The adaptable Water Oak, with its distinctive lobe leaf tips and rough ridges, was originally planted at the Milliken Arboretum during the 1960s. Today, it serves as a reminder of a decade of global development. Its roots were taking shape while Milliken began to expand our own roots around the world. As the Water Oak continues to stand strong, you will now find Milliken challenging industry boundaries across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions — striving to make a global impact through the latest innovations, research and sustainability efforts.
Milliken has long held a vision of enhancing people’s daily lives around the world through meaningful innovations. As the pace of global commerce was increasing throughout the mid-20th century, Milliken joined the ranks of U.S.-based companies that expanded internationally. In the early 1960s, we established our first offices in Europe, and today, we are proud to have manufacturing facilities, sales offices, laboratories and technical support centers around the world. Through the following three stories, we explore the idea that innovation knows no bounds.
Supporting growing populations 
With today’s booming global population, urban environments are working to accommodate exponential growth from housing to communication bandwidth. The Milliken Cable Management team is creating transformative innovations to aid today’s communication system needs. One of their award-winning innovations, Vis™ Divide, rethinks the entire design of underground cable networks to increase conduit capacity and decrease civil disruption from installation in busy cities. While traditional HDPE conduit may not accommodate future network capacity needs, Vis™ Divide optimizes network infrastructure space and allows for easier installation with reduced resource consumption for future capacity.
Enhancing interiors with sustainable design
In 1968, Milliken entered the carpet and interior upholstery market through the acquisition of Callaway Mills. Today, Milliken Floor Covering designers are creating innovative and sustainable flooring solutions that are available on every continent.
Pictured: JLL Shanghai office, design by iDA Workplace + Strategy
Three years ago, Milliken was honored to be a part of the first public building in South America to achieve LEED Gold certification. Designed by Norman Foster, the headquarters of the Buenos Aires Government in Parque Patricios serves as a symbol of environmental mindfulness. We’re also leading the conversation as a founding member of the WELL Living Lab which “explores how design, operations and behaviors within the places where we live, work, learn and play can be optimized the advance human health and well-being.” Today, the Milliken Chicago Showroom is WELL Certified Platinum – the first WELL Certified showroom in theMART and the first WELL Certified Platinum space in Chicago. You’ll also find Milliken floor covering in the JLL Shanghai office, the first WELL Certified Platinum office in the Asia Pacific region.
Adding color to our surroundings
In the early 1960s, Milliken Research developed the company’s first polymer bound chemical — Versatint®, a temporary dye for use in textile plants — ultimately leading to a new chemical division for Milliken. Today, Milliken Chemical’s versatile specialty chemical technologies are improving the form and function of everyday items with color and performance additives for consumers and manufacturers across the globe.
Milliken Chemical is an industry pioneer of colorants, including Reactint® Colorants — the most widely used polyurethane (PU) colorants in the world. Reactint® Colorants can give products rich, beautiful color that will not settle out over time. Bringing vivid hues in various products from bowling balls to automotive seating, Reactint® Colorants also call attention to functionality and drive brand awareness. Unlike pigments, they will not interfere with the PU structure and can be easily blended to produce an endless variety of tints to add color to our world.
At UTECH 2018, the foremost international exhibition and conference for the global polyurethanes industry in The Netherlands, Milliken highlighted a new range of colorants that deliver brighter, stronger more intense and more effective shades to PU foam. Illustrating the research behind our latest innovations, we also debuted “ColorDirection 2019” foreseeing key trends in palette preferences. Brands and product designers embrace the power of color in marketing. Milliken taps into ever-evolving color trends and consumer preferences with ColorDirection. After an extended phase exposed to high-contrast colors, we expect consumer preferences to shift firmly away from the artificial. Next year is poised to feature honest, authentic colors that are bright, yet as real as possible — and Milliken is delivering these true hues through an innovative portfolio of ClearTint, Reactint and Liquitint colorants.
Whether working to lead compliance efforts with high-performance products or striving to contribute to beautiful, sustainable spaces, Milliken is proud to be a global innovator. As we continue to explore the decades of Milliken’s past, we embrace the innovative spirit that made us different then, and what helps us continue to evolve today.
Explore the series by decade:
