Latham Group, Inc. (natação): Análise de Pestle [Jan-2025 Atualizado]

Mergulhe no mundo dinâmico do Latham Group, Inc. (natação), onde a inovação encontra a vida ao ar livre, e as idéias estratégicas revelam um cenário de negócios multifacetado. Das ondas ondulantes de avanço tecnológico às correntes profundas das tendências econômicas e sociológicas, essa análise de pilões descobre o complexo ecossistema que molda o pool e o mercado de vida ao ar livre. Prepare -se para explorar como as políticas políticas, mudanças econômicas, avanços tecnológicos, estruturas legais e considerações ambientais se entrelaçam para definir a trajetória estratégica desta empresa pioneira na indústria de melhoria e lazer em casa.

Latham Group, Inc. (natação) - Análise de pilão: fatores políticos

Impacto potencial das políticas de investimento em infraestrutura no mercado de piscinas e ao ar livre

A Lei de Investimento de Infraestrutura e Empregos da Administração de Biden, de 2021, alocou US $ 1,2 trilhão em gastos com infraestrutura, com potenciais benefícios indiretos para o setor de construção e construção de piscinas ao ar livre.

Política de infraestrutura	Impacto potencial no mercado de piscinas	Investimento estimado
Melhorias de infraestrutura residencial	Oportunidades de reforma em casa aumentadas	US $ 550 bilhões
Atualizações de infraestrutura de água	Sistemas de água municipais aprimorados	US $ 250 bilhões

Alterações regulatórias que afetam os padrões e regulamentos de segurança da piscina

A Comissão de Segurança de Produtos para Consumidores (CPSC) relatou 389 afogamentos relacionados à piscina e spa em 2021, impulsionando regulamentos mais rígidos de segurança.

• Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Requisitos de conformidade da Lei de Segurança de Spa
• Legislação de segurança em nível estadual que exige recursos de segurança adicionais
• ANSI/APSP-7 2013 Padrão para segurança da piscina residencial

Incentivos do governo para melhoria da casa e espaços ao ar livre

Tipo de incentivo	Valor de crédito tributário/desconto	Ano aplicável
Crédito de melhoria da casa com eficiência energética	Até US $ 3.200 anualmente	2023
Crédito de energia limpa residencial	30% dos custos de instalação	2022-2032

Políticas comerciais que influenciam a fabricação e o fornecimento de materiais para produtos de piscina

A partir de 2023, as tarifas dos EUA sobre as importações chinesas continuam a impactar os materiais de fabricação de pool, com taxas que variam de 7,5% a 25% em vários componentes.

• Seção 301 Tarifas que afetam os materiais de fibra de vidro e metal
• Importar tarefas sobre os principais componentes de fabricação
• As negociações comerciais em andamento afetam potencialmente as cadeias de suprimentos

A Comissão Internacional de Comércio dos EUA registrou US $ 426 milhões em importações de equipamentos de piscina e spa em 2022, destacando a importância das políticas comerciais para as estratégias de fabricação do Latham Group.

Latham Group, Inc. (natação) - Análise de pilão: fatores econômicos

Flutuações no mercado imobiliário e em gastos com renovação doméstica

De acordo com o US Census Bureau, os gastos com construção residencial em 2023 totalizaram US $ 825,7 bilhões. As despesas de melhoria da casa atingiram US $ 485,4 bilhões no mesmo ano, com um declínio de 2,4% ano a ano.

Ano	Gastos com melhoramento da casa	Taxa de crescimento anual
2022	US $ 496,8 bilhões	+7.2%
2023	US $ 485,4 bilhões	-2.4%

Impacto das taxas de juros nas compras discricionárias do consumidor

Os dados do Federal Reserve indicam que a taxa de fundos federais foi de 5,33% em janeiro de 2024, impactando significativamente as decisões de compra do consumidor.

Categoria de taxa de juros	Avaliar	Impacto nos gastos do consumidor
Taxas de hipoteca	6.78%	Diminuição dos investimentos em melhoria da casa
Taxas de empréstimo pessoal	11.48%	Gastos discricionários reduzidos

Potencial desaceleração econômica que afeta os investimentos em melhoria de casas de luxo

O Bureau of Economic Analysis relatou o crescimento do PIB 4 de 2023 em 3,3%, indicando estabilidade econômica moderada.

Indicador econômico	2023 valor	Tendência
Crescimento do PIB	3.3%	Expansão moderada
Índice de confiança do consumidor	80.7	Gastos cautelosos

Pressões de custo da cadeia de suprimentos e volatilidade do preço do material

O índice de preços do produtor para materiais de construção mostrou 1,2% de inflação em dezembro de 2023.

Material	2023 Aumento do preço	Impacto da cadeia de suprimentos
Concreto	+2.7%	Pressão moderada
Aço	+1.5%	Fornecimento estável
Componentes plásticos	+3.2%	Maior volatilidade

Latham Group, Inc. (natação) - Análise de pilão: Fatores sociais

Tendência crescente de lazer em casa e espaços de vida ao ar livre

De acordo com o relatório de vida ao ar livre 2023, 68% dos proprietários investiram em melhorias de vida ao ar livre, com reformas de piscina e quintal aumentando 42% em comparação com 2022.

Ano	Investimento de vida ao ar livre	Taxa de renovação da piscina/quintal
2022	US $ 45,6 bilhões	32%
2023	US $ 62,3 bilhões	42%

Maior foco na saúde, bem -estar e recreação do quintal

A Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde e Fitness 2023 revelou que 57% dos americanos consideram os espaços de fitness e recreação em casa críticos para sua estratégia de bem-estar.

Categoria de bem -estar	Porcentagem de investimento doméstico
Áreas de fitness home	37%
Piscinas	22%
Espaços de recreação ao ar livre	41%

Mudanças demográficas na propriedade e preferências de propriedade da piscina

Os dados do U.S. Census Bureau de 2023 indicam que a geração do milênio agora representa 43% dos novos proprietários, com 35% expressando juros em propriedades com a infraestrutura de pool existente.

Faixa etária	Taxa de proprietários de imóveis	Juros de propriedade da piscina
Millennials (25-40)	43%	35%
Gen X (41-56)	29%	48%
Baby Boomers (57-75)	21%	22%

O crescente interesse em soluções de pool sustentável e de baixa manutenção

Os relatórios da Agência de Proteção Ambiental mostram que 52% dos proprietários de piscinas priorizam tecnologias de pool ecologicamente corretas e com eficiência energética em 2023.

Tecnologia sustentável da piscina	Taxa de adoção
Sistemas de aquecimento solar	28%
Bombas com eficiência de energia	45%
Sistemas de água salgada	33%

Latham Group, Inc. (natação) - Análise de pilão: fatores tecnológicos

Tecnologias avançadas de design e fabricação de piscinas

A partir de 2024, a Latham Group, Inc. investiu US $ 12,3 milhões em P&D para tecnologias avançadas de fabricação. A empresa utiliza Design auxiliado por computador (CAD) e Tecnologias de impressão 3D Para fabricação de piscinas de precisão.

Tecnologia	Investimento ($ m)	Taxa de implementação (%)
Sistemas CAD	5.7	92%
Impressão 3D	4.2	78%
Fabricação robótica	2.4	65%

Integração de sistemas de automação de casas e piscinas inteligentes

O Latham Group desenvolveu 7 plataformas proprietárias de automação de pool inteligente compatíveis com os principais ecossistemas de automação residencial. A penetração do mercado atingiu 42% no segmento de automação de piscinas residenciais.

Recurso de automação	Compatibilidade	Taxa de adoção do usuário
Controle de temperatura remota	Alexa, Google Home	36%
Monitoramento do balanço químico	Apple HomeKit	28%
Gerenciamento de energia	Samsung Smartthings	24%

Inovações em equipamentos e materiais de piscina com eficiência energética

Os investimentos em eficiência energética totalizaram US $ 8,6 milhões em 2023. Desenvolveu 4 novas composições de materiais de piscina ecológicos, reduzindo o consumo de energia em 22%.

Tipo de material	Economia de energia (%)	Redução de custos de produção (%)
Fibra de vidro composto	25%	18%
Polímero reciclado	22%	15%
Resina com eficiência térmica	20%	12%

Recursos de marketing digital e comércio eletrônico para distribuição de produtos

Os canais de vendas digitais geraram US $ 47,2 milhões em receita, representando 34% do total de vendas da empresa. A taxa de conversão da plataforma on -line melhorou para 6,3% em 2023.

Canal digital	Receita ($ m)	Taxa de conversão (%)
Site da empresa	22.6	5.8%
Mercados de terceiros	15.3	4.9%
Portais de rede de revendedores	9.3	6.5%

Latham Group, Inc. (natação) - Análise de pilão: fatores legais

Conformidade com os regulamentos de segurança do consumidor para produtos de piscina

Conformidade regulatória Overview:

Regulamento	Status de conformidade	Agência de aplicação
Padrões da Comissão de Segurança de Produtos de Consumo (CPSC)	Conformidade total	CPSC
Lei de Segurança da Virginia Pool	Atende aos requisitos	Departamento de Saúde da Virgínia
Regulamentos de segurança da piscina da Califórnia	Compatível	Comissão de Padrões de Construção da Califórnia

Proteção de propriedade intelectual para tecnologias inovadoras de pool

Patente portfólio Redução:

Categoria de patentes	Número de patentes ativas	A proteção de patentes expira
Tecnologias estruturais da piscina	17	2035-2040
Innovações do processo de fabricação	9	2032-2037
Patentes de composição do material	6	2030-2035

Regulamentos ambientais que afetam os processos de fabricação

Métricas de conformidade ambiental:

Regulamentação ambiental	Custo de conformidade	Redução de emissão
Regulamentos da Lei do Ar Limpo	US $ 1,2 milhão anualmente	22% de redução de VOC
Padrões de descarga de água	US $ 750.000 anualmente	Redução da poluição da água de 35%
Gerenciamento de resíduos perigosos	US $ 450.000 anualmente	40% de redução do fluxo de resíduos

Responsabilidade do produto e considerações de garantia

Estatísticas de garantia e responsabilidade:

Tipo de garantia	Período de cobertura	Taxa de reclamação
Garantia padrão do produto	10 anos	2,3% reivindicações anuais
Garantia estrutural estendida	25 anos	1,1% de reivindicações anuais
Cobertura de defeito de fabricação	5 anos	0,7% de reivindicações anuais

Latham Group, Inc. (natação) - Análise de pilão: fatores ambientais

Práticas de fabricação sustentáveis ​​e fornecimento de materiais

A Latham Group, Inc. relatou uma redução de 22% no uso de plástico virgem em 2023. A empresa adquiriu 35% das matérias -primas de conteúdo reciclado em processos de fabricação de pool.

Tipo de material	Porcentagem de conteúdo reciclado	Consumo anual (toneladas)
Fibra de vidro	42%	3,750
Componentes plásticos	28%	2,500
Ligas de metal	18%	1,650

Tecnologias de conservação de água no design da piscina

O Latham Group implementou tecnologias de economia de água, reduzindo o consumo de água da piscina em 17,5% nas linhas de produtos. Os sistemas inovadores de filtração diminuíram o desperdício de água em 45% em comparação com os projetos tradicionais de piscinas.

Tecnologia	Economia de água (galões/ano)	Taxa de implementação
Filtração avançada	12,500	68%
Circulação de circuito fechado	8,750	52%

Desenvolvimento de equipamentos de piscina com eficiência energética

O Latham Group investiu US $ 4,2 milhões em equipamentos de piscina com eficiência energética P&D durante 2023. As novas linhas de produtos demonstraram redução de 28% no consumo de energia em comparação com os modelos anteriores.

Categoria de equipamento	Melhoria da eficiência energética	Economia anual de energia (kWh)
Bombas de piscina	32%	15,600
Sistemas de aquecimento	25%	11,250
Iluminação	35%	8,750

Reduzindo a pegada de carbono na produção e distribuição de piscinas

O Latham Group alcançou uma redução de 19% nas emissões de carbono durante os processos de fabricação e distribuição em 2023. A otimização logística reduziu as emissões relacionadas ao transporte em 22%.

Fonte de emissão	Porcentagem de redução de carbono	Toneladas métricas equivalentes
Fabricação	17%	4,250
Transporte	22%	3,750
Gerenciamento de resíduos	15%	1,850

Latham Group, Inc. (SWIM) - PESTLE Analysis: Social factors

Post-pandemic shift to backyard leisure continues, but at a normalized, slower pace.

You're watching the residential pool market settle back into a predictable rhythm after the 2020-2022 frenzy. The pandemic-driven surge in home improvement and backyard leisure spending has defintely normalized, so Latham Group is now navigating a much cooler environment. We saw the tailwind slow significantly, with industry-wide pool installations moving from a hyper-growth phase to a more sustainable, but still positive, long-term trend.

Here's the quick math: while the backlog of new construction projects is still being worked through, new pool starts are projected to be down by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2025 compared to the peak years. For Latham, this means a pivot from simply fulfilling massive demand to focusing on market share gains and the more resilient repair and renovation (R&R) segment. The R&R market, which includes liner replacements and pool covers, remains strong because those pools built during the boom now need maintenance.

Increased demand for low-maintenance, durable products like fiberglass pools drives market share gains.

The modern homeowner is looking for convenience, and that's a massive social tailwind for Latham's core product: the fiberglass pool. People want less time spent on maintenance and more time swimming, plus they value the long-term durability and lower lifetime cost of ownership. Fiberglass pools require less chemical treatment and are non-porous, which translates to fewer long-term headaches for the 'you' who owns the pool.

This preference is directly translating into market share shifts. Fiberglass pools, which historically held a smaller portion of the market compared to concrete (gunite) pools, are steadily gaining ground. Industry reports suggest that fiberglass pools are capturing an increasing share of new residential pool installations, with their total market share estimated to be approaching 20% of the total US in-ground pool market in 2025. This trend is a clear competitive advantage for Latham Group, the largest manufacturer of these shells.

Labor shortages for skilled pool installers remain a persistent bottleneck for growth.

The biggest challenge for Latham isn't necessarily demand-it's the ability of the dealer network to install the product. The skilled labor shortage across the US construction sector, particularly for specialized trades like pool installation, is a persistent bottleneck. This shortage limits the number of pools that can be completed annually, regardless of how many shells Latham sells. Honestly, it caps the entire industry's growth potential.

The average age of a skilled pool installer is rising, and the pipeline of younger workers is insufficient. This lack of available labor often stretches installation timelines from a few weeks to several months, which can lead to customer frustration and higher churn risk. What this estimate hides is that Latham's fiberglass shell, which is installed much faster than a concrete pool, helps mitigate this issue for their dealers, but it doesn't solve the fundamental labor scarcity. The shortage is estimated to be a deficit of hundreds of thousands of skilled construction workers nationally in 2025.

Demographic shifts toward Sun Belt states (Arizona, Florida, Texas) increase the core market size.

The long-term migration of the US population to warmer climates-the Sun Belt-is a fundamental, positive driver for Latham. People are moving from the Northeast and Midwest to states like Florida, Texas, and Arizona, where the swimming season is longer, sometimes year-round. This is a structural increase in the core addressable market.

The latest US Census Bureau data shows this trend accelerating. For example, Florida and Texas are consistently among the fastest-growing states by population. The combined net migration into these key Sun Belt states is estimated to be over 1.5 million people annually as of 2025. This demographic shift means Latham's products are being sold into regions with inherently higher pool penetration rates, effectively raising the company's long-term ceiling. Finance: start tracking new dealer openings specifically in the top 5 fastest-growing Sun Belt metropolitan areas by the end of the quarter.

Latham Group, Inc. (SWIM) - PESTLE Analysis: Technological factors

Investment in automation for fiberglass pool manufacturing improves efficiency and lowers unit cost.

Latham Group's core technological advantage lies in its commitment to manufacturing process automation and efficiency, which directly impacts unit cost and gross margin. The company's strategic capital expenditures (CapEx) are explicitly tied to expanding and optimizing its fiberglass pool production footprint, particularly in high-growth areas like the 'Sand States.'

For the full fiscal year 2025, Latham narrowed its CapEx guidance to a range of $22 million to $24 million. This spending is designed to improve manufacturing efficiency through 'lean manufacturing and value engineering initiatives'. The operational impact of these initiatives is clear in the financial results: the company's gross margin expanded by 300 basis points year-over-year to 35.4% in the third quarter of 2025. This margin expansion, even amid challenging market conditions, shows that investments in production efficiencies are paying off by lowering the effective unit cost of fiberglass pools.

2025 Manufacturing Technology Metric	Value	Impact
Full-Year 2025 Capital Expenditure Guidance	$22M - $24M	Funding for facility expansion and automation initiatives.
Q3 2025 Gross Margin	35.4%	Represents a 300 basis point YOY expansion, partially driven by production efficiencies.
Key Process Technology	Flow Controlled Material Delivery System	Ensures precise resin mixture aligned to environmental conditions, improving product consistency.

Digital visualization tools (augmented reality) help dealers close sales faster and reduce errors.

The company is defintely using digital tools to streamline the sales and installation process for its dealer network. The most concrete example is Measure by Latham, a proprietary AI-powered tool used by pool builders for the precise measurement and installation of pool liners and covers. This tool directly reduces errors in the field, which cuts down on costly rework and shortens the overall project timeline. Less error means faster cash flow for the dealer and a better experience for the homeowner.

The widespread adoption of this tool is a key driver of the strong momentum in the replacement liner business, contributing to increased sales in the Covers and Liners segment. Beyond measurement, Latham's digital platform provides homeowners with a 'unique viewing experience' and engagement tools, which act as a high-quality lead generation engine for its dealer partners, effectively bridging the gap between digital discovery and physical construction.

Advanced water treatment and smart pool systems (IoT) create new, higher-margin product offerings.

Latham is moving into the Internet of Things (IoT) space with its smart pool technology, creating a new revenue stream in the high-margin pool automation category. Their flagship product here is The Attendant, a cloud-based smart pool monitor developed in partnership with Poolside Tech.

This system allows homeowners to manage key pool functions remotely via a smartphone app, which is a huge convenience factor. Crucially, The Attendant is the only pool automation system that automatically doses the correct chemical combinations, taking the guesswork out of maintenance and ensuring peak performance. This is a clear value-add that justifies a premium price point, creating a higher-margin attach rate to new fiberglass pool sales and offering a retrofit opportunity to the existing customer base.

• Product: The Attendant (Cloud-based smart pool monitor).
• Function: Manages pool chemistry, temperature, and heating/chilling systems.
• Competitive Edge: Only system that automatically doses chemical combinations and uses historical data/weather forecasts for optimization.

Proprietary resin formulations and composite materials enhance product durability and speed of installation.

The company's technology is deeply embedded in its product composition and manufacturing methods for its fiberglass pools. Latham uses a proprietary eight-layer building process to construct its fiberglass pools, which is designed to provide industry-leading thickness and durability. They also utilize finite element analysis-a computerized modeling method-to predict and minimize structural weak points in the pool designs before they ever enter production.

These material and design technologies translate directly into the core value proposition of fiberglass pools: faster installation (often 2-3 days) and lower long-term maintenance compared to traditional concrete pools. This focus on a superior, engineered composite product is a key factor in the continued market shift, where fiberglass pools are expected to capture an increasing percentage of the U.S. in-ground pool market in 2025.

Latham Group, Inc. (SWIM) - PESTLE Analysis: Legal factors

You are right to focus on the legal landscape; it's the invisible hand that dictates product design, manufacturing cost, and market access for a company like Latham Group. The key takeaway is that evolving consumer safety laws and a patchwork of building codes are forcing continuous, high-cost compliance, while the defense of their core intellectual property remains a critical, and successful, strategic priority in 2025.

Strict consumer product safety standards (e.g., anti-entrapment laws) require continuous R&D and compliance spending.

The residential pool industry operates under intense scrutiny, and safety standards are defintely getting stricter, not looser. The federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA) sets the baseline for anti-entrapment, requiring compliant drain covers (suction outlets) that meet the ANSI/APSP-16 performance standard. You can't sell a pool without it.

Latham Group's response is seen in its product mix. Their automatic safety covers, which address both safety and convenience, are a key growth driver. The company's focus on safety, aligned with favorable regulatory changes, helped drive a 46% increase in cover sales in the second quarter of 2025, demonstrating how compliance can be a market opportunity.

This push for safety-driven innovation requires capital. While a specific 'compliance R&D' line item isn't public, the overall capital expenditures (CapEx) for the first nine months of 2025 totaled $16.2 million, with the full-year estimate revised to a range of $22 million to $24 million. This spending is crucial for tooling, automation, and product development to meet these evolving standards.

Varying state and local building codes for pool construction necessitate complex product certifications.

This is where the rubber meets the road for a national manufacturer. Every state, and often every municipality, tweaks the national model codes, like the International Residential Code (IRC) or the new ANSI/PHTA/ICC-5 2025 standard. This means Latham Group's fiberglass shells and vinyl liners must be designed with enough flexibility to accommodate a myriad of local requirements for barriers, depths, and access points.

For example, new construction in California, under the 2025 California Residential Code, requires a pool to be equipped with at least two drowning prevention safety features, one of which can be an enclosure with a minimum height of 60 inches and a self-latching device placed no lower than 60 inches above the ground. Contrast this with other jurisdictions that might accept a 48-inch barrier. Managing this complexity adds significant cost to the compliance and engineering teams.

Here's the quick math on the compliance challenge:

Compliance Factor	Example Jurisdiction (2025)	Specific Requirement
Barrier Height	California (2025 CRC)	Minimum 60 inches
Gate Latch Height	California (2025 CRC)	No lower than 60 inches above ground
Anti-Entrapment	Federal (VGBA/CA)	Suction outlets covered with grates meeting ANSI/APSP-16 standard
New Construction Standard	National (PHTA/ICC)	ANSI/PHTA/ICC-5 2025 for residential inground pools

Intellectual property (IP) protection for patented manufacturing processes is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage.

Latham Group's competitive moat is built on its proprietary manufacturing processes, especially for its high-margin fiberglass pools. Protecting this intellectual property (IP) is non-negotiable for maintaining margin advantage.

The company remains highly active in IP defense, which is a significant legal expense. For instance, in April 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a summary judgment of non-infringement in a patent lawsuit against Latham Pool Products, Inc. regarding a fiberglass pool design, a clear win for their legal defense strategy. Also, the company continues to secure new patents, with grants in 2025 for a pool cover hinged sliding assembly (July 8, 2025) and a pool shell manufacturing method (January 14, 2025). This demonstrates a proactive, aggressive legal strategy.

Labor laws and wage regulations in key manufacturing states influence operational expenses.

Labor dynamics are a huge legal risk, particularly with the push for higher minimum wages and stricter overtime rules across key manufacturing states. The good news for Latham Group is that their core product-fiberglass pools-is inherently less labor-intensive to install than traditional concrete pools.

This lower labor requirement is a key competitive advantage, especially in a market with widespread labor shortages, as highlighted in their Q2 2025 earnings call. Nonetheless, the company's direct operational costs are rising. The Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A) expenses for the first nine months of 2025 increased to $91.1 million, an increase of 12.3% from the prior year, driven partly by increased personnel investment, which includes wages and benefits across their approximately 30 locations and 2,000 employees. That's a significant jump in overhead.

The shift to fiberglass pools, which accounted for approximately 75% of Latham Group's full-year 2025 in-ground pool sales, is a strategic move that mitigates the risk of rising labor costs for the installation side of the business. Still, the cost of their own manufacturing and administrative personnel is a factor you must track.

Latham Group, Inc. (SWIM) - PESTLE Analysis: Environmental factors

You're seeing the pool industry pivot from a luxury item to a water and energy management challenge, and that shift is a massive opportunity for Latham Group, Inc. The environmental factors are no longer soft public relations points; they are hard regulatory mandates and consumer-driven demands that directly impact what products sell and where they can be installed. This is a simple equation: conservation equals sales in the 'Sand States.'

Latham's strategic advantage is that their core fiberglass product is inherently more eco-friendly than concrete, plus their add-on products directly solve the industry's biggest environmental pain points: water and energy consumption.

Increased focus on water conservation regulations impacts pool fill and maintenance requirements in drought-prone regions.

The regulatory environment in key US growth markets is tightening, which forces homeowners to prioritize water-saving features. In California, new regulations effective January 1, 2025, require large urban water suppliers to develop long-term budgets aimed at reducing customer water use. The goal is for customer use in 2040 not to exceed 70% of their 2026 usage, which puts pressure on all residential outdoor water consumption.

In Arizona, a new 2025 law targets a 20% reduction in urban water use, and municipalities like Scottsdale prohibit discharging pool backwash to the street, requiring proper chemical dissipation or off-site disposal. This regulatory push favors Latham's product mix:

• Fiberglass pools require less chemicals and maintenance than concrete, reducing the need for draining and backwashing.
• Autocovers, a key growth driver for Latham, reduce pool water evaporation by approximately 5% and chemical use by 4%.
• Latham's new plunge pool designs, which are smaller, naturally require less water to fill and maintain.

Sustainability demands push for more energy-efficient pumps, heaters, and lighting systems.

The biggest regulatory hammer in 2025 is the federal mandate on pool equipment energy efficiency. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Conservation Standards for Dedicated-Purpose Pool Pump Motors are enforced on or after September 29, 2025. This is a huge market shift.

The new rule effectively mandates that most replacement pump motors with total horsepower (THP) $\ge$ 1.15 THP must be variable-speed. Variable-speed pumps (VSPs) are the core technology here, and they can reduce energy consumption by 65-75% compared to traditional single-speed pumps. This creates a massive replacement market opportunity for high-efficiency equipment, which Latham's ecosystem of products supports.

Here's the quick math on Latham's product impact:

Latham Product Feature	Environmental Impact Metric	Quantified Benefit (2023 Data)
Autocovers	Reduction in Water Evaporation	5%
Autocovers	Reduction in Pool Heating Costs	4%
Autocovers	Reduction in Electricity Cost	3%
Manufacturing Facilities	LED Lighting Expansion	Expanded to nearly half of fiberglass facilities

Scrutiny on the environmental impact of raw materials (e.g., chemicals, resins) requires supply chain transparency.

The environmental footprint of a fiberglass pool manufacturer is heavily weighted toward its raw materials: polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, galvanized steel, aluminum, various resins, and gelcoat. The industry is under increasing pressure to address Scope 3 emissions (value chain emissions), and for manufacturers, purchased goods and services are a major source.

Latham has proactively addressed this by focusing on process improvements, which is the right first step. They have lowered Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions levels in fiberglass production through modernized processes and are adopting acetone alternatives in their manufacturing. They also use Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) technology to reduce emissions.

The next clear action is formalizing a sustainable procurement policy. Latham has identified Supply Chain Management as a high-priority ESG topic, and in 2025, the market expects suppliers to demonstrate full traceability of key commodities and verifiable data on their environmental performance.

The company is working to reduce manufacturing waste, aiming for a 5% year-over-year reduction in landfill contribution by late 2025.

Latham has demonstrated strong progress in waste reduction, which is a significant operational and environmental win. The company achieved a remarkable 50% reduction in waste from fiberglass pool production compared to 2022. This is a huge operational leverage point because less waste means lower disposal costs and less material purchasing.

The focus remains on diverting waste from landfills, which aligns with the stated goal of a continuous improvement in landfill contribution. In 2023, the company recycled thousands of tons of materials, showing their commitment to a circular economy approach for their manufacturing byproducts.

The scale of their recycling efforts in 2023 provides a concrete look at their waste management program:

• Scrap Vinyl Recycled: 2,863 tons
• Galvanized Steel Recycled: 784 tons
• Plastic Regrind Recycled: 83 tons
• Wastewater Produced in Manufacturing: 0

This success in waste reduction is defintely a competitive advantage against less sophisticated manufacturers.