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Technical Terms for rugs from A-Z

Material glossary

Surely you have different outfits for different occasions, like for festivities or for your free time, but also for different seasons like winter and summer.

The selection of rugs is similar to these selection criteria of clothes. The better you know your requirments, like where you want to place the rug, how much will it be used, is it more functional or more decorative, the more you will be able to choose the right rug with the right criteria. Not every material is suitable for every type of usage: Some rugs are not adapted to humidity whereas others are very sensitive and should not be used for nurseries, for example. Especially for this reason, we created this small glossary of materials to help you find the right rug.

If you do have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our customer support team. If you need help with the maintanance, have a look at our category care instructions.

Natural fibres

Natural fibres are divided in two categories, those of animal provenance and those of herbal provenance. While silk, new wool and leather rugs are of animal provenance, rugs made of cotton, jute, sisal and hemp are of herbal provenance. Viscose is in a special category since it is of herbal provenance but is produced synthetically.

Rugs made of natural fibres have become very popular, especially since critical consumers are agitating for environmental auditing. In a time where recources are running short, renewable resources are getting more important and which is the reason why natural fibres are so popular, they are not only available naturally, but can also be recycled. This results in a combination of modern design with sustainable resources.

    • Wool

    Wool is still the most important yarn in the production of rugs and is used in almost every range. One differentiates between new wool that is exstracted from living sheep and of a higher quality, and tanner´s wool that is exstracted from dead sheep and is of lower quality. Even where an animal lived, tells something about the quality of wool. Highlands wool extracted from animals that live in the mountains is, for example, particularly resistant and of high quality.
    The advantage of lowland wool is the good proportion of softness and the economic and fair cattle breeding. It so comes that the major part of lowland wool is from New Zealand where the animals graze on green plains and hills in a unique climate of an island.

    Wool rugs are of timeless vogue because of their positive attributes. Not only because they create a warm and comfortable atmosphere, they are also tough and flame-retardant. Thanks to the natural grease of sheep wool, rugs made of this material are insensitive to dirt and water and work antistatically, so that they do not tighten dust as some artificial fibers do.
    Since wool fibres can be stretched up to 30 per cent of their fiber length and are able to contract again, rugs made of wool are also insensitive to pressure marks. Their characteristic to store air in the gaps, has the positive effect of sound insultation,heat insulating and the regulation of the indoor climate. Wool is not only a classic among the materials used for rugs which has always been used by people for the production, it is also regenerating raw material that also enjoys a great demand among environmentally conscious consumers. Therefore, it is not surprising that you can find wool in nearly every living quarter.
    Whoever buys a rug, should consider: wool is and remains a natural product and therefore retains certain characteristics. For instance, wool has the positive feature to adjust the indoor climate, but at the same time it is not suitable for damp areas as baths, since constant humidity causes decomposing of the material. In addition, wool must be protected against moth damage.

    Synthetic Fibres

    Even if natural fibres have become more popular, synthetic fibres are still the number one material.
    This is due to their availability for every type of living, since it is possible to treat them tailored to the market need. A good example is that you cannot use rugs made of natural fibres for constantly humid rooms or such that are occasionally get wet. Rugs made of synthetic fibres on the other hand can be used in many different areas, including bathrooms and aerospace, it is just convertable.

    • Already developed in Germany in 1942 - parallel to the USA - polyacrylic fibres were used in the textile production since 1954. It was especially famous for its modified version, being used as flame-retardant clothings for children.

    Rugs made of this synthetic fibres are particularly long-lasting in their intensity of colours, since polyacrylics exhibits a high stability in relation to light. In addition, it is considered to be resistant against moth damage, but at the same time has a soft structure similar to wool. It does not tend to crease thanks to its high flexibility, making the rug keep its texture even if it is used extensively for a long time of time. Polyacrylic fibres are considered to be easy-care and fast drying so that they are preferably used as a material for rugs and furnishings that are strained a lot, no matter whether it is a modern designer rug or a shaggy rug.

    Polyacrylic fibres are also often used for kid's rugs, since they are not only particularly robust, but also easy to clean due to their high resistance to dirt. Besides, have the positive feature to provide a good thermal insulation.