Border Concepts Buys Mad Mats

Jennifer Polanz

The ink is now dry on the deal for Border Concepts’ purchase of Mad Mats, a manufacturer of outdoor rugs made from 100% recycled plastics. I caught up with Mad Mats founder Amy Kimmich (who started the company 20 years ago) and Border Concept Sales Representative Bob Martin to hear more about the timing and details of the acquisition.

“I had always thought if I’d want to sell this, it’d be great to sell to a company like Border Concepts,” said Amy, who’s staying on as creative director for the Mad Mats division. “They came by to visit the booth (at Atlanta Market) at the same time I started thinking about an exit strategy.”

Pictured: Mad Mats founder Amy Kimmich looks at mat designs with Kurt Heckel, head of product development at Border Concepts, during a visit to the Thailand-based manufacturing facility.

The synergies were all there, she added: similar customer bases, some of the same sales reps even, and Border Concepts was doing many of the same things on a larger scale with different products, but they didn’t have an outdoor mats product. “They were growing and they were the size of a company that could take Mad Mats to where I thought it could go.”

Bob concurred. “It’s very complementary to what we do—it’s typically the same buyer, so there’s a synergy,” he said of the retailers they work with. “It just makes sense and growing the category is what we do. It was a great addition to what we do overall.”

When we talked in late November Amy had just returned from a trip to Thailand with Kurt Heckel, head of product development at Border Concepts.

“It was a lot of fun to introduce Kurt to the whole system of how we make the rugs and how we operate over there,” she said, adding he got to see how they choose the colors, sizes and designs that go into the Mad Mats lineup. There will be some new options introduced this year at the showroom in Atlanta during market, with more to come later in the season. Retailers can also see Mad Mats products at the Border Concepts showroom in Lexington, North Carolina.

About that, too. In case you missed the news, Border Concepts completed its expansion in Lexington, which means retailers can see the whole portfolio of products in the 18,000 sq. ft. showroom, as well as the new manufacturing and powder-coating facility on site. To make an appointment, you can talk to your Border Concepts rep, email info@borderconcepts.com or call (800) 845-3343. GP