Cottage Berber: This one has been selling like hot cakes. It’s a 100% wool berber made at a super low price and is doing the job for us and a lot of other retailers, if stocks are anything to judge by. It also bears a striking resemblance to range we’ve always done well with – Corsa.
It’s a boucle design, which I’ve shown below and is basically a smallish looped wool berber in the style of those that have been so very popular everywhere for the last few years.
At the price, you can’t go far wrong if you like this kind of carpet and you understand what you are buying. The appearance of this carpet will be very ‘rustic’ as they say in the trade, so if you like a neat, precise, sharp looking carpet then you are barking up the wrong tree with this one. I never like this kind of thing on stairs – the cheaper wool berbers just don’t stand up long term and are also often prone to ‘pilling’ as it is known, where fibres will need to be cut as they protrude from the surface of the carpet and this is not a fault as such (although it makes your new carpet look absolutely awful).
Personally I find them difficult to work with, difficult to maintain, but very easy to sell and therein lies the dilemma for the retailer I suppose. I do always warn customers about the drawbacks of a carpet like this one, but they do often go ahead with the purchase anyway. It is officially rated Heavy Domestic, as opposed to ‘Rustic Retreat’ from the same collection, which is only rated General Domestic. I’d not really be optimistic about either on the stairs, but that is just my opinion of course.
California Dreams: This is a very very well known carpet to all and sundry in the trade. It has been in production (though I don’t believe the weight is exactly what it once was) for many years now and it has gone from being a very big seller for us, to being just ‘steady’ nowadays.
It’s an all nylon shadow pile (the label says 100% polyamide to avoid using ‘nylon’ – the ‘n’ word in UK carpet it seems) and does have a very appealing soft touch, but it doesn’t come across as being lightweight at all. The carpet is fairly heavy and dense and you could use it just about anywhere around the home, and we frequently do.
It is what is known as a ‘tonal’ shadow, which means that not only is there a pattern cut into the carpet as with most shadow piles, but the colour has what I might describe as an ‘iced’ look. There is a lot of variation of shade within the colour of the carpet and this creates a very appealing look. It contrast markedly with the manufacturers’ (Associated Weavers) sister product to this, ‘New Territories’ which has a solid colour).
It is manufactured in 4 metre and 5 metre wide rolls and should be more or less instantly available through the Lifestyle Collection (as they all should be). I’d estimate cost at £19-£26 per square metre and I recommend it as just about the best shadow of this kind at this price. The nominal pile weight is 36oz, but handle a sample for yourself and you will be impressed I’m sure.
Stately Homes: This is a heavy woven wilton and comes in a good variety of traditional and modern designs. We have a tradition floral ‘ispahan’ design, a very traditional ‘Arabian panel’, which I’ve shown below and also a small square motif and an eye-catching cameo.
The colours are very traditional for man-made wilton and this carpet bears an uncanny resemblance to Balta’s best-selling Wiltax. I like the look and feel of this dense, comfortable wilton and it really impresses as much as this sort of thing ever will. It’s a very good all-rounder for those who want a traditional look without either buying cheap rubbish or running to the expense of a wool Axminster or similar, as it will retail at around £24-£32 per square metre.
Like most, it is available only 4 metres wide off the roll. However there is one glaring error in the sampling in my opinion. A 5 year warranty? What? When far inferior carpets in the range are getting 7 and 10 year warranties? Very strange and I don’t understand that one bit. This is indeed a heavy man-made Wilton and is suitable for heavy domestic areas – genuinely. I’m mystified as to the 5 year warranty which really seems like an anomaly to me. It really ought to last significantly longer than that.
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