RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIF.— Max Windsor is taking the concept of supporting a cause to new levels with the introduction of the New Horizons Collection, which will be shown to retailers at the company’s Surfaces booth, B7938, in Las Vegas, Jan. 25 to 27.
For every box of sales from the new hardwood line, the mill will donate $1 in the fight to cure breast cancer. “Breast cancer is a continuing threat to the health and security of women and their families with hardly a household in America that has not been touched by the disease,” noted Joannie Liu, Max Windsor’s CEO and herself a breast cancer survivor.
The company stressed this is an ongoing campaign with no limits, which will allow Max Windsor, its dealers and distributors to help fund the research for a breast cancer cure for a long time. “Having lived it is the best incentive to wanting to see the cure found just as soon as possible,” she explained. But having the campaign tied to a product she feels will become one of the company’s largest volume sales items means donations can be made over the long haul, if needed.
At the end of each quarter, the company will calculate the number of cartons shipped and make a donation of $1 per carton to specific breast cancer organization(s). No specific one was mentioned because Liu worked with the Susan G. Komen organization last year but “wants to consider other organizations as we proceed with this campaign.”
New Horizons is being touted as a breakthrough product as it uses a proprietary process to give the look of expensive exotics at an affordable price. “Through this unique technology,” Liu said, “we are able to ‘clone’ the exact surface color and grain patterns of any wood specie onto a substrate of another specie. This process allows us to replicate the surface image of an endangered, slow-growth or exotic hardwood onto a fast-growth, abundant and renewable base, in this case Betula birch.”
Not only does this technology save from using scarce resources as well as worries about illegal logging, she added, it has zero emissions of volatile organic compounds. “We would challenge anyone to cite a more eco-friendly hardwood product.”
Another development is the application of SuperMax, an applied coating which provides a soft luster surface appearance with more than three times the abrasion resistance of conventional coatings, which gives New Horizons enhanced performance attributes. New Horizons is an engineered, 6-ply product, with each plank measuring 1⁄2-inch thick and 5-inches wide with micro-beveled edges. Within each carton, 80% of the product is 6-foot-long planks with the rest being random lengths of 1 to 4 feet.
The six initial SKUs in the collection include Mahogany, Brazilian cherry and Canadian maple clones. More species will be added based on consumer response and dealer input. “We will increase the range with a focus on the most endangered species,” Liu said.
Despite how “cloning an image” sounds, the product is not a laminate and doesn’t utilize any conventional printing process. The grain patterns of the original species are manipulated and embedded onto the Betula wearlayer in such a manner as to capture the essence of the original without apparent pattern repeats.
Because of the line’s uniqueness it will be featured in its own waterfall fixture and will not be displayed with other Max Windsor collections. Products come with a residential lifetime warranty, and 7-year commercial guarantee.
For more on New Horizons, Max Windsor or its campaign to fight breast cancer, visit the company at Surfaces or call 888.477.6698.