There was a
time in the United States when anybody that was anybody would only purchase
wool carpeting. You just didn’t buy
synthetic carpet. When nylon carpet
first came out there was resistance to it, and people didn’t necessarily want
to switch from wool. In the same way that it was difficult for
people to switch from wool to nylon in the past, today the same thing seems to
happening with nylon and polyester carpeting.
When
polyester first came out flooring manufacturers didn’t really know how to make it
very well, and in turn it got a bad reputation as “not a good carpet fiber.” The best analogy that I can come up with is
with clothing. The polyester clothing of
the 1960’s and 1970’s wasn’t super great either. As manufacturers have gotten better at making
clothing, I would argue that polyester clothes of today are highly sought after
and are desirable now in comparison to yester-year’s polyester clothing. Polyester carpet is also the same way today, as
suppliers have gotten better at making it into carpet it is becoming more
sought after. .
Polyester
has always been naturally more stain resistant than nylon carpet; especially if
the polyester carpet has been solution dyed.
This step makes it so polyester will resist even bleach! Nylon carpet has what is called “open dye
ports,” so if they are left untreated, nylon has an affinity for staining. That is why almost all nylon carpet is
treated with some stain resistant treatment, such as
Scotchguard, Stainmaster,
Shaw’s R2X, etc. Recently, carpet mills
have discovered how to make polyester carpet into a continuous filament fiber
as well. Basically what that means, is
that the carpet rather than just being in small strands can actually be spun
into thread. As the name suggests, it is
essentially one long continuous strand of fiber that is used to make
carpet. Maybe in more simple terms,
picture it like one big spool of thread.
Polyester is going to be more stain resistant than nylon if made well,
and nylon tends to be more resilient - or wear better.
Over the
past decade since the year 2000, we have seen the prices at the pump continue
to go up and up. Gasoline not only has a
direct impact on carpet through means of shipping, but nylon carpet is made out
of petroleum as well. As nylon carpet
keeps getting more and more expensive, it might be worthwhile to take a look at
the new continuous filament, solution dyed polyester carpets. Change is inevitable in the world, as well
as, with flooring. We see as technology
and manufacturing improves each and every year, polyester carpet might need a
second look and quite frankly might be like the clothes at the department
stores, and what you are really looking for after all in a floor after all.
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