Desso Enters US Market Through New Agreement With The Dixie Group

Waalwijk, The Netherlands (ots/PRNewswire) - Desso, the global
carpets, carpet tiles and sports pitches company
announced that it has signed a letter of intent to enter into a joint
venture with Masland Contract, a division of The Dixie Group, Inc. ,
a US floor coverings company. The intent is to build a comprehensive
floor covering offering for the Hospitality market in the United
States and international distribution.

Having signed the letter of intent, the parties anticipate working
quickly to develop a mutually acceptable Joint Venture structure
designed to accomplish their goals. Using nearly 250 years of
combined manufacturing excellence, both companies will be able to
provide more value in the marketplace with complementary product
lines to supply a complete offering to any brand-conscious
Hospitality environment.

In addition, the two companies announced that they will enter into a
sales and distribution agreement permitting Masland Contract, a
division of The Dixie Group, to be the exclusive distributor of some
of Desso's high performance carpet tile products. This will allow
Desso to gain wider distribution for its Cradle to Cradle product
offering through Masland Contract, which offers highly designed
products for the commercial carpet market and that has an extensive
sales network in the US and Canada.

A recognised leader in colour and design from the start, Masland
Contract has become a preferred supplier for the architectural and
design communities. It offers high style broadloom, modular and area
rug products for corporate, hospitality, retail, education,
government, and various other segments.

Today, The Dixie Group is one of the fastest growing companies in the
US carpet market. Similarly, Desso has continued to perform well
based on its commitment to customer service, design, functionality
and Cradle to Cradle. Desso's European market share in commercial
carpets -its largest business division and where it applied Cradle to
Cradle principles first - has grown strongly between 2007 and
2013[1].

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1. Based on external sources and internal management estimates.

"Our success in the European market is driven by our focus on health
and wellbeing given content by our innovation strategy based on
creativity, functionality and Cradle to Cradle," says Alexander
Collot d'Escury, CEO of Desso. "This led to successful products like
the AirMaster and SoundMaster carpets and our Cradle to Cradle
carpets including the Silver certified EcoBase backing. We expect
these kinds of products to perform just as well in the North American
market."

The Dixie Group, founded in 1920 is today one of the market leaders
supplying the US market with high-end floor coverings. It reported
annual revenue of $266 million for the FY2012 and has a 35% market
share in the high-end segment of the broadloom carpet market in the
US.

"Desso and Masland Contract share the same values of producing
environmentally responsible flooring products that stand out in their
design and functionality," says Daniel K. Frierson, Dixie Group CEO.
"We look forward to these exciting new opportunities."

"We are delighted with the new partnership between Desso and the
Dixie Group," says Alexander Collot d'Escury, CEO of Desso. "We share
the same commitment to delivering stunningly designed, innovative
products that provide added value for our customers. Our shared
values around innovation, design and green principles will enable
Desso to meet its goal of expansion into the US market and support
our mutual growth in this high potential market."

Desso's corporate vision is based on its goal to 'make the floor work
for our health and wellbeing' driven by its three pillared innovation
programme: Creativity, Functionality and Cradle to Cradle. Since 2008
Desso has been dedicated to developing a far reaching business
sustainability approach based on Cradle to Cradle principles, which
encourage the development of products made from healthy materials,
leading to safer and more effective recycling later. This approach
underpins Desso's commitment to the circular economy, in which goods
are recycled in a healthy way again and again.

Combined with functionality and creativity, this enables Desso to
produce market-beating products that help to improve health and
wellbeing indoors. These include the DESSO AirMaster carpet which is
specially designed to capture potentially harmful fine dust in its
fibres; it has been proven to be eight times more effective than hard
floors at retaining the fine dust and four times more effective than
regular carpets[2].

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2. Based on tests performed by GUI, with DESSO AirMaster(R) versus
standard PVC hardfloor and versus standard structured loop pile
carpet.

About DESSO(R)

For more information please visit: http://www.desso.com

About the Dixie Group

For more information please visit: http://www.thedixiegroup.com

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