FIBRES & YARNS

All carpet results from the conversion of raw fibre. With a few exceptions, this fibre is spun into yarn and this yarn is then made into carpet through one of three methods - weaving, tufting and bonding.
All carpet fibres have something special to offer, whether it is warmth, cleanability, hard wear, fire retardance or even price. Your carpet will perform longer and look better depending upon which fibre you select and how much is packed into the carpet.

Fibres are sometimes blended together to give the optimum performance at the best possible price.

There are two sources of carpet fibre - Natural and Man-Made.

Natural Fibres: bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbMan-made fibres:
Wool bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb Nylon
Silk bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbPolyester
JutebbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbPolypropylene
CoirbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbAcrylic
FlaxbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbViscose

Natural Fibres:
Wool
The oldest and most popular of the natural fibres. Exceptionally suited to carpets because it combines hard wear with lasting good looks. Wool does not support combustion and under normal conditions does not conduct static electricity.

Silk
Little used except in fine quality hand made rugs.
Jute
Used mainly in backing materials but occasionally in surface fibres for flat woven rugs.

Coir
Coconut husks contain a strong and flexible fibre. The husks are harvested and soaked for many months before being beaten, washed and dried. The pale yellow fibres are then spun into yarn which is finally woven into either flat weave carpeting or cut pile rugs and mats.
For coir products call Tasibel. Tel: 020 7454 1230

Flax
Used occasionally in loop pile and flat weave rugs and carpets.

Man-Made Fibres:
Popular since the early 1950's, great advances have been made in the performance of man-made carpet fibres.Main benefits of man-made fibres.

Acrylic
Not as hard wearing as Nylon and less fire resistant than wool, Acrylic is a fibre with good bulk and resilience.

Polyamide (Nylon)
Many different brand names, such as ANTRON, Anso, Timbrelle. A tough fibre and with stain resistant treatments is less prone to soiling than earlier nylon carpets. More flammable and prone to static than wool. Nylon is often added to wool to increase resistance to wear especially in lower pile weights and densities.The most popular branded nylon in the UK is ANTRON.

Polyester
Used in luxury Saxony styles, less resistant to flattening than some fibres but wears well.

Polypropylene
Hard wearing and not as resilient as other fibres. It is very easy to clean but will scar if exposed to flame.

Viscose
Not as resilient as many other fibres it is prone to flattening. But it is relatively inexpensive fibre and it brings fitted carpets within a wider reach.

Yarns

Carpets are only as good as the raw materials from which they are made and the expertise with which they are constructed.

All carpets are made with raw fibre and this is normally spun into a yarn which is then woven or tufted into a fabric that you see in the shops.

Spinning the yarn itself is a skilled job and one which has created its own specialist companies.

Stages in Yarn Spinning:
1-Raw wool is blended together in precise proportions according to the `character' and `handle' of the yarn required.
2-The blend is scoured, pulled and teased (the technical term is `carded') until it is straighter, whiter and free of natural burrs and foreign bodies
3-The fibre is systematically opened up and layered and then cross layered and eventually this web or bat is split into slubbings which are then pulled and twisted on a spinning frame which adds strength to the single strand of yarn.
4-Two or more of these strands are then twisted together, or `doubled', and this results in a yarn with a high tensile strength capable of being woven or tufted by the latest high tech machinery with the maximum efficiency and at the lower production cost, thereby providing the optimum combination of quality raw materials, exceptional yarns and most economical prices.

Colour is introduced either at the raw fibre stage or when the yarn is spun into the thickness weight and length for the particular carpet.