Paul Hambidge, Managing Director at Factory Direct Flooring, talks about recent business performance, key trends and the Red Sea crisis.
Factory Direct Flooring is one of the market leaders in flooring products, supplying wood, vinyl, including LVT, and laminate flooring to retailers, commercial sites and residential customers throughout the UK. Since its inception in 2008, it has worked closely with manufacturers, removing the middleman and bringing products direct to customers at competitive prices – all underpinned by exceptional service.
At the helm is founder Paul Hambidge, who has 35 years of flooring industry knowledge and experience from an installation, manufacturing, maintenance and design perspective. As for the business over the last 12 months, Paul explains it has been a “challenging” time, not just for his company, but for the industry as a whole.
“Last year was challenging for the flooring industry. Headlines about financial problems at the likes of UK Flooring Direct and Carpetright highlight just how challenging the market has been. For Factory Direct Flooring, we gained market share, but turnover stayed flat because of these tricky conditions.
“That said, this has softened from around September 2024 to now, with our sales up 28%, so we can see the market is improving. It may not be as buoyant as it was during COVID, but there are signs of recovery since last year’s performance. We’ve done well to maintain our position.”
One particular challenge that continues to be monitored is the Red Sea crisis, as Paul continues: “This is continuing to have a knock-on impact on shipping lead times. Previously, we’d receive containers within five weeks from shipping, but the disruption has taken that to closer to 8-12 weeks.
“This makes it a lot harder to manage our supply chain and stock levels, and the inconsistency of current shipping times makes it difficult to know which products to bulk up on, and since all our goods are extremely heavy, we cannot ship by air. Building higher stock levels and ordering more frequently is really helping us here.”
Despite the ongoing challenges, the company is continuing to move forward with products, company investments and sustainable practices. “We’re investing in our visual assets so customers can gain a better understanding of our products through top-class photography and videography,” Paul revealed. “We’re also offering bigger sample sizes so customers have more to work with when testing our flooring products at home. Beyond that, later this year will see the introduction of a new Managing Director at Factory Direct Flooring, as I move to a board role.”
Furthermore, as part of the company’s sustainability commitments, the business continues to partner with Ecologi, where it plants a tree for every order. Paul explained: “When customers place an order with Factory Direct Flooring, we automatically fund Ecologi climate projects.
“Ecologi then plants a tree on our customers’ behalf. Since partnering with Ecologi in mid-2021, our customers have planted nearly 73,000 trees and offset around 587 tonnes of CO2 (equivalent to around 450 planes flying from the UK to New York). Locally, we have a cycle-to-work programme for our staff, invested in more sustainable distribution methods, and installed insulation and effective heating at our Nuneaton warehouse.”
Finally, on what’s proving specific trends of focus, Paul highlighted a number of areas including warm oak finishes and waterproof laminate as key products showing growing demand, while also outlining just why laminate has so many benefits. “While silvery tones remain popular, we find that the once enormous trend for all things grey in interiors is waning, particularly at the darker end of the spectrum. Taking its place are warmer, smoked oak finishes that pair well with greens and other trending paint tones.
“Herringbone patterns continue to be overwhelmingly popular in any flooring finish, from real wood to LVT (luxury vinyl tile) and laminate. Thinking about specific flooring types, SPC (stone plastic composite, a type of LVT) is a particularly strong category as customers seek a luxury look that’s also durable and made to withstand family life.
“Consumer demand for ‘waterproof laminate’ is also steadily growing, and the European Producers of Laminate Flooring declared it a trend for this year. I’ve spent years looking for a laminate product that can genuinely be called ‘waterproof’, since it’s something consumers ask for all the time, and I understand why. They want peace of mind that their flooring can handle unexpected spills, leaks, or even — given the storms the UK has faced in recent months — the occasional flood.
“To try and meet this demand, I’ve rigorously tested prototypes from manufacturers around the world, simulating real-life scenarios that might occur in a household. One such test involved submerging a laminate plank under water for a week. At first, the results seemed promising, with no visible damage.
“But the truth came when the plank began to dry out after — and in some cases, this can take as long as three months. But that’s when the problems start. As the plank slowly dries out, the fine layers that make up the laminate begin to swell. Even if the swelling isn’t immediately obvious, it compromises the integrity of the board over time.
“The construction of laminate itself is key to understanding its limitations. Laminate is made up of multiple layers: a durable wear layer on top, a printed design layer, and a core layer of high-density fibreboard (HDF). While the top layer may resist water, the core is highly susceptible to moisture — but just how susceptible it is can vary, because the HDF used by one manufacturer can have different densities (and therefore, different levels of water resistance) to that of another.
“Laminate has so many benefits. It’s affordable, easy to install, and comes in a huge variety of styles. But the fact remains, it won’t perform like LVT or SPC when it comes to water resistance. In nearly 35 years of working in the flooring industry, I’ve seen some incredible strides in water resistance.
“Some German manufacturers — including Unilin, Kronotex, and Classen — are actively improving the composition of the coreboard they use, developing a stronger water resistance, reduced swell factor, and ultimately improving laminate flooring’s value for money for the consumer. But, on the whole, we’re yet to bridge the gap between manufacturers’ claims and consumer expectations when it comes to delivering a truly waterproof laminate product.”
