How is Carpet Made

Carpet making has not always been, and still is not for all, simply a manufacturing process. For some it is an art. A rug was discovered frozen in ice that was dated 464 B.C., but Egyptians were sewing pieces of material together and placing them on their floors as far back as 3000 B.C. Rugs are hand-created by weaving; knotting one strand of colored material over another, to create patterns. It sounds simplistic, but it is very tedious and difficult, and it takes practice and artistry to achieve.

William Sprague in Philadelphia brought carpet making to American in 1791. Erastus Bigelow invented the power loom for weaving carpets in 1839, and the industry was changed. In 1928 Marshall Field achieved the best of both worlds; he created the first machine-made rug woven through the back, just as Oriental rugs are made.

Karastan rugs were manufactured for the public. By 1941 a new process was being used to create rugs, called “tufting.” It was originally used in the handmade processing of bedspreads, but quickly became mechanized and became useful in the making of rugs as well. In the 1950’s new fibers were introduced to the market such as nylon, polyester, and rayon; new dyes were introduced; and more rugs were tufted rather than woven.

There are various steps in manufacturing carpet. The first step in the typical manufactured carpet process is tufting. This process involves weaving the fibers into a backing material. As mentioned previously, several different materials can be considered for the carpeting.

Olefin is one fiber used in the manufacture of carpeting. It is inexpensive, resistant to soiling, and it is dyed during the production process; the color goes all the way through the fiber. Polyester is the fiber most used in residential carpets. It is more resilient to wear from foot traffic than Olefin, and it can be dyed in more vibrant colors due to the fact that the dye is added after the production process. Nylon is the most expensive of the synthetic fibers. It is soft, resilient, durable, and perfect for high-traffic areas. The preferred fiber for carpets is wool; however, this option is much more expensive than its synthetic counterparts. The fiber that is being used is stitched through the backing with hundreds of needles, creating tufts of looped yarn into the backing, which is covered with adhesive or latex to keep the tufts in place.

The style of carpet is created by the next step. If left in its tufted form, the carpet is in a Berber style; it can be looped levelly or multi-levelly for a more designed style. Cutting the tops off the looped tufts creates cut pile. Creating a formal, smooth cut surface with consistent color creates Saxony. The loops, or tufts, are cut by the individual pile strands being pulled over sharp knives. If it is not pre-dyed, the carpet may then be boiled with dye, called the Beck process. It is also possible the carpet will undergo continuous dyeing, whereby dye is rolled and sprayed onto the carpet. The final process involves coating latex to both the tufted carpet’s backing as well as to the secondary backing: which is made of woven synthetic polypropylene material. The two parts are squeezed together in a heated press. The carpet is then sheared to remove all the little loose ends, inspected, and shipped to the retailer.