ABOUT
Wicanders®, Amorim Revestimentos' premium brand, has been producing flooring since 1868, always inspired on nature's most pure values and using avant-garde technologies to provide high quality, ecologic and stylish flooring. Wicanders is recognized as a leader because of the quality, innovation and unique characteristics of their solutions for interior decoration (technical performance, design and comfort).
Wicanders profitable and sustained growth is based on three fundamental vectors: the products, the Clients and the distribution channels. Emphasis is on the correct weighting of each of the vectors, in such a way as to optimize commercialization margins
The coverings produced in this Business Unit constitute a unique sales proposition in themselves:
- Easily And Rapidly Installed (Namely Non-glued Products With The Corkloc Tongue And Groove System);
- Environmentally friendly - made out of natural products, they favour energy saving (insulating capacity, heat retention).
- Healthy - surface finishes do not retain dirt, therefore they do not favour the proliferation of germs and fungi;
- Sound Resistant - they reduce the transmission of sound between and inside compartments (impact noise and step noise, respectively).
- They provide natural thermal insulation, as well as a high capacity to retain thermal energy, thanks to the incorporation of cork;
- comfortable - the cork incorporated into them deadens impact and relieves tension.
- Durable and easy to maintain but low impact on the environment;
- Re-Usable (in tongue and groove system) or recyclable.
comfort
WHY WIACANDER - SILENCE
Cork is an extremely efficient natural sound absorber because its cells work as an acoustic insulator. Amorim Cork Flooring floors can easily cut noise within a room (walking sound), and act as a noise buffer between the floor and the rooms underneath (impact sound), making it exceptionally efficient to use in residential or commercial spaces. Comparing the walking sound between cork and laminate floors, tests confirm that cork floors have an exceptional result reducing the walking sound up to 53%.
NATURAL THERMAL INSULATION
The natural thermal insulation properties of cork make Wicanders floors very energy efficient providing a pleasant touch, even barefoot, and an optimal temperature all year round which contributes to an overall comfort. When testing foot temperature in contact with four different materials, cork floors stand out as being the best solution to retain heat. Better than wood floors and by far better than vinyl or ceramic floors when it comes to avoid energy dispersion.
HEALTH
WALKING COMFORT
Walking on overly hard floors creates energy that moves upward towards our muscles and tendons, causing them to vibrate. This is caused by the impact of our heel with the floor. These vibrations, with time, hurt our feet, legs, lower and upper back, creating an excess of tension. Too soft floors cause fatigue and aren't easy to walk on.
This can be better understood when walking for 45 minutes straight on soft sand. Softer than laminate and harder than carpets, Wicanders floors are the perfect mix to reduce heel strike impacts and related body tensions, but stable enough to help the foot impulse and provide the needed stability to reduce effort on walking and decrease body fatigue.
FRENCH REGULATION ON VOC EMISSIONS
French certification, that classifies products according to their level of voc emissions. Our products have been classified at the highest level (A+).
DAS KORK
The goal of the German Cork Association is to assure the quality of cork products, as well as the optimization of manufacturing processes and the support of research projects.
INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Compliance with the strictest indoor air quality standards after being tested on over 2000 potential chemicals.
GREENGUARD CERTIFICATION
Greenguard North-american certification identifies products that have low chemical emissions, improving the air in which they are used.
Our products are awarded with the GOLD certification. A stricter certification criteria that ensures that a product is acceptable for use in environments such as schools and healthcare facilities.
ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATION
EPD Environmental Product Declaration is a third-party independent evaluation that reports environmental data of products based on their life cycle assessment. A product with an EPD guarantees to the consumers that it respects environmental standards.
TÜV-PROFICERT
Tüv-Proficert is a transnational certificate for voc-emission and air quality, certifying that a product complies with different national regulations such as AgBB (Germany), Belgian voc regulation, Finnish M1, breeam, leed v4 (outside North America), ral -uz 120 and Austrian Eco Label (Guideline uz 56).
In October 2018 Amorim Cork Flooring was the first flooring company to achieve tüv certification at its highest level - Premium.
PERFORMANCE
IMPACT RESISTANCE
Cork’s elasticity and compressibility allows it to adapt to pressure. When compressed, it doesn’t lose flexibility, recovering its initial shape and volume without suffering damages. Wicanders floors, due to its resilient qualities have the ability to bounce back from hard impacts.
Tests show that Wicanders floors have the highest shock absorbing performance. Wicanders floors absorb better the impact while maintaining its resistance at the same time. This results in a very robust flooring with a long life span.
DESIGNED TO PERFORM
Wicanders products are designed to resist under the toughest conditions, always with incredible stability and exceptional performance.
Most of Wicanders floors can be used in high traffic commercial areas, offering extended warranties with the unique and unmatched comfort of cork.
SUSTAINABILITY
INTRODUCTION
Inspired by Nature, Wicanders represents a unique balance between the creation of innovative products and the protection of the environment. Wicanders flooring solutions are based on cork, the outer bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus Suber L.), a slow growing tree from the Mediterranean region with a lifespan of over 200 years, that plays a central role in the environmental, social and economic development of this region.
Cork is removed every nine years, without ever cutting or damaging the cork oak tree. Cork harvesting is an activity that requires experience and high skills and often passes from generation to generation.
As a raw material, cork is one of the most extraordinary materials, with natural properties that technology hasn’t yet been able to replicate.A natural thermal and acoustic insulator, elastic, compressible, resistant to high temperatures and impermeable to liquids and gases. When used in flooring, cork will provide the most amazing benefits, elevating any space to a whole new level of comfort.
- 9 Yeasrs: The period of time between each cork oak harvest
- No Trees Are Damaged: Or cut down
- 100.000 direct and indirect jobs are created by the cork industry
- CO₂ Retention For each ton of cork produced, the cork oak forest retains up to 73 tons of CO₂
- Cork Harvesting Is one of the highest paid agricultural jobs in the world
- 200 Years The average lifespan of a cork oak tree
- 77 % of Wicanders products have more than 80% of renewable and recycled content.
- 96 % The percentage of renewable and recycled content of Wicanders Essence ranges.
