apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I know how it feels. I once lived in an apartment where the *carpet* throughout the apartment shed like that. For 8 months. Until I left.
It was kind of embarassing having anyone over, furballs everywhere, it always looked as if I hadn't vacuumed for months.

Wow, I just read this and the other "Red rug gate" post and now I'm scared to buy a new rug! I was going to buy a white shag from Ikea for my bedroom...I'm rethinking that...anyone have positive rug stories? My current rug is a cotton woven rug from Ikea that I've had for too many years to even think about. I have a similar woven one in my living room from C&B....I'm rethinking wool pile now...

This isn't a rug comment, but a C&B comment--their acrylic throw seriously sheds, too. Which is a problem considering the whole purpose of the throw is that it covers you and your furniture. I have cream-colored strands all over my clothing. Grrr!

I'd be willing to bet that my rug outsheds any other rug out there. It's the Ikea Vitten Rug and I've had it for over 3 years. It has done nothing but produce large fluff balls (the size of small rabbits) the entire time I've had it and it shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

It's also conquered 2 vacuum cleaners in it's time and is arguably one of the worst purchases I have ever made.

My Crate and Barrel rug sheds like crazy too and I've had it 3 years. I was told the same thing, that it would subside after a few weeks. I'm still brushing up fuzz. Small threads come loose too and they are easy to pull out, but I am worried some day with all this shedding and pulling of loose threads that the rug will look terrible. Mine is multi-colored too but a similar pattern.

Also don't buy a wool rug from Target -- I know they don't have the best track record in terms of quality, but a friend of mine has been finding large puffs behind her books, caking her air filters, and generally covering everything in her apartment with red fuzz. I can't imagine what the inside of her lungs look like.

I bought a wool rug from Pottery Barn years ago, and although I don't use it anymore (cats make it a point to pull out the pile and attack the corners), it only shed for a month or so and it was just a little lint here and there. Don't know what styles they have now but I trust their quality.

i bought a white West Elm wool rug (via Craigslist) and it sheds SO MUCH. but i have gone through 6 rugs in 1 year, so I'm just gonna keep this one for a while...

Vitten--officially crossed off the list!!! And, it WAS on the list of considered rugs. Thanks, cooper_black!

I have an IKEA rug quite like this one: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60107395

and it just sheds like mad. Lesson learned!

Does anyone know what causes this? The one thing that all these rugs seem to have in common is that they are wool and made to be inexpensive. These retailers must be cutting out a step or two in the manufacturing in order to bring down the price. Does anyone know what to look for (or ask about) in order to avoid purchasing a rug that has this problem?

I'm wondering whether they're using shorter wool fibers that are being spun into longer threads, the way cheap cashmere sweaters do. The sweaters pill like mad - maybe the rugs shed?

A friend just bought a rug at C&B and has been complaining about the shedding too. I keep telling him that new rugs do this - but maybe there's more to the story.

This would be an interesting article for Consumer Reports.

I also bought a wool rug from Ikea about three years ago. It shed like crazy for the first two and shed slightly less for the last year. I swore never to buy a rug from there again.

During my recent bout of rug shopping I noticed that the more expensive rugs shed significantly less if at all in the show room. The better rugs also seem to be hand knotted not hand tufted. And they seem have a shorter pile with a MUCH tighter weave.

I do believe that the manufacturers are cutting the amount of wool they use and the labor by reducing the density of of the weave (i.e. the amount of yarn used per inch of rug), thus producing good looking yet cheap rugs.

I recently purchased a replacement rug (for the shedding $300 Ikea) from William Sonoma Home. It is a hand knotted wool rug on sale for $1500 (some sale huh!), it has not shed an ounce.

Well, we shouldn't be surprised that there's a reason the prices are so low on the rugs that shed.

I just got the Tangiers rug from CB2, and it has not shed (shedded?) at all so far (I've had it for about 2 weeks). It's "hand-tufted," not "hand-knotted." I'll keep my fingers crossed that it keeps behaving.

Wool rugs shed for a variety of reasons. Most commonly it is because the fibers they are spinning into yarn are very short staple fibers. Rugs that use a longer staple tend to shed much less. Rugs made with New Zealand wool (the best) shed far less than rugs made with wool from elsewhere, e.g. India. The construction of the rug can also be the cause of shedding. Power-loomed and hand-knotted rugs typically won't shed as much as a tufted rug. However, no matter how it is constructed there are varying degrees of quality, i.e., just because a rug is hand-knotted doesn't mean it is better quality than a power-loomed rug.
All wool rugs are going to shed. In better quality rugs, the shedding should subside within a short period of time assuming regular vacuuming. Rugs made from synthetic fibers shed too. Wool is the superior choice for cleanability, soil resistance, and durability. One final interesting fact: How many times has someone told you that they are allergic to wool? In fact, wool is a non-allergen.