Tips For How To Compare Rugs

How do you compare apples to apples? This is something that a lot of people struggle with—when shopping for a rug, how do you compare one rug to another?

When you don’t have an in-depth knowledge of rugs and rug construction, it can be difficult to compare and contrast rugs against one another. That’s why we decided to make it as simple as possible. How? By listing everything!

That’s right, we list everything—our knot density, what fibers we’re using, if it’s hand-knotted versus hand-loomed. All of this information is conveniently located on our website on each rug’s listing page. (To that point, you can go on and add to cart right now! That’s how easy it is to have a Meredith Heron Collection rug in your possession!)

When we first started this in 2019, it wasn’t something that was done by other rug retailers—you had to make a big effort to find this information… if you even knew what to ask for! Flash forward to 2022 and a lot of major rug retailers have started to include the details of their rugs on their listings.

And I get it because this information is important! I do find that most descriptions are still quite vague, but I am bolstered by the positive change that I am seeing in the industry as a whole. Because you deserve to know how your rug was constructed and what it was constructed from.

So, what should you be looking for when you are examining the description of a rug?

“Tufted”

Anything that is listed as tufted is made with glue—in a North American client you can expect this glue to break down and eventually crack, shed excessively, and fall apart.

100% New Zealand Wool

I am happy to see more and more rug designers are using 100% New Zealand wool. This wool is durable, beautiful, and will withstand the test of time - especially in our North American climate.

Knot Density

Knowing the knot density of a rug is a great indicator of quality—the number of knots per square inch is directly related to the quality of the rug. Density can be all over the place but you want to make sure the rug you select has at least 120 knots per square inch (kpsi). Anything over 330 kpsi is considered extremely good quality.

Price Per Square Foot

You can also look at the price per square foot—this is a pretty straightforward formula to figure out if you have the area of the rug and the price. Simply divide the square footage of the rug by the price and you’ll have your price per square foot.

Ask Questions

If you are going in-person to a showroom, go armed with questions. Understand the difference between the types of knots, fibers, and even locations—there’s no reason for a rug made in India to use a Tibetian knot, for example.  

When you start to educate yourself, you’ll start to feel more comfortable and confident in your choices… and you’ll also notice that our pricing is phenomenal!

Reach out to us if you have any questions.

▸ ◂ ▴ ▾

🡣 Build Your Design Business with Meredith 🡣

Sign up today to receive our latest 6-part video series that explores everything from finding your ideal client to learning the ins and outs of budgeting.