November 8, 2016 - Flooring
By Lewis Migliore
This article originally appeared in our September 2011 Commercial Flooring Report, but we’ve had an onslaught of work in this area and issues and I wanted to give you an update. Woven Axminster and Wilton carpet is the Rolls Royce of the carpet industry. It is the oldest form of machine made broadloom carpet. Products from this process grace the most elegant and luxurious homes and facilities in the world. There are only a handful of woven Axminster and Wilton carpet manufacturers in the world and a smaller number yet who produce significant volume of commercial carpet. The primary commercial markets for these carpets are hospitality (high-end hotels), casinos, high end restaurants and any property that qualifies as the best of the best in its particular category. Almost all woven Axminster and Wilton carpet manufacturing takes place outside the US with the majority of woven carpet now coming from state of the art mills in China but owned by the same manufacturers who’ve been in the business for decades. Only a few woven manufacturers exist in the U.S. and they primarily produce corporate type carpet. The highest end woven Axminster or Wilton carpet is most often constructed of an 80/20 blend of wool and nylon (80 percent wool / 20 percent nylon) - the nylon is used to bolster the performance of the wool — but it can also be made with 100 percent nylon - either solution dyed or yarn dyed.
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The Commercial Flooring Report is provided by Lewis Migliore, president of LGM and Associates, which offers technical flooring services, including help or guidance with a new flooring project or a failure on an existing floor. Contact him at lgmtcs@optilink.us.
