Carpet can be made of many different materials. Originally, wool was the most common application. Today, synthetic fibers have been engineered to make your carpet more durable, reliable, and easier to clean. However, not all carpets are made alike with polypropylene, nylon, polyester, and more being used today. Although, there are many benefits to having these typically less expensive textiles options.

Nylon

When dying the carpet, there are also many ways to apply color and durability. Solution-dyed nylons (SDNs) are favored by many flooring experts because their ability to be cleaned by 10% bleach concentrate. Carpets can have the dyed applied to the top layer of the filament or homogenous throughout the pile.

Imagine a radish and a carrot. When you cut through a radish, the top layer is red, and the inside is white, whereas a carrot is orange all the way through. SDNs are like carrots. Each fiber is pre-dyed before being tufted yarned onto the backing. This makes the color all the way through and not faded or just printed on the carpet, allowing the color to maintain longer and be more durable to strong cleaning products like bleach.

Olefin

Do not feel limited to just SDN carpets because nowadays, we have also engineered many carpet cleaners other than bleach! Polypropylene (olefin) carpet is highly desired because of its wool-like imitating features. Olefin may not have the “bounce back” feature you have in other carpets but is extremely water-resistant and can be applied outside. It does, however, like to attract oils and makes it hard to clean any oil-based stains.

Polyester

When comparing stain resistance properties, polyester carpet is superior over nylons and olefins. It can be compiled of recycle products and is known for being excellent at retaining texture retention. Polyester carpets are another great option with a wide variety in their color palette.

With the carpet engineering evolving through pile, texture, loop, and dyes, there is a lot going into the manufacturing of each carpet. Find a carpet that fits your design taste and that you like how it feels. Knowing how each carpet can respond to stains and foot traffic can help you make your decision feeling confident.

Nylon clearly holds the top spot as the most popular fiber for high-performing carpet, but did you know that olefin (also called polypropylene) actually accounts for nearly 80% of business carpet sold? In a tough economy, and at around a 20% lower cost than a similarly constructed nylon, olefin carpets are now being considered much more often for the home. Typical residential styles for olefins will be berber loops, which means multi-color, multi-level loop pile construction, often in earth tones. The identification “berber” actually descends from the name of an ancient North African people famous for their woven fabrics of more than 2 colors and textures.

There are some significant benefits to olefin besides its incredibly low price. One main advantage is the colorfast, fade-resistant quality of the fiber. Because color is introduced while the material is still in a liquid state, prior to extrusion into fiber, it can easily withstand direct sunlight or exposure to strong agents like chlorine bleach. Other qualities of olefin are that it is both static and mold resistant, making it a good candidate for recreation rooms, screened-in patios or even basements.

Nonetheless, olefin does also bring some challenges. It is highly susceptible to staining from oil-based materials, which is why you should never attempt to utilize a solvent-based stain protection product. Also, olefin has a low melting point, allowing for the fiber to actually melt and leave permanent damage from friction caused by something heavy being dragged over the face of the carpet. Finally, olefin fibers will crush and mat in areas of high traffic.