Keeping Customers Safe

Lancaster, PA-based Ecore International, a manufacturer of safety, ergonomic and acoustic performance surfaces, is creating post-COVID protocols and products to keep customers safe.

Safety, comfort and health, Ecore hallmarks since its founding, have taken on a new importance as healthcare, sports, fitness and recreation areas open to a new normal.

“We believe the new norm will not only force the sports, fitness and recreations market to adhere to the reality of creating more sanitary spaces, but also a new perception of clean that will drive consumer confidence,” Bo Barber, Ecore executive vice president for sales and marketing said.

Shiny, solid, cool seamless surfaces are all synonymous with “clean” and drive healthcare design and maintenance protocols, Barber said.

“Nurses should have the ergonomic benefits of athletic surfaces that athletes demand and athletes should have the hygienic surfaces that nurses demand,” he said.

To meet these demands, Ecore created a dedicated landing page on its website that addresses gym cleaning and maintenance needs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This cleaning resources page can be accessed via the banner at the top of each Ecore website, the company said.

“Cleaning and disinfection have always been an important part of routine maintenance, but these practices are now paramount,” Barber said “We wanted to create a resource to support our customers and provide them with everything they need to ensure their fitness facilities reopen and stay open.”

In addition to offering reorganization solutions that include decals and an EPA-approved disinfectant and Green Seal™ cleaner, Ecore’s floor cleaning and maintenance resource page also features The Sports, Fitness & Recreation Surfacing Readiness Initiative, which covers three critical areas: maintenance, disinfection and reorganization for post-COVID sports, fitness and recreation facilities. These are all areas where flooring can inspire confidence and trust for consumers as spaces reopen, the company said.

For the fitness industry, flooring and sports surfacing are becoming the most critical pieces of fitness equipment, Ecore said. It’s no longer just a floor to put equipment on. The floor is the equipment.

Harley Pasternak, a personal trainer to Hollywood celebrities, top-selling fitness author, and global fitness advisor to the hospitality industry, knows that exercise is now focused less on the equipment and more on the overall wellness experience of an individual. So, when Pasternak designed his Bodiworx Health and Fitness facility in Los Angeles, CA., he knew the importance of the surfaces he selected.

He was looking for spaces that allowed the body to have more interaction with the surface compared to a traditional fitness space, Barber said. For his fitness center, Pasternak created a flex indoor-outdoor fitness compound, launching an emerging trend that Ecore says is being further propelled by COVID-19.

“People are looking for these flex in-and-out spaces, which is exciting for us,” Barber said.  At Ecore, we have experience in both indoor and outdoor flooring, he said.

Pasternak commissioned Ecore to provide flooring products that were not only aesthetic, but also ergonomic and shock and sound absorbing.

Ecore EverTop™, a multipurpose poured in place surface, was selected for his outdoor basketball court because it promotes safety, function, and interaction. “With outdoor flooring, it’s important to have a surface that puts less stress on joints while offering excellent sound absorption properties,” Pasternak said. “The ability to put lines on the surface and brand it helps create a central place for people to gather and interact.”

Pasternak also wanted to bring elements of nature into his space, while still providing athletes with the surface characteristics needed to help them train with sufficient resistance. Ecore’s Speed & Agility Turf, which features a nylon wear layer and vulcanized composition recycled rubber (VCR)base layer, checked all those boxes with maximum durability for aggressive functional and free-weight training, sled work and footwork exercises.

Inside the facility where light-strength, high-intensity interval training and conditioning is performed, Ecore’s Beast and Rally vulcanized composition rubber surfaces were installed. Both surfaces feature flecks of color to hide sweat and footprints, making it appear ageless.

“Surfaces can transform the way trainers interact with clients, while encouraging a variety of fitness activities,” said Pasternak.

The fitness evolution started by Pasternak is now being seen across numerous markets, including hospitality, multifamily, corporate and club spaces. Taking fitness outdoors requires surfacing that can stand up to the elements while creating safe spaces where athletes can achieve and maintain their wellness goals.

In the healthcare market Ecore recently added a new line of flooring for its Rx Collection. Crossings Rx features a beautiful, new textile inspired pattern and offers the same performance and sustainability characteristics of other surfaces in the Rx Collection.

Part of Ecore’s commercial flooring division, the Rx collection is designed to provide performance surface flooring for healthcare, senior living spaces, fitness facilities and any areas with heavy commercial use.

Crossings Rx’s soothing palette of eight neutral colors makes it ideal for a variety of spaces, including medical/acute care, therapy, group exercise, offices, multipurpose courts/fitness and common areas.

“We have listened to our customers and are thrilled to add more aesthetic choices to the popular Rx Collection,” Barber said. “The non-directional textile patterns in this line add another layer of tranquility, in addition to the safety, ergonomic and acoustic benefits this surfacing brings to any space.”

Crossings Rx features a vulcanized composition recycled rubber base layer fusion-bonded to a contemporary heterogeneous vinyl sheet using Ecore’s patented Itstru technology. Ecore’s Itstru technology. using heat and pressure, fuses the vulcanized composition rubber base to a top layer such as carpet, vinyl creating one unit making the flooring stronger and safer.

Ecore’s vulcanized composition rubber (VCR) mixes reclaimed post-consumer or post-industrial material including Nike grind, automotive waste and recycled tire rubber granules to produce composition rubber using a process that drives energy into the composition.

Ecore describes VCR as its “muscle” and said it is what returns positive energy to the user and reduces impact and fatigue stress.

Available as 6-foot-wide rolls, Crossings Rx offers a seamless, easy-to-maintain surface that can lessen the risk of injuries associated with falls while delivering superior sound control and comfort underfoot, the company said.

The Rx Collection achieves an Impact Isolation Class (IIC) rating of 52 with a six-inch slab and no ceiling assembly, which significantly reduces surface generated noise. Crossings Rx achieves a force reduction of 11.5 percent and energy restitution of 72 percent, making it an ergonomic and supportive surface. This floor is also resistant to indentation and is an ideal solution under sustained or rolling loads.

In addition to the new Crossings Rx line of surfaces, Ecore is also introducing new colors for its Forest and Infinity Rx lines. Other products in the Rx collection include: Strait Rx, Cosmos Rx, and Aurora.

© Scrap Tire News, September 2020