Carpet For Mods: Carnaby by Brockway

While I was researching the ‘striped carpets’ stuff for this blog, I did come across a very lovely new range that I hadn’t seen before.

Brockway have launched the decidedly 60’s retro mod chic of Carnaby to the market and what an absolutely wonderful design it is – right on the money:

It’s a 100% quality wool berber that I am yet to have a physical sample of, so I am simply bowled over by the design alone at this point. Brockway will send you samples from their (very good) website. They do a whole host of excellent stripes on there – Carnaby is just the tip of the iceberg.

I expect an order from Paul Weller is pending…and if I can convince the wife, maybe from me too.

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York Twist by Associated Weavers

One of the additions to Associated Weavers’ range that we saw in the Spring was York Twist and it’s definitely a worthwhile contender.

It’s a decent 100% polypropylene twist aimed at those who perhaps want a ‘wool look’ but maybe don’t have ‘wool money’. It’s a decent stab at replicating the look of a wool twist and although the feel of it does not absolutely convinvce, it’s not bad for the money you are likely to be asked. I’d reckon on £11-£15 per square metre and it’s pretty good value at that.

It is available in 10 neutral shades, comes 2,3,4 or 5 metre wide and features the usual 10 year stain and wear warranties that AW like so much.

I think it will sell very well for Associated Weavers, although our experience is steady rather than a massive rush. That particular price point in that particular type of carpet is mightily competitive right now.

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Are You Going To Harrogate Fair?

This year’s Harrogate Flooring Show is almost upon us – it is being held between the 5th and 7th of September this year. In a move to persuade hard-working shop owners to make the journey, the operators have decided to begin on a Sunday this year.

I’m not sure whether to pop along there or not at the moment. Anyway, you can pre-regisiter by clicking the link above and if you do go then have fun.

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Revolution Heather by Condor Carpets

Just as a footnote to my post last week about the very popular Revolution Heather by Condor Carpets, here is an image of the best selling colour for us, Damson 215.  It’s available 4 metre and 5 metre wide and is very good value at between £8 and £12 per square metre. Anyway, here it is in all its glory:

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Vintage Wilton by Balta Carpets

As promised in my recent post on Classique Wilton by Balta Carpets, I’m now going to take a look at its ‘bigger brother’, Vintage Wilton.

Once more we see Balta continue the theme of creams/beiges/browns across a full range of Wilton. It’s a real difference from the ‘traditional’ Wilton ranges that were prevalent a few years back. Whilst Balta are happy to be pushing colour in a lot of their new plain carpet ranges, they seem to be heading in the opposite direction with their Wilton.

Like Classique Wilton, it has a heavy domestic/general contract rating, but weighs in at an almighty 2520gr per metre, significantly ahead of Classique’s 1650 gr per metre and has a pile height of 10mm, as opposed to Classique’s 8mm – as I said it is the ‘big brother’.

At that weight it feels a lot more ‘meaty’ and handles beautifully. It’s dense, sharp and impressive. It’s 100% ‘B-Tron’ (Balta’s fibre) Polypropylene and comes in 4 metre wide rolls.

The designs are varied across the range. My favourite is the slightly ‘art deco’ looking ‘duo’ design pictured above. Aside from that, most of the popular bases are covered. A tidy pindot, a nice, subtle small square motif, a couple of floral sprays and an impressive panel. If you like this kind of thing then you ought to be able to find something you at least like and possibly love. Most of the designs are each done in three shades – so I believe that’s around 24 options in the range.

The price of this is obviously going to be higher than Classique and is likely to set you back around £25-£34 per square metre. Overall a high quality product and ideal for heavy wear. It’s heading towards wool axminster price-wise, but it is realistically quite a lot less than most of those and if you want a very high end man-made Wilton then this is a real option.

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Bell Twist by Brintons: Pushing The Boat Out?

Brintons has become a byword for quality in the UK carpet trade. They dominate the higher end market to such an extent that they claim that the wool from 1 in 8 British sheep ends up in a Brintons carpet.

Actually, the origin of the wool is an important point to consider. Not only is this supportive of the British wool trade, it is also very suitable wool for use in carpet. Apparently it’s all down to climate. Our climate here (New Zealand is another ideal example to use) produces hardy sheep whose coats must withstand the full rigours of our ‘lovely’ winters. Compare this with wool sourced from sheep from the much gentler Southern European areas and you will notice a substantial difference.

Of course, Brintons are far from the only British company to use British wool, but they are the biggest and they hammer home the point in their literature and on their website.

One of their flagship plain carpets is Bell Twist. Now this is slightly different to a lot of wool twists you may have looked at. Firstly it is not a tufted twist, it is actually a woven wilton. That doesn’t mean it is patterned! It simply refers to how the carpet is put together – very briefly the pile and the backing yarns are woven together, so this carpet ought to be stronger than its tufted competitors.

Secondly, and vitally important, is the 80/20 construction itself. Now a lot of cheaper tufted twists use 20% polypropylene together with their 80% wool, but Brintons use 20% nylon which produces a much better wearing, better handling and better looking carpet. Often carpet shops are reluctant to mention the ‘n word’ as customers often have a low opinion of this miraculous fibre (arguably one of the best inventions of the last century!). An 80% wool twist with 20% nylon is a much better bet than a one constructed with 20% polypropylene – simple. Again though, they are not alone in this.

The weight of the carpet itself is just over 41oz. What? I hear you say…’only’ 41oz?? Yes…. and this is a key point to note when you are buying a carpet – ‘more’ is not always better. Personally, I always feel that the ideal weight for a wool twist is 40-50oz. It’s going to feel good, wear well and retain its appearance very nicely.

If  you choose Bell Twist then you have a whopping 60 colours to tempt you and it is manufactured in three widths, 4.57m (15′), 3.66m (12′) and 0.91m (3′). You will probably pay between £27 and £35 per square metre for this lovely carpet and I would strongly recommend it. If you compare it with wool twist at around £20 per metre then it wins by a mile in my opinion. If you have a 20 square metre room then you will pay around £200 more for this than for a £20 per metre competitor, but the difference is very significant and well worth the extra. If you can afford it, then buy it.

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AW Enters The 21st Century!

I’ve had a dig in the past at Associated Weavers (huge huge manufacturer) for not having a proper website and now it looks like all that will change.

Something big looks on the way and let’s hope they do it well. They do a lot of excellent ranges and they are crying out for proper online presentation.

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Classique Wilton by Balta Carpets

We’ve seen a resurgence in the sales of Wilton this year, with several of the recently launched ranges in natural shades selling well. The ‘old-style’ greens/blues/reds of mainstays such as Balta’s Wellington Wilton and Super Wiltax have now been overtaken (for us at least) by these new, more subtle ranges. I know Wiltax is a major seller, but the figures are skewed by commercial sales – I’m talking purely domestic here.

One of the best examples is Balta’s Classique Wilton. It’s a very varied range, with a pindot,  a small square motif a floral ‘ispahan’ style design and a lovely panel which is shown below:

It works for heavy domestic (yes, really) and general contract wear would be fine. It weighs in at 1650gr/m2, which I believe is around 50 oz in old money, with an 8mm pile height. It’s 4 metres wide only (when will Balta match Lano’s 5 metre wide Wiltons?) and is 100% Polypropylene.

It looks good, feels good and fills a bit of a void. It will retail at between £18 and £27 per metre** I would say and is reasonably good value at that kind of price. There is a ‘big brother’ of this product that Balta have launched, called ‘Vintage Wilton’ and we will take a look at that very shortly on this blog.

We recently fitted 3 new retirement apartments in the same complex in this range, so it’s definitely appealing to our slightly more senior customers. I was dubious about displaying too much pattern in the shop this year, because last year less than 5% of our carpets sold were patterned (wilton, axminster, cut pile print) and that came as a real shock when we looked at it. However, we’ve left a fair amount of pattern on display and while it doesn’t really fully justify the amount of space we give it, it doesn’t do too badly – especially considering the recession we are troubled by currently.

** Why are my prices on here so vague? A couple of reasons really. I don’t want to ‘unveil’ the trade price (in spite of a large number of emails to me, I refuse to do this!) and also there is a huge variation regionally in carpet prices.

Remember though that if you are buying carpet (or any flooring) then the only price that really matters is the fully fitted price. Don’t be fooled by low prices on ‘offers’ by traders – you have to make sure that those artificially low prices actually translate into a competitive fully fitted price.

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A Little Light Relief

Okay, you know how the wise people in the trade keep on emphasising that we shouldn’t be selling on price? Well, I think I found the ultimate example of the kind of retailer that makes them angry:

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Revolution Heather by Condor Carpets

The original Revolution Twist by Condor Carpets has been extremely popular since its launch about three years ago. A 26oz 4 and 5 metre wide twist was always excellent value and heavily stocked by most wholesalers in the country.

Just when the colour bank was beginning to look a little off the pace, Condor have launched Revolution Heather to fill the void and target the increasing market that seems to demand the heathered look at a budget price.

Not that this range is right at the bottom, far from it as there are quite a few twists at a lighter weight and aimed at the real bottom rung of the ladder. This twist manages to deliver just enoughin terms of reasonable wear and appearance and it’s always excellent value.

Realistically you should be faced with a price of £8-£12 per square metre for it and when lined up against other carpets at the same price point, it is a really good buy.

Of the new colours, Damson 215 is a winner (a really big trend towards this kind of stuff right now), but as ever the browns are going to be the real big sellers, with Espresso 292 looking to be the pick of the bunch.

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