Carpet Glossary

Abrasion: The wearing away of a solid surface by friction.

Abrasion Resistance: The ability of a fiber or fabric to withstand surface wear and rubbing.

Backed Cloth: A material with an extra warp or filling added for weight and warmth. Stain-weave and twill-weave constructions are frequently used in the design of backed cloth because they are relatively resistant to the passage of air.

Backing (primary): In tufting, a woven or nonwoven fabric into which the pile yarn is inserted by the tufting needles. Usually woven or nonwoven polypropylene or woven jute for carpet and often cotton duct for scatter rugs.

Backing (secondary): Fabric laminated to the back of carpet to reinforce and increase dimensional stability. Usually woven jute or nonwoven polypropylene.

Binding: A band or strip sewn over a carpet edge for protection against unraveling.

Count: A number identifying yarn size or weight per unit length or vice versa, depending on the particular system being used. Count of fabric is indicated by the number of warp ends and filling ends per inch.

Cut Pile: Small loops of yarn are cut, creating what we call a cut pile carpet. The length of these cut pieces of yarn is referred to as the pile height, and is basically the distance between the looper and the primary backing. Selectively cutting, called cut and loop construction, creates a recognizable pattern on the surface of the carpet.

Density: A measure of how tightly the yarn is stitched into the primary backing. Higher density carpet will typically wear better than lower density carpet.

Denier: A yarn count unit. It is the weight in grams of 9000 meters. Denier is a direct yarn numbering system: the higher the denier, the larger the yarn. Unit of weight for the size of a single filament. The higher the denier, the heavier the yarn.

Dyeing: The process of coloring materials’ impregnating fabric with dyestuffs.

Fabric Construction: The details of structure of fabric. Includes such information as style, width, type of knit or weave, threads per inch in warp and fill, and weight of goods.

Fluorochemical Soil/Stain Repellent: Fabric protectors that serve as soil retardants and as water and oil based stain repellents at the same time.

Jute Backing: A natural fiber derived from a plant in the Far East that is spun into yarn. It is used as the backing yarn for many woven carpets and woven into a backing fabric for tufted carpets.

Looped Pile: Pile surface in which looped yarns are left uncut. In woven carpets, sometimes referred to as “round wire”.

Open-End Spinning: The production of yarns directly from sliver or roving by opening the sliver or roving and then reassembling it in a spinning element to form the yarn in a single continuous operation.

Padding: Also called cushion, underlay, or lining. Separate material serving as a cushion under a carpet.

Pile: The upright ends of yarn, whether cut or looped, that form the wearing surface of carpets.

Ply: A single end component in a plied yarn, or the number which tells how many single ends have been ply-twisted together. Many 1-ply yarns are used in carpet. In cut-pile carpet (e.g. saxony) plied yarns must be heat-set to prevent untwisting under traffic. Multiply continuous filament yarns made by fiber producers are sometimes air-entangled rather than twisted together.

Sliver: An intermediate stage in the production of spun yarns from staple fiber. It is a large, soft untwisted strand or rope of fibers produced by carding or pin drafting.

Spinning: A term for yarn or fiber production. To the fiber manufacturer, spinning is synonymous with extrusion of polymer through the small holes of the spinneret into synthetic fiber. To the conventional textile yarn mill, spinning is the conversion of staple fiber into spun yarn.

Tensile Strength: The greatest stretching force a yarn, fabric or carpet can bear without breaking. High tensile strength means strong yarns or fabrics.

Total Weight: Weight per square yard of the total carpet pile, yarn, primary and secondary backings and coatings.

Twist: A yarn term describing the number of turns per inch and direction of twist of either the singles or plies around their axes. Twist direction is either right or left handed, also called Z or S-twist. Carpet yarns usually have low-twists, in the 2.5 to 6.0 turns per inch (TPI) range, with most in the 3.5 to 5.0 TPI range.

Warp: In woven carpet, yarns running lengthwise.

Warp Yarns: Yarns which run lengthwise.

Weaving: Surface and backing yarns are interlaced, or woven together, in one operation. Several types of looms are employed: Axminster: Named for a town in England where it was first used, this is a fairly complicated weave, used chiefly for multicolored patterns in cut-pile. A distinguished feature of the Axminster is a heavily ribbed back which can be rolled length, but not widthwise. Wilton: also named for a town in England. Employs a Jacquard pattern making mechanism operating on the same principle as player piano rolls, with punched pattern cards determining pile height and color selection; most often used for patterns and multi-level textures. Velvet: A simple loom first used to produce carpet with a single-level plush or velvet texture. May be used for cut or looped pile, or modified for other texture variations.

Weft: In woven carpet, yarn running crosswise between warp yarns.

Weft Yarns: Yarns which run left to right, across the width of a carpet.

Width: The carpet width depends on the width of the loom on which it is made. Any carpet material over 54 inches wide is referred to as a broadloom.

Woven Carpet: A carpet that is made by a weaving process. In woven carpet, the face and back are formed at the same time, by interweaving warp, weft, and other yarns. Carpet produced on a loom through a weaving process by which the lengthwise (warp) yarns and widthwise (weft or filling) yarns are interlaced to form the fabric. Carpet weaves, such as Wilton, are complex often involving several sets of warp and filling yarns for the pile and backing.

Yarn: A continuous strand composed of fibers or filaments and used in tufting and weaving to form carpet. Carpet yarn is often plied and may be either spun or continuous filament.

Yarn Ply: The number of single yarns ply-twisted together in a plied yarn.