamental building blocks from day one.
Un-manufacturing is a term that really holds two meanings. One is strategically descriptive and simply means that we want to avoid adding any fixed manufacturing assets when there are existing companies we can partner with to provide that service. This is a completely acceptable practice in the industry for all mills especially for specialty backing or branded fiber systems. There was a time when being vertically integrated was a competitive advantage but times have changed. Nood prides itself in outsourcing almost all individual processes and will prominently herald the quality companies that we are partnered with. Some people make the mistake of assuming that we are simply re-branding finished products from other mills. That is absolutely not the case. Nood controls every aspect of manufacturing from product development to shipping. We choose to buy fiber like Ultron from Ascend instead of extruding it ourself. We choose to have the fiber converted by one of many companies that specialize in creating yarn. We choose to partner with existing commission tufters instead of creating excess competition. We aligned with a proven dye house called Chem-Tech to provide all piece and continuous dyeing. We choose to have UTT apply our high performance broadloom backings instead of trying to do something ourself that would cost way more. Finally, we partnered with Beaulieu to provide our new proven tile backing system called Nexterra. This is about being smart, lean, green and nimble. It does not make sense to invest in fixed assets when those assets are readily available at a fraction of the costs variably. Beyond the costs, technology and chemistry is changing at an incredible pace and Nood wants to be free to support any viable new ideas instead of justifying antiquated ones because we are financially strapped to them indefinitely. The entire premise of Nood is based on change, and we are beholden to support it whenever and however it manifests itself in a viable form that is attractive to our clients.
Un-manufacturing also holds a very tactical meaning when it comes to the daily grind of making carpet once the designer as done their part. We proclaim to be made-to-order and that is true in every aspect. I like to draw a correlation between Nood and a short-order cook at an all-night diner. We keep all the ingredients in their raw form and simply build any combination from scratch once an order is placed. This is a huge philosophical differentiator that usually takes people a while to get their arms around. From the beginning, Nood realized that one of the most wasteful practices in the industry was the habit of forecasting trends and then designing beautiful products and then finally figuring out how to make them. At Nood, we began with the simple idea of developing a tool box if you will, a basic set of yarns that feed varying thread-ups on different tufting machines. By coordinating simple and routine schedules, we can create a vast collection of products and patterns that can be dyed to any color with no minimums or up-charges. The more volume demanded actually increases the efficiency of the overall system because it is based on a simple concept of leverage. While we offer and will continue to introduce products that fall outside of this system. The vast majority will continue to grow out of this basic tenet. One simple guide is that any patterns found in the basic or dynamic collections fall into this system. There will be more to come on the collections.
Everything about Nood is founded in a belief that there is a growing demand for new and progressive thinking that dismantles the long-standing and misguided philosophy of MAKE-BORROW-BUY-SELL-DISCARD that has dominated our society recently. Nood represents change but also requires change. Salespeople, designers and endusers have to change the way they think and act. I would argue that a growing majority have already changed or are very receptive but need to have their hands held early on. We have developed many processes intended to act as training wheels but nothing replaces outstanding service and attention from a knowledgeable representative.
Nood is a Dutch word that literally translates into “NEED” in English but what is unique is the mispronunciation of Nood in English. Most people will go with “NUDE” and that double entendre is very intentional. Nude is very descriptive because it speaks to our commitment to dematerialization and stripping things down as well as the idea of transparency which is part of our core DNA. The name is meant to be unique and memorable but I hope it resonates with our target audience because it should reinforce the simple fact that Nood is not just another carpet company that is going green. Nood was created from the beginning to be a green company that happens to make carpet.
Fashion is a very important part of the name that often gets forgotten and overlooked. Fashion is defined as a response to the time. The idea that we do not make carpet or samples until someone actually wants it is what allows us to have this passion for fashion. We are not a company that manufactures stuff and then tries to sell it to someone. We are clearly interested in making exactly what people want today instead of trying to predict the future when it comes to color. This was born out of our commitment to dematerialization and less stuff but has emerged into the battle cry of “Stop shopping and start designing”. Why fill their library with colors that someone in Dalton chose a year ago when you can collaborate with the designer to get the exact colors they want today. We have heard over and over that shopping for carpet typically will render a product where the pattern is perfect and the color is close or the other way around but rarely are pattern and color both perfect. We have also been told that our flexibility in color allows designers to redefine the way the work. They would typically start with carpet and then design from the floor up but with Nood, they are able to work with all of the other finishes that may be static or unknown from the beginning and then tweak the color of the carpet at the end. The feedback suggests that this saves the designer a significant amount of time and frustration because all of the typical confusion around shopping and that potential reselects are avoided.
Nood was not created because the industry needed another carpet company doing more of the same. However, we believe that a there is a growing number of designers that will welcome a new type of green company that is shifting the focus from supply to demand and allowing them to participate in the process and eliminate waste in their process at the same time. Nood is asking our clients to change and that is not easy and there will be hurdles but the climate in our society and industry are in our favor and that coupled with a target audience that actually wants to actually create change, the future is bright!
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