The Living Product Challenge

The Lichen Collection by Mohawk Group is the first flooring product to achieve the International Living Future Institute's Living Product Challenge Petal Certification.

The Living Product Challenge is a design philosophy and rating tool that goes beyond doing less harm to the environment to actually restoring and regenerating the environment through its life cycle. This leaves the environment better than it was before the product was specified.

The creation and specifying of Lichen has a net positive impact for people and the environment, through innovations in materials, manufacturing and community involvement. It is truly sustainable.

Just as lichens play a regenerative role in their natural ecosystem, the Lichen Collection gives more resources back to the environment than it uses during its entire life cycle.

Inspired by the idea of 'Nature's Carpet,' the design team looked at natural assemblages of rich multi-hued, multi-textured lichens from extreme climates as the foundation for the collection. Lichen consists of three pattern types.

The anchor of the collection is a large-scale field of lichen 'blooms' that change in shape and form by colourway. Other patterns include a transition style that has less bloom as well as a style that is solely textured ground. The styles can be used together as a system, or separately, depending on the desired configuration of texture and colour.

Innovative precision tufting technology was used to create the Lichen Collection, so the textures and colours are more pronounced. It is made with Mohawk's Duracolor solution-dyed premium nylon yarn for permanent stain resistance, and comes standard on EcoFlex NXT, Declare red list-free PVC-free backing. Installed with Mohawk's FlexLok tabs, it is the only red list-free installation system in the marketplace. Additional sustainable attributes include NSF 140, Gold, Green Label Plus certified for IAQ and Green Tag.