I got a call this morning from a stage designer who had been asked to finish temporary stage with a “Marley” floor. We don’t sell portable dance floors, but we do score well with Google Search for the term “Marley floor tape” so he gave us a call. I tried to help him out and then did a little digging to try to find out why he was unable to come up with any info on this flooring product.
“Marley” has become the generic name for portable vinyl flooring, even though there are lots other companies that make similar products. Almost any stage manager or lighting designer will refer to the “Marley” when talking about a stage surface to dance on.
It took me a while to come up with any info on “Marley” but I eventually was able to learn that Marley was a German manufacturer who has been out of business for at least 20 years. Even though there are probably very few genuine Marley floors still in use, their brand name is still the generic term for portable vinyl dance floors. Today’s versions of this dancing surface works much better than Marley’s product but none of the current manufacturers have been able to change the term used when talking about dance floors.
I guess we will continue to call our dance floor tape “Marley Tape” as long as this is the term the dance industry uses. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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