How to Buy Flocked Flooring: A Specifier & Importer’s Guide

If you are sourcing flocked flooring for a commercial project — an office fit-out, a hotel, a hospital ward, a store rollout — the product is the easy part. The harder part is buying it well: getting a real price, knowing the minimum order and lead time, asking for the right certificates, and understanding how it ships to your country. This is how we quote and export flocked flooring, written so you can buy with your eyes open.

1. How pricing actually works

Flocked flooring is quoted per project, not sold off a price list — and that is normal for this product, not a dodge. Four things move the number:

• Quantity. A 1,000 m² fit-out and a 50,000 m² rollout are different prices per square metre.
• Format. Carpet tile or roll (sheet) — they cost and ship differently.
• Design. A stock series, or custom digital print of your own artwork.
• Grades. Any added flame-retardant, anti-slip, anti-microbial or low-formaldehyde treatment.

So the fast way to a real number is simple: send the factory your area in m² and the series or design, and ask for a formal FOB, CIF or DDP quote. You should have it within one business day. Because you are buying directly from the line that makes the product, there is no distributor or brand markup on top.

2. MOQ and lead times

Our minimum order is from 500 m², and free samples have no minimum at all. As a rough guide: samples ship within days, stock orders take a few weeks depending on quantity, and custom digital-print orders run around 4–8 weeks. Scale is not a constraint — we have produced a single coordinated design at 100,000 m² for a national retail rollout. Always get the exact schedule confirmed against your quantity and design before you commit.

3. Get samples — and know what to look at

Never specify a textile floor from a screen. Order physical samples (ours are free) and check four things with your own hands:

• Colour and texture under your actual site lighting — screens lie.
• Flock density. A good flocked floor is around 80 million nylon 6.6 fibres per m² — dense and even, not thin or patchy.
• The backing. It should be stable and impervious; that is what lets the floor be wet-cleaned.
• A rub test. Drag a coin or your nail across it — the fibres should hold, not shed.

For a big project, ask for a larger swatch or a printed proof of your custom design before production.

4. The certificates to ask for

This is where a lot of buyers get caught out. Don’t accept “certificates available” — ask for the specific grade your tender needs and the document that proves it, issued for your batch:

• Reaction to fire — EN 13501-1 (e.g. Bfl-s1) or ASTM E648 Class 1.
• Slip resistance — EN 13893 / DIN 51130 (R-value).
• Indoor air — low-formaldehyde / emissions statement.
• Hygiene — anti-microbial treatment, if your sector needs it.

A serious factory issues a Technical Data Sheet and a test report for the supplied product. See our certifications & technical data for the grades and documents we provide.

5. Shipping, Incoterms and import duty

Decide early who handles freight and customs, because it changes the quote:

• FOB — you take over at the port of loading (most control, you arrange freight).
• CIF — we cover freight and insurance to your port.
• DDP — delivered duty paid to your door, we handle everything.

Flocked flooring is generally classified as a textile floor covering under HS heading 5705 — confirm the exact code and any duty (including current US Section 301 tariffs) with your customs broker, as rates change. For each shipment we provide the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and Certificate of Origin, with HS-code details on request. We ship regularly to the US, Canada, the Gulf, Southeast Asia, Korea and Europe.

6. Factory or distributor — and OEM

Buying direct from the factory is the difference between paying for the product and paying for a brand. Same flocked specification, factory price — plus two things a distributor can’t give you: unlimited custom digital print, and full OEM / private label. We already manufacture and box private-label flocked tile for a US flooring brand, and produced bespoke flooring for Velana International Airport and a Japanese telecom retail chain. The factory behind the brand on the box can also be the factory behind yours — see the distributor & partner options if you want to sell it rather than only specify it.

Before you order — a buyer’s checklist

FAQ