ATLANTA -- Mark Spicher, owner of Pennsylvania-based Spicher & Company, takes home a fourth major industry award since the debut of Vintage Vinyl floorcloths nearly five years ago, this time the prestigious ICON Honors award for Product Innovation.
Presented during the summer 2017 Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market at the annual ICON Honors gala dinner and awards ceremony held on July 13 at Atlanta's Fox Theatre, the award specifically recognizes the company's Vintage Vinyl Albums, a blockbuster display and packaging system which reworks the typical cardboard LP record album sleeve into packages holding samples of the company's floor coverings.
Record album sleeves show Spicher & Company Vintage Vinyl Floorcloth samples on one side, and provide detailed information on the product on the flip side (shown).
Originally founded by Spicher in 1992 to showcase paintings by his wife, artist Kolene Spicher, the company evolved into a major wall art supplier to top retailers, and in 2013 rolled out its certified non-slip vinyl floorcloths to instant industry acclaim. Indeed, Vintage Vinyl Floorcloths received the 2014 Pinnacle Award from the American Society of Furniture Designers, was a finalist in the 2015 Icon Honors, and scored an ARTS Awards in 2016.
The play on the word vinyl in conjunction with LP records, and the nostalgia of Spicher's vintage-inspired floorcloths combine to pack a powerful punch -- not just in Spicher & Co.'s showrooms, but at its customers' retail stores as well.
The award-winning LP albums displayed in a Spicher showroom with signage indicating sections for Classic Vinyl patterns and Colonial Williamsburg designs.
"It's very rewarding to have a little bit of recognition in the industry for our team," Mark Spicher told RugNews.com in an exclusive interview following the Icon Honors ceremony. "The award was for innovation in how we market and package Vintage Vinyl, which is where the record album display comes in. The product name is Vintage Vinyl and it's great as an indoor-outdoor product, at a kitchen sink, on a screened in porch or a mudroom, even great for a bathroom. It's got great traction. It's got a tactile surface, and it's no-stick, which makes it really easy to clean. You just take a damp cloth and wipe it off."
Spicher explained that his goal was to create a modern version of true vintage floorcloths, which were also known as "oil cloths" because of their construction from heavy canvas coated with varnish or wax. Spicher & Company managed to recreate the beautiful patina of the time-worn originals, but in a 21st century iteration that is fire-rated and non-slip rated for commercial installations.
"The old floorcloths cracked, and the corners always sprung -- ours don't," Spicher said. Another difference: canvas cloths shouldn't be used outside where they may come in direct contact with moisture, but Vintage Vinyl floorcloths are as durable outdoors as they are inside the home.
Karen Holmay, Belinda Lovell and Matt Watkins of Elements of Design in Ormond, Florida, selecting Vintage Vinyl samples from "albums" containing swatches and marked New Release, Greatest Hits or Classic Vinyl.
Interestingly, the record album display and packaging were launched at last year's July Atlanta market for the company's showroom merchandising. With an assortment of some 5,000 designs, Spicher and his team needed to come up with a way that customers could view the product in a small space and also to organize the sizable offering. The solution was to create an album sized sample with a sleeve that shows the design on front, and also presents product information on the flip side.
"Vintage Vinyl plays with the story of vinyl," Spicher elaborated. "What's great about the albums is that they have little stickers on them that will say New Release like a record album does, or Greatest Hits, or Classic Vinyl. It makes it very easy for the customers to flip through, and see what's new and identify it quickly. And also to see what our best sellers are, so they can easily know this is a product that has already done well. They don't have to guess about its sell through."
Just introduced, samples from the William Morris licensed collection of Vintage Vinyl Floorcloths.
He points to a row of albums featuring just-introduced William Morris & Co. designs from a new licensing program. "These are from the 1800's and are really beautiful. The response has been great to William Morris, and it was great when we launched Colonial Williamsburg, too," Spicher says.
"In the showroom we can show a lot of product in a tiny space with the album covers. It's really terrific." Buyers loved the concept so much, they asked for a version adapted for use at point of sale.
"We've done something different for the retailers: sample cases that are designed to look like the old portable record players, and filled with little swatches. The swatches don't show the full pattern -- they show just a cut, a random piece from somewhere in the pattern -- in the actual material. And then what you can do is look in the catalog for the full design."
Adapted for point of sale at retail with the same Vintage Vinyl record store vibe, the display includes record cases containing smaller cuts of product.
For those customers who like the product but aren't ready to purchase, Spicher has created little packs of matches retailers can give them. "Nobody throws away matches," Spicher said. "Here the dealer can write their name and contact information on the match covers, which also show two patterns so the consumer can remember the product. It also gets them to our website. We don't sell consumers directly but the end user can take a look at all the designs on the website and reach back out to the retailer."
Spicher & Co. has created a name for itself among independent retailers who seek out its floorcloths knowing that discount channels won't have the same product. "We really want those small retailers to do well, and we really believe this is a premium product," Spicher noted. "We have many small stores ordering huge amounts every month, telling us we are the best line that they've ever had. For us to pull the rug out from under them would just be unethical."
