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Understanding Carpet Fibers

There are six types of fibers that have been used in carpets over the years: nylon, olefin, acrylic, polyester, cotton, and wool. Understanding the ups and downs of each fiber will help you make the better choice for your home.

Natural Fibers

 Cotton and wool are the two types of natural fibers. Cotton, although not as durable or resilient as wool and synthetic fibers, is soft and takes dye very well. It is used most often for specialty handmade rugs. Wool is used in loose rugs and wall to wall installations. Wool hides soil well, is resilient, and is considered the luxury fiber.

The disadvantage to any natural fiber is that it is soft and absorbent. Absorbency permits easy staining. Soft fibers require a greater density to withstand traffic. Considering the cost of wool fiber and greater density normally used, wool carpets tend to be more expensive.

Synthetic Fibers

Man-made fibers comprise over 90% of the market today.. Nylon, which is 80% of the residential market is extremely strong, durable, and is the most resilient synthetic. This means that when compressed by foot traffic, it does the best job of springing back to its original shape. The Latest “stain resistant” nylon fibers even include warranties against wear and staining.

The next two types are olefin and acrylic. Olefin and acrylic fibers are naturally resistant to water-based materials which means they are almost stain-proof. Olefin is also resistant to sun fading and bleaching which makes it good for laundry rooms, outdoors and around swimming pools. The problem with both fibers is that they crush with heavy traffic and they absorb oils. This creates traffic pattern problems in main walkways.

Polyester fibers make up a very small market share. Advantages of polyester are that it feels soft like wool and it is possible to get very bright colors not always possible with the other fibers. Polyester has some problems with appearance loss however, especially crushing and fraying of the yarns.

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