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Milliken embraces leather in unconventional way with innovative collection of sustainable modular floor tiles

Collaboration with Spinneybeck elevates eco-luxury flooring

SPARTANBURG, SC – Redefining luxury floor covering, Milliken has unveiled the Rinascita collection, a group of recycled leather tiles with reclaimed and recycled carpet backing. Inspired by the notion of upcycling common material waste into a luxury aesthetic, Milliken developed this new collection in collaboration with Spinneybeck.

“Rinascita embraces the best of aesthetics, sustainability and authenticity to redefine what flooring can be,” said Barbara Haaksma, vice president of design and marketing for global floor covering division. “We have engineered a break-through composite that is the ultimate upcycling collaboration.”

Designed by Cresta Bledsoe, Milliken’s newly named global creative director, Rinascita, meaning “revival” or “rebirth,” features rich embossed textures, which takes eco-products to new levels of refinement. The collection’s two textures – Bufalo and Castoro – receive a hand-rubbed finish providing a depth and natural quality.

Rinascita – the upcycling process
Milliken and Spinneybeck have re-imagined the waste from their processes into a new flooring material with the finished face substrate made of post-industrial content from the leather manufacturing process and cushion felt backing made of nylon 6,6 post-consumer carpet that has been reclaimed and recycled.
The culmination of this innovative process is an accessible and beautiful flooring collection, which combines aesthetics with sustainable, flexible and functional features.

Aesthetics – While this recycled material has the ability to take on many aesthetics, Rinascita features elegant authenticity and embraces the recycled materiality for what it is, in a beautiful way. The collection is also environmentally responsible.

Sustainability – With recycled carpet backing, Rinascita is composed of 95 percent recycled content – 85 percent recycled leather composite and 10 percent natural rubber.
• Backed and un-backed tiles have TractionBack high-friction adhesion options for less VOCs.
• By creating a backing that is a component in the binder of the recycled leather, it can be ground up and fed back into the recycled leather stream – an environmentally friendly process.

Flexibility – Tiles are 50cm to coordinate with soft surface offering.
• TractionBack adhesion system allows for ease of installation and tile relocation, when necessary.
• In addition to the recycled carpet felt-backing option, tiles can be specified unbacked as 3mm material for transition with hard surface material.

Functionality – Uniquely more cost effective in its recycled form than in the virgin form, this rich, luxurious material is not only environmentally responsible, but also accessible.
• Featuring unique backing, Rinascita tiles can transition with ease to soft surface carpeted areas, provide underfoot comfort, and allow more flexibility with evenness of substrate beneath than a standard leather tile.

“Together, Spinneybeck and Milliken are generating ideas and new ways of introducing compelling products for the A&D community,” explains Roger Wall, president of Spinneybeck. “Rinascita is the consummation of these efforts thus far – and the beginning of a strong relationship.”

About Spinneybeck
Spinneybeck is the world’s leading and largest supplier of quality upholstery leather with a standing inventory of 3,000,000 square feet in the global headquarters facility located in Getzville, New York. Spinneybeck introduced quality Italian leathers to North America 50 years ago, becoming the first to bring full grain, aniline dyed Italian leather to the North American design community. On the web at www.spinneybeck.com.

About Milliken’s global floor covering division
Milliken has a rich history of delivering innovative carpet and hard surface flooring from its award-winning global design studios, research center and manufacturing facilities. Driven by a desire to bring meaningful experiences to interior environments, Milliken delivers unexpected and purposeful flooring solutions that add value to people’s lives, improve health and safety, and make this world sustainable. Headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., Milliken is online at www.millikencarpet.com, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MillikenCarpet and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MillikenCarpet.

About Milliken
Milliken is an innovation company that has been exploring, discovering, and creating ways to enhance people’s lives since 1865. Our community of innovators has developed one of the larger collections of United States patents held by a private U.S. company. With expertise across a breadth of disciplines including specialty chemical, floor covering, and performance materials, we work around the world every day to add true value to people’s lives, improve health and safety, and make this world more sustainable. For more information, visit www.milliken.com.