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Creating a design concept for a kitchen or remodeling an outdated bathroom requires an understanding of the products and services available to those looking to undertake such a project. The ProSource Podcast breaks down the home remodeling industry and highlights the merchandise and experience that it requires to achieve your vision. Join ProSource Director of Digital Marketing Content Kevin Devine, as he speaks with those who facilitate the ideal project and offer valuable information for how to choose the ideal products and services that transform your ideas into reality.
Welcome back to The ProSource Podcast.
Today,
I am sitting here with Patrick Warren.
He's going to talk to us about Daltile.
And specifically their are Made in the USA
campaign that they have rolling out.
Patrick is the vice president of dealer
sales and showrooms.
Adult tile.
Doll tile is the industry leading brand
of ceramic, porcelain, glass and metal
tile, as well as natural stone, large
format tile and countertop products.
Thank you so much for joining me
today, Patrick.
Thanks for having me. It's
good to be here.
And I know you've been in this industry
for a long time.
I was actually stalking
your LinkedIn page,
a little bit before this conversation,
and I just wanted you to share for us
how you got started in this industry
and then how that journey translated
into tile.
Well, it's
always good to start with a funny story.
And again,
thanks for having me here, Mollie.
So I got on the I got in the industry
completely by accident.
I was long story fun stories
that are over.
Maybe a bottle of wine
with a bunch of customers.
But I was actually
looking into
getting a grant because I just,
I was getting my business degree
and I got a fax number wrong,
and a recruiter called me
and it ended up being for Milliken Carpet,
which started my career in 1996.
So I completely accidental.
And then through
I worked for Milliken for,
about nine years
and then went to Columbia Hardwood, which
was subsequently purchased by Mohawk,
and they moved me to Dallas,
18 years ago.
So I've been a dealer person
my whole career.
I love it.
And, for the matter,
I've been involved with CCI from day one,
which has been great.
So yes, long career in career.
It's been good to me, good to my family
and good to the, the it's great industry.
I love it.
That's awesome.
And how long have you been with
Daltile, specifically?
Well, so I was part of the you know,
I kind of worked through the whole Mohawk
Industries, group part of that period.
I was with a group called Union
that was kind of housed, quick step,
Columbia Hardwood,
which I came from, Mohawk Card Services,
all that on the Dow campus.
And I left for four years and came back
five years ago.
So I've been with that really five years,
part of the whole family since,
really 2007.
Gotcha, gotcha.
And I know, you know a lot of lore
about Daltile, because last time
you were at CCA, you were letting us know
how how it got started in Dallas, Texas.
And just
wondering if you could share
any more insight into that for the people
listening, how has the brand evolved
since the early days of starting out?
It's it's a great story.
I mean, today,
you know, here we are 78 years later.
You know, two brothers started it.
One was in Monterrey,
Mexico, one was in Dallas, Texas.
They started for whatever reason,
I don't know, I believe it was wall tile
or some need.
Something was out there
and through a series of moves and,
you know, the company had highs and lows
and was purchased and sold several times,
came around,
purchased by Mohawk Industries.
And that really rocketed our business
north.
You know, today we sit with roughly close
to 300 locations.
You know, we have sales service centers,
really where everybody's located.
We want to make sure
we can get tile to where that project
and that need is going to be.
We have stone centers,
almost 40 stone centers.
We have, you know,
I have one of my responsibilities is
I have responsibility for our 113
Daltile owned company showrooms
that are scattered throughout the country,
and they have different types of showrooms
regardless, depending on the market.
And then you know what what I would say,
what Mohawk Industries has allowed us
is the opportunity to develop and create,
proprietary technology
that seeds our three core businesses,
which would be commercial,
new residential, and then our dealer
business, which is the largest market
that we compete in
from a market point of view.
So, Daltile has
has really great, rich history.
I love the 78 years.
You know, I, you know, the theme of
this is going to come up again.
But here we have 11 manufacturing plants
in North America
between us and Canada and Mexico.
And you know what?
Right now they're tariff free.
So that's a pretty good story to tell.
And get that and that.
Yes. And that is kind of where
we're going to go with this conversation.
Is just learning
more about your made in the USA products.
And I guess why you guys continue
to focus on those, products
that are made in the USA.
First, I wanted to ask about
the Dallas, Texas and the style of it all.
Because I did not know this
when I found out like a few months ago
when you were visiting.
But Daltiles name actually started because
it was originated in Dallas, Texas.
Correct.
So it was you have the Dal and then tile.
I it was a fun fact.
It was Dallas Tile
Company started here in Dallas.
And then interestingly enough,
and if you go back and you talk to
some of the really the veterans of Dallas
and that's one of our strength,
we it's it's amazing.
Every quarter will have people at the 40
and 45 year anniversaries.
But our first sales service
center was not Dallas.
It was actually in Tampa. For what.
Oh who knows?
I don't
you know, I'm sure there was a customer
there that needed a facility, but yeah.
No, we've, it's Dallas tile.
You'd be surprised at how many people,
even when they come to visit our corporate
office,
they're like, oh, Daltile Dallas like you.
It's so obvious. It's not obvious.
It's. Yeah.
I mean, I did not even realize.
And then when
when you spilled that lower on us,
I was like, oh, I'm kind of a dummy.
How did I not realize that?
I mean, listen, you are you are not alone.
Everybody has that too. So for sure.
So you talked about some of the locations
in North America.
What benefits does all tile have
with having all those manufacturing plants
in North America?
Maybe aside,
of course, when I think of being made
in the USA, I think of two reasons
why people love that
one, the tariffs like you just mentioned,
that is definitely at the forefront,
especially right now in 2025, big ongoing
issue for trade pros and businesses.
And then also you have
another section of people
that really just value businesses
products being made in the USA.
That's just a core belief that they have.
Are there any other reasons
that we might not know about that?
Make it important for adult to have
those manufacturing plants in the US?
Well, you know, I think if you,
if you look, you know, tiles, it's fairly
simple product to make very complex
in how we actually fire it in our kilns.
But, I mean, it's really a clay
and a pressure and heat, right?
Those three things, you know, the clay in
the United States is very good.
So we get, for example,
you'll see a lot of facilities.
We have several facilities in Tennessee.
Tennessee had a very good, soil
and clay for us to manufacture that.
But I would say our foundation started
here.
I would say that
and in Mohawk's direction,
it would be if we can make it in the US,
our option would always be
to make in the US.
And obviously Mohawk Industries has quite
a large number of facilities located
in North America and as, as do we and
we would continue to go down that path.
It's not you know, over the years,
it's not been the easiest avenue at times.
You know, you had the, you know, heavy,
heavy, heavy influx of Chinese products.
And we by the way, we're not like,
I'll tell a story about being terrifying.
Those 11 plants,
but we have products that we do import
and we have impacts from around the around
the world.
But we believe that if we can make it domestically, that's where we will of first.
Absolutely.
Do you think and with 2025 in these
tariffs, has that influenced the strategy.
Looking forward into
the next couple of years for Daltile to
maybe focus
more on building out in the US,
or has it just kind of stayed
maybe the same consistent.
Well, I think our, you know,
our strategy has been fairly consistent
as far as core strategy overall is,
you know, providing products at a
at the right price, right
time, right value, right texture,
right technology when they need it.
So I don't think that's ever changed.
But yeah, sure,
I think if you look at the landscape is
is changing,
are there products that we import and
and some of the products
that we import are just products
that are more likely to be imported.
You know, they're the mosaic
that probably come from overseas.
Can we do those domestically?
Yeah, we're going to look at all of that.
Yeah.
Better to really so still the, the,
the the tile workforce
making products domestically.
But we're not opposed to
international plants.
We have a global ceramic
division is a large
large division of Mohawk Industries,
I believe the largest
you know, we have plants all over Italy,
Europe, Russia.
You know, there's there's a large number
of facilities that we can tap into.
Yeah.
So this made in the USA campaign,
very cool campaign idea.
When you brought it up a few months ago,
I thought it was perfect,
especially for in the summer.
It's definitely a perfect
summer campaign.
Can you share a bit more
about this campaign and how anyone that's
listening to
this podcast can get involved with it
or learn more about, just start titles.
Us make products, love to.
You know, if you look at again,
kind of tapping back into our history,
I mean, that strategy hasn't changed.
None of this is new.
This is just telling the story
that we've had for 78 years.
Know we have nine manufacturing facilities
in the US,
most of that southeast kind of, rim
we have two in Mexico.
They manufacture,
you know, up to 500,000,000ft²,
which is I think can get your head around.
That's a huge number.
And what's exciting about that is when,
when, when the tariffs and tariffs
very look at uncertainty in the world
right now because of the tariffs.
What does that mean. What do I need to do.
And we're not exempt from it at all.
And even though
our plants are manufactured
our products are manufactured
domestically.
86% of what we sell to ProSource,
for example, is domestically produced.
We still have impact from,
you know, for example, our equipment
for these for the facilities,
a lot of it comes from Europe.
So that might impact
some of the glazes may be impacted.
We don't know.
But the core products leaving
are not going to have any tariffs on that.
And what's exciting is
we started looking at it and said, okay,
let's really tell this story
because we look everybody's low.
I love Made Americas, but I think up
until who's going to speak for the public?
I could be wrong.
Some people probably challenged me on it,
but I believe that
a project someone is building a project
or envisioning a project.
In the end, they're going to
pick the product and test for that,
whether it's made in the US or not.
But I think now I think the the lever
is kind of leaning more toward helping
provide those, those products to them
that are needed, that are made in the USA.
We went through all of our products.
Now that made the USA take out the tube
from from Mexico to Sicily and Mexico.
We have 72 styles,
which is we
probably should have this number.
It's it's thousands of SKUs, like,
I mean, because when you start adding
in all the different sizes of shapes,
the colors, the mosaic, the gold,
everything, I mean, it's a lot, almost
too much to focus on, which is crazy.
So we have a
we have a story. It's even hard to tell.
It's a 72 styles on our website
downtown.com.
Go up into the search bar,
just type in made in USA.
It'll pop up a whole kind of microsite
that talks about our story,
but also has a, a live PDF
of all 72 styles that are available today
that are made in USA.
The best story out there?
I can to test.
I did look at that too.
It was very well put together.
I know on the pro source side, we're going
to be pushing out some of those,
product spotlights that are made
in the USA on our social media.
But just out of curiosity,
is there any specific product styles
off the top of your head that you favor,
like any favorites that you have?
You know,
I love our new products and you know,
some of the stuff that the Dow pile does
and I'm super proud of
have three
my three favorite things to talk about.
We have three different technologies
that are proprietary.
Only the Daltile and I'll talk about.
And the third one
I'll talk about a specific product.
I wish I got my show picture,
but you have, defend with Microban.
You know, Microban eliminates 99%
of the mold, mildew and bacterial growth.
Next is stepwise.
Stepwise is the best product
that everybody does some more of,
including Delphi. We talk about it
all the time. You can't see it.
You can't feel it.
You can clean it.
You know, a lot of times
it'll be a topical treatment.
It'll add a little grit to the top is
so you can feel the resistance
if you're walking on it.
And if you go to wipe a paper towel over,
it's going to tear the paper towel.
It doesn't happen for tile.
It's 50% more slip resistant
to 19 on the market, which is the best?
our newest one is called 3D reveal Sink
you know, a lot of the laminate
has done it for a long time.
LBF started doing it not long ago.
It's where you know, you'll
you'll you'll press the graining of,
let's say the in this case.
So we talk about wood, you know, your
your mineral streaks and your cathedrals.
The graining that we press into
the tile will follow that.
And we have a brand new product
called Hayden Stone it's amazing.
And it's a it looks so realistic.
It looks like a natural stone.
And then we've progressed in graining.
It follows the natural course of a
of a of a piece of stone.
It just came out of the quarry.
And here's the best part.
It's proprietary to Daltile,
I love it, I love telling it.
So Hayden Stone's a good week.
Our products are really, top shelf.
We've got amazing product ability
and that's awesome.
And that seemed really easy for you
to come up with those favorites,
although
you knew
exactly what was at the top of your mind.
We live and die by products.
I mean, if you think about everything
that we do, it's all about making
sure that that who that consumer
and that selector.
I've started using the word selector
versus consumer, that selector over
choosing our products.
We want to make sure that they
they have technology, color, design, shape
that makes them happy, the way
in their mind that they developed it.
So they come back and tell people
that they purchased our tile.
Absolutely.
Speaking of products,
I know that all tile products are noted
for being free of,
fox PVCs and allergens.
Does having US based products
play into the sustainability at all?
Interesting? That's a good question.
I would say
here's here's the way I would answer
Not any different than where you make it
anywhere else in the world. But
when you make it domestically,
you're not spending, you're not emitting
all of the, exhaust and things like that.
If you put it on a ship,
you put it on a truck
to get to the ship shipped to the US,
all the ports, all of that.
You're literally going
from our plant to a consumer's home
or a showroom or wherever.
So you cut down your carbon footprint
merely on the logistics.
just out of curiosity, has there ever been
a time in Daltile's long history
that Daltile has ever felt pressure
to offshore production out of the states?
Oh for sure.
Yeah.
Oh, you I mean, you go back
and you look at just,
you know, any U.S manufacturer felt it
when, you know, when you were, you know,
we were making a product
that we were trying to sell for $2.50
and then India or China
specifically just are bringing products in
and they're selling for half that.
How do
we how do you how do you compete on that.
You know, so definitely pressure on that.
We look at it today as let's let's use
the global manufacturing
global opportunity to source
certain products depending on like
take that, take our countertop business.
We have an amazing
countertop business. We have.
Yeah we we make the largest
one, quartz, slab in the industry.
We're just we're adding our second line
file in Dixon, Tennessee.
We talked about that Tennessee clay.
That's all in Dixon, Tennessee.
And, you know, our story continues
on where we make the product.
So it's really a good,
a good story to tell for now.
And what kind of feedback
have you heard from,
contractors, designers or selectors,
as you call them?
About working with a brand, that manufacturers in the US, have you seen that be
a big like topic in their
brain that their they're actively
looking for a brand that works in the US.
Have you, have you heard
that kind of feedback from people?
Yeah, I think it's in a little couple
of different areas.
If you look at our showrooms,
you know, somebody comes into our showroom
and you know, we don't
we don't sell to the public, but we will
we will select for them.
They'll push them out into the
in the field.
They're coming in.
I don't even know if they're looking
for us made products as much as
they're like, what do we do?
What is this?
What is the what are the tariffs mean?
I mean, I have friends that didn't realize
that we paid the tariffs.
They didn't understand even how it works.
So I think there's that pressure.
I think on the dealer side
when they're sourcing,
when they're selecting vendors for sure
they're looking for made the USA.
You know Daltile is a safe haven.
You know, I was up in Oklahoma recently
with, you know, some of their own,
several pro sources.
And he was talking about like, I think
you guys are an amazing safe haven.
And we want to export,
you know, we want to we want to figure out
how to grow that even more. So.
So there's opportunities everywhere.
Yeah, I think for sure it comes down
to money for a lot of people.
Right.
Like of course they want quality
and quantity.
But especially like you mentioned
with the tariffs people are confused.
And then also they don't
want to be spending too much money
on bottles and products for sure.
looking at the made in the USA campaign,
what is next for that campaign
and are there any exciting plans,
for this next month,
or do you know if you plan to
make this a yearly campaign?
You know,
we you know, I don't know about yearly.
That's a great question. I think we should
I think I I'm a big fan of it.
I think, you know, I will tell you
one of the things we're doing in
our showrooms is all of our show
113 showrooms that can participate.
We want to we're going to have a made
we're going to have a a month long
open house.
theme is going to be,
you know, take me out to the ballpark.
Week one, hot Diggity dog.
Week two Papa chinos. Week three.
So I can't remember. I'm sorry,
I don't remember.
A week
four is, use cream ice cream for Daltile.
Let's love it.
Yes. So the idea is, is just come in and
we'll highlight the made in USA products.
We'll talk about how we design.
We'll do flat lays and all that.
So the idea is just,
you know, tell that story.
But I guess the real question is I mean,
or the real answer is, you know, we're not
we're not highlighting our made in USA.
We're just emphasizing
more of what we're doing.
That's what the campaign is a to light.
Yeah.
We should be telling the story all day
long.
I talk to our sales team every day.
Like, listen, this is the best story.
You know, everybody's
talking about where they can't get it.
We're here 72 style. Yeah.
You can't go wrong.
And we're going to we're going to continue
to tell that story.
You can do it to expand and continue
to develop downtown's future.
Yeah I think it's a great idea
about this campaign
because it helps promote that connection
with, the selectors.
They're not only seeing
beautiful products,
but they're actually getting to know
the brand, the history
and then and results
that makes them think of style,
maybe top of mind more so than competitors
because they know you guys more.
Right.
There's a connection and people are always
looking for human connection.
So I think this campaign is very smart
and not just,
great at being connecting to consumers,
but also, education.
Right?
People are always learning about
not just your brand, but,
why you do what you do
and it just promotes that connection.
So I think there's pride too.
And and we need to I need to push it out
a little bit more where,
you know,
we have a huge talent in Oklahoma.
And it's like people and you know, it's
hard to say Made in Oklahoma
because not all the components of the town
may come from Oklahoma.
Yeah.
People in Oklahoma as just an example.
It's just north of me.
They're like, oh, I don't, I don't,
I don't think had stones made there.
But as an example, I love that
Tielemans made it made with our people.
You know there's that. Yeah.
You know we plants in Tennessee,
we multiple plants in Dallas.
It's just really tells a great story right
now and a story we need to keep alive.
That's very important.
Yeah.
So it gives a sense of community
for people
that are living around that plant
like you talked about in Oklahoma.
How do you see
the value of American made products
evolving over the next 5 to 10 years?
Both for not just all tile,
but the industry as a whole.
Well, you know, I think in many cases,
the it's
not a level playing field for pricing,
you know, the cost structure.
You know, there's,
you know, there's a period of time when,
you know, China had a negative slavery,
meaning it was they were over
funding manufacturers and their partners
to to dump literally products
into the, into the US.
I think, I think this campaign, it's it's
very, very intense right now
as far as a terrorist.
But I think the long term endgame is
I think I think we're going
to look at opportune cities
to expand the manufacturing base,
and everything.
I mean, look at how in the mix,
I mean, everybody where we can do
it, we should be doing it here and I
that's it.
Listen. It's fantastic.
We're the most powerful, country
in the world, and we should have.
The manufacturing is the core
of what makes that power continue on.
And I think we just need to do that,
I completely agree.
Is there anything else exciting
coming up for Daltile over the next year?
Oh, we got products coming.
We got great products, amazing technology.
You know, our
our we'll probably be talking
to ProSource community
more about our countertop program
kind of coming up here at the back
half of the year.
We've got some really good solutions.
They're great styles and designs.
But you know we design products
for the end user and that selector.
Good.
And talking about Mollie again
for that commercial
whether it's Main Street or specified that
production home builder, whether it's,
you know, the liners of the world, a large
production home that builders,
custom home builders
and then that that consumer market.
And we're going to continue to do that.
We're going to continue to take market
share where we can or it's smart
for us or Mohawk industry shareholders
and ultimately for our partners
like Prosource.
So just hit your wagon and we're going to
we're going to ride this.
We're going to ride this future together.
And by this big
thank you to everyone at Prosource,
we are thankful for every piece of tile
you provide us.
And and we just we know the future's
bright for our partnership.
Absolutely.
And anyone listening, if you're interested
in learning more about Daltile,
you can check out the Daltile website.
We also have a lot of writing
on the ProSource website,
and check out your local ProSource
Wholesale, for Daltile tile samples.
Or just ask, an account manager
out of showroom to learn more.
But thank you so much.
I'm here.
Yeah, or Patrick Warren.
You can stock LinkedIn like I did
before we met.
But thank you so much, Patrick,
for coming on
and just sharing more about this campaign.
I'm sure this won't be the last time
for all titles on the podcast.
So as always,
I look forward to talking to you.
I appreciate it. Thanks, Molly.
Thanks for your time. Thanks, everybody.
Take care.
Thank you for joining us today
on the Progress podcast.
Please like and subscribe to us
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Also, follow us on social media.
Check out our website
at prosource wholesale.com And visit
your local ProSource Wholesale showroom
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