Headlam Group Acquire Heuga Home Flooring

Well they did promise some impending acquisitions, but Headlam group’s subsidiary, Home Foundations, has now acquired carpet tile/modular flooring manufacturer Heuga Home Flooring.

Basically it is the residential business that they have acquired and not Interface, which takes care of commercial carpet tiles (in the main).

It is a hugely significant acquisition and adds to Headlam’s hugely successful and dominant portfolio as the UK’s top wholesaler/manufacturer. It will be interesting to see how the move pans out in the coming months, but Headlam largely like to keep the brand running as is, at least initially. I was told recently by a Heuga rep that the company’s domestic stuff hadn’t shown a profit for years, but I did not delve to verify that.

Please can you begin to refer to this stuff as carpet tile and not modular flooring now? For my money, they really need to look at their pricing – far too many products at £40+ per square metre with retailers struggling to see the benefits and value of them to their customers.

One of the first moves is to remove the ludicrous delivery charge that Headlam Group wholesalers have been charging for Heuga domestic products – now that really really annoyed us.

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Lifestyle Carpet Collection Part 3: Headlam Group

Farmhouse Twist: This one is a longer pile, slightly shaggy twist made from 100% polypropylene with an action back. It’s available 4m and 5m wide and is fairly good value at the likely selling price of £12-£16  per square metre.

It feels very soft, but it is still a twist and I expect it might flatten fairly easily so I would personally be looking at bedrooms more than lounge and stairs for this one.

Colours are similar to Village Twist with subtle, muted tones – probably at their best with a decent blue in ‘Bluebell’ and a decent ‘greigey’ ‘Graphite’. The now obligatory ‘Aubergine’ is seen yet again, but it lacks any real sharpness and looks a little lifeless to me.

Chic Saxony: Something very different is to be found with Chic Saxony. It’s a long, stringily-shaggy effort that reminds me of all of those shaggy rugs that are so very popular right now.

It does have a lovely soft feel to it and will appeal to those looking for something a little different for the master bedroom. It’s not really going to be ideal in heavy wear areas and the Lifestyle Collection confirms this by giving it a 5 Year Warranty in spite of it being about the most expensive carpet in the range – retails at £20-£27 per square metre.

I think this one is more just decoration for the stand in all honesty and I’m not expecting many sales. It’s just the kind of carpet that customers will invariably run their hands through, say “ooo look at that” and then buy something else instead.

Again it’s 4 metre wide, 100% polyprolpylene and made on an action back.

Waterside: A pretty thick Saxony, made to impress with its feel and touch and it arrives into a very cluttered part of the market. With mega-sellers like Mont Blanc, Colorado Springs and Montana competing with it, things will not be easy.

It is impressive and does have a very solid colour range to it. The black with grey speckles of ‘Liquorice’ will sell and sell as it has over the last year and it’s worth having on display just for that one really.

A great asset is that it’s available in both 4m and 5m wide, whereas many similar carpets at this sort of price do not offer that (Montana does) and I think this will propel the sales significantly.

It’s 100% polypropylene, action backed and ought to sell between £18 and £23 per square metre. It’s certainly a contender.

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Lifestyle Carpet Collection Part 2: Headlam Group

Following on from my last post looking at the newly launched Lifestyle Collection released by the Headlam Group, here are another handful of new ranges:

Rustic Retreat: This is a 100% wool berber made at a price. It’s definitely aimed at those on a budget who want the benefits of wool without having ‘wool money’. It’s available in 4m & 5m widths and comes in two different designs – the ‘Hobnail’ and the ‘Stripe’. Below we have the Stripe in Wheat:

As you can see it’s a very narrow ribbed stripe and not at all unusual for a carpet of this type.

One problem retailers may have with this one is its classification of ‘General Domestic’ on the label. I do understand why they’ve done this – it’s hardly likely to offer very heavy wear in reality, but until there is some realism in grading carpets then we will continue to see cheap and nasty budget twists being rated ‘Heavy Domestic’ while this superior effort is only ‘General Domestic’. To my mind, they are correct in saying ‘General Domestic’, but it just shows up the anomaly all the more.

Consequently there is ‘only’ a 5 year warranty on this. Honestly you should take carpet warranties with a pinch of salt if ask me.

Price for this one £9-£15 per square metre. If someone claims it has a RRP of £20+ then ask them just who is recommending they price their carpets like that.

Village Twist: This one is another fairly decent 100% polypropylene twist in the range. You could probably see it as big brother to City Twist.

It does have a superior feel to City Twist and is finished pretty well. I quite like it and its colours touch most popular bases. I especially like the inclusion of a nice and subtle ‘Silver’ as well as the ‘Rose’ pink, which we often struggle to find these days. Most colours in this range are subtle and muted and at the price it will be sold at (£10-£15 per square metre), I think it’s good value.

You can have this either 4m or 5m widths and it is worth considering if your budget is around £10-£15 per metre.

Royal Court: The standout carpet in the entire range is Royal Court. This is an 80% wool, 15% nylon, 5% meltbond twist that will impress. It’s available in 40 or 50oz weights and 4m and 5m widths. It also has a jute back, in line with many quality wool twists.

I’ve shown the ‘Apple Blossom’ colour here, as there does seem to be a dearth of green around right now:

Hopefully you can pick out the density and definition from the image. It’s a very very good range and I am glad they chose to include a good twist in the collection and not just look to roll out the cheapest thing they could muster.

It should sell at £18-£27 per metre – obviously the lower end for the 40oz and the higher end for the 50oz. Intriguingly they have decided to label the 50oz as extra heavy domestic just to set it apart from the heavy domestic of the 40oz. Not a bad idea I always think.

I really do think they’ve come up with the goods on this one though. It looks clean, well defined and the colours throughout the range are very very solid. It’s certainly far better than the other wool twist in the collection.

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