Aquafil – Thriving by Thinking About its Customers and Their Clients’ Green Thoughts

Aquafil S.p.a. is an Italian synthetic fiber company headquartered at the north end of Lake Garda which specializes in synthetic fibers for carpeting. Founded in 1969, Aquafil’s sales in North America have reached now almost 20% of its output, and this in the last 10 years, since 1999 when the US subsidiary Aquafil USA was incorporated. Aquafil’s print advertising for its Econyl carpet fibre and its Alto Chroma yarns has appeared in METROPOLIS, so we asked Aquafil USA President Franco Rossi, about his marketing strategy and Aquafil’s business strategy in general during the downturn.

“We are pretty happy with our 2009 and 2010 sales, which are growing in North America and taking market share everywhere. And our advertising reflects the themes that have allowed us to grow in market share: a focus on colors and sustainability.”

Doesn’t every manufacturer talk about their colors?

“Whatever they say, most manufacturers are dropping SKUs every day, reducing the number of colors they offer, in the interest of simplifying their business and reducing their cost. We have a very large number of SKUs – more than 500 products. Our major competitor, a huge company with 10 times our business, has probably 50% of our SKUs. We like that.”

Why does this matter to customers?

“We believe in remaining in the background and serving our customers, who are carpet manufacturers. If they need a color, we want to have it. Our strategy is classic B2B – we fulfill our customers’ needs and stay close to what they want. We don’t dictate to them and we don’t go over their heads to their customers, the architects, clients and specifiers. We think that this is the way of the future. We add value to their brands – we respect them as manufacturers, not merely “converters” of our products. They are the brand – we do not copy the example of Monsanto and BASF, who were big fiber brands 20 years ago and are now out of the business. We are vendors who stay behind the scenes but provide our customers the best possible ingredient for their products.”

What about sustainability and Econyl?

“Aquafil has a company-wide commitment to sustainability, and Econyl is part of it. But Econyl is also part of our customer-focused strategy, because our customers and their clients are demanding recycled product.

“Econyl 75 is now 70% recycled material – 65% post-industrial and 5% post-consumer(but non-carpet). Econyl next is 10% carpet post-consumer. Some of our competitors’ “recycled” fiber has little disclosure about the actual recycled material. We’re not satisfied with our fully disclosed figures and we plan to introduce a new generation of Econyl later in the year trying to approach 100% recycled. Econyl 75 and Econyl next’s contents are fully disclosed and UL certified.

How much of this demand is driven by the desire to achieve LEED certification?

“Frankly, it’s more the desire to do something ‘green’ than to make a real difference in LEED certification. In terms of a total building, the carpeting is a tiny percentage of weight. But in terms of visibility, both when installed, and perhaps more when people see piles of old carpet in dumpsters and outside renovation projects, carpeting has a much greater emotional impact. Old carpeting is a significant source of trash and a visual and environmental nuisance – and this drives our customers to want to offer our high-recycle content fiber in their products.”

What about the future of your business?

“We are dealing with two trends – one, of course, is the economic trend that has affected new construction more than almost any other sector because of general business investment and the credit crunch. But the other is a secular change in taste. If you looked at offices and homes twenty years ago, you’d see that 80 percent of all flooring was covered by carpet. Now, the figure is more like 50 percent – the balance is now represented by ceramic tile, laminates, parquet, and bare wood.

“In this situation, the way to thrive is to grow market share. And when we take problems away from our customers, it helps us to take customers away from our much bigger competitors.”