ECO Carpet

• Wool
• SmartStrand®
• PET

Wool

Wool has always set the standard for fine carpets. Wool broadloom and area rugs are soft and luxurious. They hold their shape and fresh look longer than any other carpet fiber. Wool is naturally stain-resistant and flame-retardant, without added chemical treatments. No wonder carpet manufacturers try to replicate wool, with limited success. Because wool carpets tend to be more expensive, most people never consider them. The irony is that wool is always the better value in the long run. If properly cared for, wool carpets and area rugs can last 50 years or more.

Why Wool?

DURABILITY

Wool fibers are naturally elastic. When crushed or stretched, they bounce back to their original shape. Synthetic fibers lose their shape more quickly. They flatten, pill or wear in high-traffic areas and beneath heavy furniture.

STAIN-RESISTANCE

Wool carpets derive their stain-resistance from the nature of the fibers. Wool repels liquids, the culprit in most stains. Spills usually blot up, and regular vacuuming removes dry dirt efficiently. Wool does stain more easily than synthetic carpets, which are often chemically treated for stain resistance. Wool carpets are free of these chemical treatments.

FLAME-RETARDANT

Wool fibers will not ignite when exposed to flame. Wool self-extinguishes quickly, often leaving the carpet with only a small amount of ash that can be brushed away. It takes just a single cinder or spark to melt unsightly patches into many synthetic carpets.

AIR QUALITY

Wool fibers have microscopic scales that capture and hold dust particles until they are vacuumed. This results in less dust in the air, a benefit for people who suffer from allergies. Some studies have shown that wool carpet may also help purify the air by absorbing certain common indoor contaminants, including formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Wool takes in these contaminants far more quickly and completely than synthetic carpets.

SmartStrand®

Don’t Worry, It’s SmartStrand®

Mohawk SmartStrand Fiber Made with DuPont™ Sorona® Renewably Sourced Polymer

Through a joint venture with Tate & Lyle — a world leader in sugars and sugar-related products like Splenda™, DuPont brings Mohawk a polymer from the fields that we take to your floor.

By using the sugar found in corn, DuPont is able to create one of Sorona’s key ingredients from renewable resources instead of natural resources. That is why every seven yards of SmartStrand made with DuPont Sorona renewably sourced polymer saves enough energy and resources to equal the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline.

By utilizing this new technology we are able to save up to 10 million gallons of gasoline a year. Incredible savings for an incredible product.

Special Savings Going on Now During the Colors of Spring

Grow: Corn is planted and grown in fields across the United States.

Harvest: Fully matured corn is harvested and sent to the DuPont Tate & Lyle facility in Loudon, Tennessee.

Process: The sugar is taken from the corn and put into a fermentation process. The end product becomes Bio-PDO™, which is a key ingredient in DuPont Sorona renewably sourced polymer.

Product: DuPont Sorona is spun into fiber by Mohawk and then tufted into beautiful SmartStrand carpet.

By replacing standard PDO with Bio-PDO, SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona renewably sourced polymer is the perfect solution to life’s unpredictable moments and environmental concerns.

PET

PET (polyester carpet fiber)is produced from recycled plastic bottles, nicknamed "pop bottle carpet".

A few of the names under which recycled fibers are marketed include:

* Resistron ISF,
* Resistron and
* Permalon

P.E.T. fibers are naturally stain resistant and do not require the chemical treatments used on most nylon carpets.

P.E.T. fibers retain color and resist fading due to sun or harsh cleaning. Color shades can be richer and brighter than those found in nylon yarns.

Because plastic beverage containers are made with top quality resins as required by the Food and Drug Administration, recycled PET is superior to lower grades of virgin synthetic fibers used in making other brands of polyester carpet yarns.

P.E.T. has exceptional fiber strength and durability, and the value of these properties is not lost in the recycling process. Easier maintenance reduces the use of cleaners that may also emit VOCs.

At this time, there are no programs to recycle used PET carpet back into new carpet. However, P.E.T. fibers can be recycled for other applications such as car parts, insulation, transportation devices and stuffing for furniture.