Choosing a Supplier in China

Woven vinyl faces are produced at scale in China, and many companies in this market start from a similar base. Where suppliers separate is downstream. A roll of woven vinyl has to be bonded to a backing, trimmed to width, checked for flatness, and packed so it arrives flat. Each of those steps has a tolerance, and the tolerances compound.

A buyer who compares only the face photographs is comparing the part of the product that is most alike. The differences that show up in year two are in the bond and in the flatness.

Lamination is the step that decides whether a floor stays flat. When the bond between face and backing is uneven, three things follow, in this order: slight ripples that show under grazing light, edges that lift in a warm room, and separation at a seam after a few seasons of cleaning.

None of that appears in a sample folder. It appears in a room with daylight across the floor.

So this is the first thing worth asking about, and it is a technical question with a testable answer:

• Peel strength. Is there a measured bond strength between face and backing, and is the figure in a report you can read? A supplier who has never measured it is guessing, and so are you.
• Thickness tolerance. Ask for the tolerance in millimetres, not the nominal thickness. A 4 mm floor quoted as ±0.2 mm and one quoted as ±10% are not the same product at the edges of a large room.
• Flatness after unrolling. Ask how long a roll is left to settle before it is cut and packed, and what happens to a roll that arrives with memory in it.
• Seam behaviour. Ask how the material behaves when two drops are joined, and whether the recommendation is cold welding, heat welding or a taped seam for the backing you are buying.

A supplier who answers these four from memory, with numbers and standards, is a different kind of supplier from one who promises to check and come back.

Most woven vinyl flooring sits on a PVC foam backing, and the backing decides the acoustic result, the feel underfoot and how flat the floor stays. Some suppliers offer one backing. Others can pair the same face with foam, fibreglass-reinforced, polyester felt or an acoustic felt, depending on what the room needs.

That matters practically. A hotel corridor and a hospital waiting area want different things from the same surface, and if the supplier cannot change the backing, the specifier ends up compromising on the floor or changing the material.

Ask which backings can be paired with the face you are looking at, how long a changeover takes, and what the minimum is for a backing that is not held in stock.

A catalogue is a starting point. Projects usually need something the catalogue does not have: a colour matched to a scheme, a pattern at a different scale, a width that reduces the number of seams.

Ask what the development route actually looks like. How many new patterns come out in a month, whether a colour can be matched from a physical sample, how long a development sample takes, and what the minimum is once a design is approved.

A supplier that develops its own ranges will answer these quickly. One that only distributes will answer by referring the question elsewhere, and that answer tells you what a custom project will feel like later.

For a distributor or a contractor, the difference between two suppliers with similar material is often the paperwork and the pace. The documents a project asks for, how fast a question is answered, whether a small first order is possible, and what happens when something arrives wrong.

Ask before the first order. It is cheaper than finding out during one.

1. Where does the bonding happen, on your own line or elsewhere?

2. Do you have a measured peel strength between face and backing?

3. What is the thickness tolerance in millimetres?

4. How flat is a roll when it is unrolled, and how long does it settle?

5. Which backings can you pair with this face?

6. How long does a backing change take, and what is the minimum?

7. How many new patterns do you bring out in a month?

8. Can you match a colour from a physical sample, and how long does a sample take?

9. What is the minimum for a custom colour or pattern?

10. Which documents come with the quote, and who answers a technical question after delivery?

A supplier who can answer all ten without leaving the room is a supplier you can plan a project around.

Ask for these six and read them before you discuss price:

• The specification sheet for the product line you are buying, with thickness, total weight, roll width and backing.
• The fire classification report to EN 13501-1 for that construction.
• The CE declaration of performance to EN 14041, with the certificate number.
• The dimensional stability and wear test results to EN 1307, including the use classification.
• Any acoustic report, with the standard used and the build tested.
• A colour fastness report to BS EN ISO 105-B02, with the grade.

If a supplier sends a folder of certificates without saying which one belongs to which build, ask again. The folder is not the answer.

Use classification to EN 1307 runs from 21 to 23 for domestic and 31 to 33 for commercial. A figure such as 23/33 means the product is classified for both heavy domestic and heavy commercial use. A single number covers only one side of that.

Fire classification to EN 13501-1 has two parts: the class, and the sub-classes for smoke and flaming droplets. Cfl-s1, d0 means class C on a flooring substrate, low smoke, no flaming droplets. Compare the whole string, not just the letter.

Impact sound is a reduction figure in decibels, measured against a reference floor to BS EN ISO 10140-3. The number means little without the standard and the construction it was measured on.

Castor chair resistance to EN 985 uses a letter and a number together. The number is how many cycles the surface survived continuous use.

Slip resistance to DIN 51130 gives an R value. For contract interiors, R10 is the usual working range; anything lower needs a specific reason.

Colour fastness to BS EN ISO 105-B02 is graded, and a grade above 6 covers interiors where daylight reaches the floor.

A supplier who can walk you through each of these in one page is easier to work with than one who forwards a 40-page catalogue.

Two quotes for the same nominal thickness can differ by a third, and the gap rarely comes from generosity. It usually sits in five places: the weight of the face per square metre, the density and thickness of the backing, how much testing sits behind the product, whether the documents are included, and the size of the production run behind the price.

Ask each supplier to quote against one written specification, line by line, including total weight in g/m² and backing thickness in millimetres. Once two quotes describe the same object, the gap explains itself.

We design woven vinyl, bond the face to its backing on our own line, and finish it into rolls, tiles, mats and wallcovering at our own production base in Zhejiang. The company has been working with woven vinyl since 2002, exports to more than 35 countries, and takes on over 200 projects a year.

The part we are strongest at is the part that decides how a floor holds up: the bond between face and backing, the flatness of the finished roll, and the fit between the backing and the room it is going into. We bring out more than 20 new patterns a month, so a scheme that needs a colour matched or a pattern at another scale is normal work rather than a favour.

The figures we publish come with the standard and the report behind them: EN 1307 Class 23/33, BS EN 13501-1 Cfl-s1, d0, impact sound reduction ΔLw 21 dB to BS EN ISO 10140-3, castor chair EN 985 Test A at r = 5, slip resistance DIN 51130 R10, CE marking to EN 14041 under certificate No. 156.

Stock carries no minimum order. A custom colour or pattern starts at 1,000 m² per colour, and sampling before a run takes 20 to 30 days.

If you are comparing suppliers and want a second opinion on a specification sheet, send it over. Reading someone else's sheet is quick work for us, and we will tell you which line is ambiguous.