New branding and impact ratings are heading to roofing contractors following a recent announcement from Malarkey Roofing Products.

The roofing manufacturer, a leader in sustainable, performance roofing shingles and member of the Holcim Building Envelope, revealed three announcements in a recent statement. They are:

• Impact rating upgrades: Effective on installs from Jan. 1, 2023, Highlander® NEX® and Vista® architectural shingles are officially classified UL 2218 Class 3 and 4 impact rated, respectively. Labeling and packaging are being updated. 
• Wrap design change: As a rolling change, all shingle wraps are being redesigned to include the Malarkey green brand color. Wraps will also continue to include the color-coding system currently in place. This is only a wrap design change. Shingles with the old and new design can be color mixed. 
• Dropping NEX® from brand names: As a rolling change, Malarkey is dropping the NEX suffix from both the Highlander NEX and Ecoasis® NEX brand names. Since this is only a name change, Highlander shingles can be color-mixed with like-color Highlander NEX shingles. Likewise, Ecoasis shingles can be color-mixed with like-color Ecoasis NEX shingles.

“We never stop innovating at Malarkey," said Eileen Dutton, vice president of Product, in a statement. "Less than 10 years ago, we launched Highlander NEX and Vista®, the industry’s first entry and mid-tier polymer modified shingles. Today’s news reinforces their Best in Class status in both of those product categories.”

The company introduced Vista in 2016, followed by Highlander NEX in 2018, to expand the polymer modified shingle offering to more customers. Today, all Malarkey shingles utilize the patented NEX Polymer Modified (Rubberized) Asphalt. This technology combines virgin rubber polymers, and recycled rubber and plastic polymers, to strengthen and rubberize the asphalt core of the shingle. The result is a shingle that provides superior all-weather resilience and longer product life, all while reducing landfill waste.

The announcement follows the recent reveal that Malarkey will start introducing RFID microchip tags in shingle bundles to benefit logistics and production.