Thanks for the tips - I've had my flokati for a couple years and haven't known what to do with it.

However your post doesn't really indicate the severity of the shedding. Mine shed like crazy for the first year or so - I had white fur-balls all over my apartment for months!

I purchased mine from a place in New Jersey for much less than West Elm: http://www.flokatirug.net/ You can get a 4000 gram 10' diameter rug like mine for $599. The shipping was fast and they even take PayPal.

Sorry, but flokatis sort of squick me out. Well, not all flokatis, but the idea of a DIRTY flokati seems gross. And if someone has pets or children, I can't imagine being able to keep the thing clean.... Anyhow, I'll pass. Anything that requires regular grooming better be able to wag its tail and play fetch. ;)

can anyone ID the book on the rug?

Molly Margarita --

we've had a flokati in my daughter's room since she was born (she is now 4 1/2) and have never had a problem keeping it clean (she doesn't eat or drink or play with play doh in her bedroom, so how could it get dirty?).

We vacuum it regularly (taking care not to pull the strands out), and the one time it got dirty (one of our cats had a hairball), we washed it in the washing machine (it fits, even though it is 5' x 7') with woolwash and euclan, and it came out as good as new.

It is really pretty low-maintenance (and I am picky about cleanliness).

I've had mine for 6 years now and it still looks as awesome as the day I bought it. I take it to the laundromat (it's a 6x9 rug) and put it in the big machine (it actually fits fine in the middle-sized machine, but I give it more room to roll around in the big one) with a cap full of Woolite and it comes out awesome. I just lay it back down in the living room to dry ... only takes a few hours.

My mother, who has plenty of clean snow up in NH, swears that you take all of your wool rugs and put them in the snow to clean them. I have not tried this yet. Anyone else hear this?

I washed our flokati in the bathtub with Dawn dishwashing liquid (we were told to only use the original blue formula -- not the green, not the pink). We have a fireplace and the amount of soot in our rug was astonishing. The water ran black several times, but afterwards the rug was so clean it glowed. We then hung it on a drying rack for a a few days in the bathtub. It weighed a ton right after washing and nearly cracked the drying rack in half, but it was worth it!

1) place in washing machine
2) air dry outside

i do it 1X month, never vacuum it.

jlg, I've read about the snow treatment. Haven't lived anywhere with snow, yet.

These are wool so they are naturally antimicrobial and less likely to harbor any germs or odors other than the wolly smell they should have.

FYI, you can get a 6'7"x4'7" at IKEA for $80.

Woolite, cold water wash in a commercial machine (laundromat), and dry on low/no heat setting. good as new. (ours is about 7.5 feet in diameter, medium weight)

I just bought my third flokati on Craigslist, this one an awe-inspiring, cream, 12' x 8' for the insanely low price of $80. The seller didn't know what to do with it, but I do. One trip to the laundromat and $10 later in the super-sized 75lb front-loader and we've a rug that looks like new despite years of neglect. FABULOUS!
Our dogs love the rugs; they dig and roll to their hearts content and once a month it's off to the laundromat. Picking up flokati balls is a small price to pay for such a beautiful, natural and hygenic product.

Chris, I notice that you are from Toronto. What is the name of the laundromat with the super-sized 75 lb. front-loader? I have a similar sized flokati, however, I have not been able to find a laundromat with a machine large enough!
Any help for this fellow-Torontonian would be greatly appreciated!

podboy, I don't know the exact address but it's on Dundas West, just west of Scarlett Rd., which is west of Jane (north side). It's the best laundromat I've ever had the pleasure to use and they have 25 lbs, 35 lbs, 50 lbs and 75 lbs front loaders for the REALLY big flokatis.

Thanks for the advice!!!!! I was given a flokati from my mom and it was about 30 years old and once it became dirty I did not know what other alternatives I had other than dry cleaning. I washed it in the bathtub with mild blue dishwashing soap and it looks great! Took a while to dry but THANKS!

omg, i bought a huge and heavy/really thick flokati about 4 years ago. i'd never seen one in person but it looked soft and it was all natural and from what i saw online it looked silky or something. i was haveing a baby and i needed something soft and comfortable on the tile floor. well when it came; 14'x11' i think and about $700, it was so heavy i had my door dude help me lay it down..it didn't look like what i thought it would. kinda rough, and not silky, and WORSE i kept getting fuzz in my eyes!!!!!!!!! every single day i'd be inthe bathroom rubbibg my eyes... it was really freakin horrible. then i thought if i just had it cleaned before the baby came the fuzz would slow. so after reading all over the internet about how easy it was to wash it...well i couldn't put it into any washer i'd ever seen, and i could hardly hang it over the patio to even shake it, much less try and wash it in the bath. it would have weighed 100lbs! so, finely i dropped it off at some design district rug shop to have them clean it, even thinking that it would turn out more silky and thus more like i really thought it would be. a couple days later and $330 poorer i came out with the same old thing!!!!!!!!!! hated it! but, i think the owner felt a little bad for ripping me off so much she did give me a pink suzani pillow i showed intrest in as a parting gift... anyway, anyone in miami want a huge FLOKATI, just cleaned, and hardly used email me at miamidecor@yahoo.com :)

I'm not sure how some of you see having to shlep your rug to a laundromat as easy-care. I have a large flokati and I now really regret buying it. Its far to thick to vacuum, and trying to shake it out does nothing. Dirt, fur and hair get tangled in the threads and nothing can get them out short of regularly crawling on your knees and pulling them out by hand. I am going to attempt taking it to a laundromat, but I think its too big for any machine.
I have a friend who had a flokati and had the same issues and eventually had to throw hers out.

After washing the rug (however you choose to do it based on size, convenience, etc) hang it to dry on a line or over a drying rack. While it is draped over the line and still damp, brush it with a good animal grooming brush. One with metal bristles works best. This removes most of what would be shed, gets out any deep set "stuff", and also makes the rug look really nice. Don't be alarmed at how much fluff comes off, especially the first time you do it. We have 2 cats and one dog...flokati rugs are easy to take care of compared to what one would have to go through with another type of rug. All rugs are going to get dirty if you have pets...but at least with these you can throw them in the washing machine and they are much less expensive than traditional wool rugs. We put two smaller flokatis together with a rug pad underneath to make our one big living room rug so it is easier to deal with. I think they're great.

@jlg: My grandfather did the snow-cleaning with his persian rug every winter; I'd watched in my early childhood. The carpet was rolled, than carried down the stairs to the lawn in the garden. Then rolled out on the fresh snow upside down an softly beaten with a rug beater. This was in the early 60s, when a vacuum cleaner was a luxury (in Germany) and everyone clean their carpets on the bar with the rug beater. In winter the fresh snow collects every fluff an dust and the fine humidity makes the colours glow. A fine, classic method for a deep rug cleaning, requires some power to bring the carpet first down and then again up the stairs. Take care the snow is minimum 6 inches high.

I am assuming everyone here is talking about the woven flokati rugs and not sheepskin. Can you really comb these things out? Mine is more like a bunch of dreadlocks!
Also, is there a way to tell what sort of grade it might be? Mine was from Craiglist ($60 for an almost 8' round!) and I'm shopping online for another, wondering how much different the other grades would be.

Okay, I'd love to hear comments about combing them out as well. Purchased a really huge one from a thrift store. Had it cleaned -- $$$. Am thrilled to hear that I might be able to wash it myself, but am also wondering about the dreadlocks thing that I'm starting to see, as well. After I comb it out, will I see again that lovely, silky fluffiness that sold me when I first saw it?

Flokatis get more felted with use and once the wool felts into dreads, you can't unfelt it. It's just how they are supposed to look. People talk about raking them out with rakes, but I've never done that.

I have a 6x9 flokati with pile that is more than 4" deep and very, very thick. I'm in the process of washing it on the deck in a child's inflatable wading pool with a quart of detergent added. I'm going to dry it by hoisting it on a 2x4 between two stepladders. Hopefully the weather will be dry and breezy enough that it'll be dry within a few days. Last time I did this it was very humid and the rug started to stink like algae before it was dry! (Also, I washed it in the bathtub, which was not nearly big enough.)

Flokatis come in different grades, the cheapest being very thin and short. These are the ones that can be washed in washing machines. Mine will not fit in a 75-lb washer. Supposedly there are 200-lb washers but I've yet to locate one.

Since i found all the comments helpful i want 2 add a tip of my own. If u wash it in the tub, dance on it, it's way easier than using ur hands. only prob im having is there r some short hairs (from when I cut my hair) that r kinda stuck there unless i take each 1 out 1 by 1.

I just picked up a flokati at a DAV for $75, it's 5x7. I love wool and have been wanting one of these for some time. Mine has a dry cleaning tag on it... So that is another way to go, though probably rather expensive. I will try the washing machine route when I get there. Also, I really found the snow cleaning method interesting! Perhaps for my other wools!

snow cleaning does wonders for all kinds of carpets and rugs. The trick is, you need fresh powdery snow, and temperatures need to be below freezing, so that the snow is not heavy and damp.
Where I am from flokatis (they are called kitenik and halishte here) are ubiquitous - women still make them in the countryside. However, most people do not put them on the floors, but rather use them as covers for beds and sofas(divans). Thus, they don't really have that many issues with cleaning them.
In Bulgaria we have special places by very clean rivers in the mountains, where they are washed just with water in a purpose-built whirlpool of a sort. But living in the city, your best friend is the bathtub, if you don't have access to a very large washing machine with a fine wool cycle. First shake your kitenik/flokati really well to get rid of dust (you should be doing this every week, while doing your general floor cleaning. Never vacuum a kitenik!). Then fill up your bathtub with lukewarm water -neither hot nor cold. Add wool washing detergent (or shampoo, if you don't have a special detergent for wool). Let the kitenik/flokati soak for a while (30 minutes at least). Get in the bathtub and stomp around - or if this is not appealing, or you have sensitive skin, just put on a pair of rubber gloves and do some old-style washing motions. Drain water. Proceed with rinsing several times, again with lukewarm water. Drain as much of the water as possible. This can take a while and involves some turning around of the flokati/kitenik. Finally, air dry (outdoors with the sun and wind is the best). I usually wash my kitenik twice a year - once in the beginning of summer and once in early fall - making sure to get two days of warm dry weather. Alternatively, you can see if your dry cleaner's offer laundry services for fine woolens. I used their services once, but the dryer kind of ruined my kitenik, so I have never repeated.

Hope that helps.

Love this post ... came at the right time. So glad to read about the snow cleaning method. Somehow the thought of cleaning the wool oriental rugs I inherited from my parents with such a simple, natural method (snow) warms my heart! Can't wait to see if snow cleans better than carpet cleaner!

Flokati maintenance sucs. My 8x10 flokati is way too huge and heavy to wash myself, and it's $200 for pro cleaning. I rake it twice a week and vacuum with the vacuum set on bare floor (otherwise it chokes the vacuum). It sheds constantly, and black soled shoes make gray marks on it that only come out with washing. It does, however, look awesome, it's comfy to lie on with a pillow for my head, and my tiny arthritic dog loves to play on it, so it's staying for now.

I use the brush attachments on my vacuum. Some have stiffer bristles than others and if I want a deeper clean I go for the stiff upholstery brush. Otherwise I use the furniture duster brush for light cleaning.

I wanted a flokati in my bedroom as a way to sort of turn my floor into a giant slipper. I was worried about cleaning, and also about moving my giant platform storage bed, so I just cut away my old nasty rug, left the still-decent rug pad, and laid runners around the bed. It looks just like a giant rug, but has the added bonus of being very easily shaken out/hand-washed/fit in a washing machine. I can highly recommend the runner route to anyone with a bed that you can't actually see under.

One more vote for the snow method. Works best in powdery cold snow. Rugs are placed face down then stomp all over them and shake shake shake all the snow out. The crystals grab all the dirt, hair etc. It is the only way to really clean good shaggy rugs (boucherioute, rya, flokati)

Wow, you really do know how to sell something @_@

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