About Metropolitan

Metropolitan was born in the Pacific Northwest, amidst a rugged landscape where land and sea meet the sky. In an enduring cycle of seasonal diversity, winter storms and summer sun nurture breath-taking beauty and boundless vitality, creating a deep awareness and appreciation for the natural environment and how it sustains us all.

Respect for the environment, like the force of nature, is uncompromising and fundamental to our values and our purpose. Our vision is clear: Design the most progressive and ethically made flooring products possible, and share our passion for our craft, our people and our culture. After nearly 30 years, we remain relentless throughout our product development process and our customers’ journey to ensure we provide the very best products and customer care available, and to live our commitment to clean, vibrant living spaces, both inside and out.

Our Kentwood and Abode hardwood brands embrace the distinctive character and natural beauty of genuine hardwood, while making responsible use of a sustainable resource to produce products of superior performance: hardwood floors to last a lifetime.

Our Evoke line provides high value, high performance floors designed to meet the most exacting environmental and air quality standards for residential and commercial applications.

Over 25 years, we have earned a reputation for integrity and innovative design, and we take inspiration in that uncompromising commitment to ourselves, our customers, and our communities; it informs our work, every day.

Trust and Integrity

We’ve been in the flooring business since 1992 and have been manufacturing our own products since 2003. From a single retail location, our values and commitment to listening, learning and keeping our word has enabled Metro to grow our network of sales and distribution centres across North America, with over 200 staff including dedicated full time compliance, technical service and customer care specialists to support you each step of your journey.

We’ve partnered with leading developers, designers and architects on some of the most progressive residential and commercial buildings in North America and beyond, and they can confirm that together, a “clean” choice was made.

Obsessive about product quality

Metropolitan’s hardwood flooring typically goes through more than 30 documented quality control checks during manufacturing, a program which includes inspecting the inputs, monitoring the production, and assessing the final product to ensure all specifications are met.

Our products are rigorously tested by our own in-house QC teams and independent labs using internationally recognized standards to ensure performance meets or exceeds our specifications.

Deep technical knowledge and experience

Technical challenges such as acoustic performance, substrate preparation, moisture control, emissions standards and environmental factors are a reality. Metropolitan employs a full-time team of five technical services specialists committed to seeing every aspect of your flooring project go smoothly.

The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) provides the standard for specialized professional training programs. In 2017, Metro’s entire sales team undertook training to earn NWFA credentials, collectively achieving one of the highest levels of certification in the association.

Leadership in environmental compliance

In 2008, we were pioneers in recognizing the importance of environmental compliance. We appointed a full-time Environmental Compliance Officer (ECO) and introduced environmental compliance requirements into all aspects of our operations. Today over 30% of our employees are directly involved in compliance related activity and supply chain oversight and the entire staff receives ongoing compliance training.  

Good health and the well-being of our planet is critical

We actively promote and participate in LEED and other innovative green building programs with products designed to meet or exceed air quality, acoustic and life-cycle performance requirements.

Naturally, the formaldehyde emission levels for all our products are well below the requirements set by the CARB and TSCA regulations. We can state that because all our flooring complies with CA 01350. CA 01350 is the stringent VOC emissions testing protocol which LEED uses as their standard for indoor air quality requirements. CA 01350 looks at a wide range of VOCs, not just formaldehyde—while still establishing a limit for formaldehyde emissions at a fraction of what is permitted by CARB and TSCA. We apply the CA 01350 standard to all our flooring products, not just engineered wood products that CARB and TSCA oversee.

We also go beyond CA 01350 by certifying the vast majority of our flooring to GREENGUARD Gold – the Underwriters Laboratory program that is one of the strictest indoor air quality standards in the world. GREENGUARD Gold includes CA 01350 compliance while additionally capping total emissions and applying expanded criteria. Please see our FAQs for more information.

Be kind, everyday

Social responsibility is integral to Metro, and we actively participate in and support programs and organizations for healthy communities and sustainable living, including:

• Sustainable Harvest International
• The “Evoke Community,” providing flooring for non-profit building projects across North America
• The Gary Sinise Foundation, providing housing for disabled veterans throughout the US, in cooperation with the NWFA
• Kentwood Design Challenge, supporting education and nurturing the development of emerging design talent

Clean Floors is our holistic and values-driven commitment to our customers, our people and our planet. An evolving and evergreen initiative that grows as we grow, we embrace every opportunity to learn and to improve. If you have questions about any aspect of the program or require support to feel informed about your choices, please email info@metrofloors.com

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." —Maya Angelou