'Sexy' Vinyl Flooring has Become High Fashion in Europe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 20, 2007 (VNS) – Sweden has become a leading center of the latest styles in “sexy” resilient vinyl flooring and Giorgio Armani is among its biggest fans, according to the upscale European lifestyle magazine Monocle.

The magazine's November issue features Bolon, a small family business in southwestern Sweden whose creative seasonal collections of woven vinyl flooring are eagerly anticipated and are “winning praise from the worlds of fashion, architecture and design,” as well as orders from top hotel chains and offices. Armani “loves the product” and uses it in his restaurants and boutiques worldwide.

“Unlike wooden flooring, woven vinyl doesn't scuff or stain, and unlike textile flooring, it doesn't trap dust and detritus,” the magazine reports. “Its muted, metallic sheen, tensile strength, and all-around implacability seem to endow those who traverse it with an enhanced sense of application and purpose.”

When vinyl flooring was introduced in 1933 it soon became one of the most popular options because of its durability and low maintenance, the magazine notes, but it was not considered too exciting until resilient woven vinyl was invented in 1993. It has since become a high-end product preferred by cutting-edge architects and designers. In the words of an American architect quoted by Monocle, “It's the first sexy flooring I've ever seen.”